I have something really exciting to share with you! A guest post by Rebecca Ondov. I 'met' Rebecca through reading her books. They spoke directly to me and I thought I'd ask her to share something with you.
One of the most powerful things in life is to put in a consistent effort—even if it’s only a couple of minutes a day. Consistent effort produces consistent results. One small step at a time will take us to the top of the mountain, even if we have to take a couple steps backward along the way. The best part is that when we start achieving consistent results, it builds our confidence and happiness because of our successes.
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| SkySong and Rebecca |
Hi, I’m Rebecca Ondov, Rachel invited me to chat with you because I’m horse crazy like you. I’m so horse crazy that for 15 years it was my job to lead people on horseback through the Rocky Mountains of Montana on horse camping trips. I literally lived in the saddle :). Although I’ve ridden thousands of miles, each time I’m around horses, I learn something new about me, my horse, and God. Recently I was reminded that the fastest way to go forward was to go backward. Sounds strange, doesn’t it? But it’s vital to understand this so that we don’t get discouraged and give up. Instead, we can win at this game of life and be happy.
It happened a couple weeks ago. I was riding my saddle horse SkySong and another rider passed me along the trail and trotted out of sight. That’s when my plodding horse morphed into a tornado. He bowed his neck, stomped his feet, pawed, and screamed for the other horse. My heart pounded as I gathered the reins and tried to disengage his hindquarters (turn him sharply), but nothing helped. Knowing that it was dangerous to stay on his back, I slide to the ground. Immediately he tried to rip the reins from my hands, but I quickly tied him to a tree by his lead rope.
My anger flared as I watched the crazy horse. Dirt flew as SkySong pawed and thrust himself at the tree, screaming and trying to get loose, so he could chase after that mare. All I could think was, You know better than that! You haven’t acted that way for years. What is wrong with you?
It took about fifteen minutes for him to calm down—and for my anger at his behaviour to subside. Then I heard a still small voice in my spirit saying, “You can’t get consistent results without consistent effort.”
I exhaled. I’d been blaming SkySong for his behaviour when I’d been the one who hadn’t put in the consistent effort. The last few years I’d been sidelined with physical injuries and couldn’t ride. After a year and a half of physical therapy, I jumped in the saddle and had expected him to be at the same place he’d been years before. My expectations weren’t fair to him. To go forward, I needed to go backwards in his training, start at the beginning by rebuilding the foundation.
This resembles so many things in life. Oftentimes I’ve had goals that were too big and I’d launched into them only to fall flat on my face. But God and my horses have showed me the following keys to keep me from getting discouraged and quitting.
- First, I need to honestly access where I'm at, not to degrade myself or my horse, but so that I know where to start. I might need to go backward and build a better foundation before I move forward.
- I write down goals of what I want to accomplish—then break them down into smaller bite-sized goals so that I can set up myself and my horse to succeed. Too big of a goal creates unrealistic expectations, frustration, lack of confidence, and a desire to quit.
- I make an action plan for accomplishing goals with dates of when I will accomplish them—being flexible to give myself more time if needed.
- Finally I keep it fun for me and my horse so we enjoy being a team.
One of the most powerful things in life is to put in a consistent effort—even if it’s only a couple of minutes a day. Consistent effort produces consistent results. One small step at a time will take us to the top of the mountain, even if we have to take a couple steps backward along the way. The best part is that when we start achieving consistent results, it builds our confidence and happiness because of our successes.
Do you have any goals you’re trying to achieve? If so, I hope these tips will help you (even if you use this for things other than horses). If you use them, I’d love to hear how they worked for you! You can find me on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/RebeccaOndovAuthor/ or on my Website: https://www.rebeccaondov.com/
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Thanks so much, Rebecca! And you're welcome back anytime. :)
