Monday Motivation….. September 21, 2015 (241)

Monday Motivation….. September 21, 2015 (241)
There was an old farmer, Old MacDonald – who had a good size farm in Utah. Old MacDonald had built up his farm over many years and was proud of his achievement. He lived there with his wife and two young daughters, who were both crazy about horses.
Every year Old MacDonald did a bit more to improve and enhance his farm, times were hard, but he still managed to put some time and money aside for these improvements – However, he had an old barn in the corner of the yard, which was very dilapidated, for the animals – pigs, horses, cows and sheep, There were holes in the roof where the rain came in, there were big holes in the sides of the old barn, where the bitter North wind blew in – chilling the poor animals sheltering. The dirt floor was full of holes, uneven and uncomfortable to stand or lie on. Every year, Old farmer MacDonald promised to repair the barn, and every year something more important came up, preventing him. It was all a question of priorities.
At the end of this year, farm MacDonald had had a particularly good harvest, but like previous years, something else came up, and he did not get round to repairing the old barn. The winter set in and it was one of the hardest, coldest in many years. One particularly bad night the North wind was howling, the rain turned to hail and snow and was unrelenting. Everywhere was frozen solid. The farmer and his daughters got up the following morning to survey a bleak white landscape. They made their way out to the old barn to tend to the animals as usual. The farmer watched as his eldest daughter approached the stall where her favourite horse was – and there was her horse, frozen solid – stone dead. The little girl was heart broken, and the farmer cursed that he had not managed to get around to repairing the barn in time for the winter.
That Spring, as soon as the worst of the weather abated, the farmer set about building a “state of the art” barn across the yard from the old barn. It had an insulated tin roof, thick weather resistant walls, and a beautiful soft floor. Each animal had it’s own feeding stall, with automatic feeders and fresh water on tap. It was the best barn in the whole state of Utah. The animals were taken to their new barn, and settled in, thinking how much better this barn was than their old barn. The farmer, Old MacDonald knocked down what was left of the old barn, and stacked the timber in the far corner of the yard. All that was left of the old barn, was an imprint in the ground of where it had stood.
A few weeks after the new “state of the art” barn was finished the weather took a turn for the worse. A freak snow storm came down on the state of Utah, and as the night closed in, the North wind again started to howl, the snow and ice fell in great quantities and the temperature dropped to well below freezing. Old farmer
MacDonald, decided to check on his animals in this terrible storm. He pulled on his wellies and threw on a thick old winter coat, pulling his hat well down to protect him from the elements. As he opened the door, a great gust of wind, nearly prevented him from leaving the farmhouse, but he managed to make his way out and into the yard. He then started to make his way across the yard, bent almost double against the driving wind and snow.
Eventually he made it to the new “state of the art” barn, and got inside, where it was warm, dry and providing excellent shelter from the cold icy “polar” weather outside. But, as his eyes became adjusted to the light, he noticed that there wasn’t a single animal to be seen. He couldn’t believe his eyes and took a few seconds to have a good look in all the stalls, to make sure that the animals were definitely not there! Dazed and bewildered, the Old MacDonald, pulled his hat down and headed back out into the foul weather in search of his poor animals. As he made his way across the yard, he suddenly caught sight of the animals. They were all huddled together, freezing cold, and standing in the outline of the old barn. Old MacDonald carefully led them back to the new barn and settled them in, out of the storm.

Moral:
Old habits are hard to change…..let coaching ensure you don’t get left out in the cold.
Have a nice week ahead..!