The Story of The Seagull
Published on January 23, 2015
To say that I love this business of personal and professional growth would be one of the great understatements. I never perceive what I do as work and because of the fact that I feel like a kid in a candy store every day. Excited to present. Excited to discuss. Excited to teach and of great importance, excited to learn. Every new piece of information I am able to gather in my travels finds its way into the quiver of tools I get to use the next time. One story I have relayed many times is a story from Cape Breton. "One day there were 5 seagulls perched on the railing of an old dock. One seagull decided to get up and leave. How many seagulls were left?" The audience sat for a moment and offered, "Four. There would be four seagulls left" I said. "Not true". "There are still 5. You see the one seagull 'decided' to leave but he actually never did". Funny story and a brilliant piece of life philosophy. How true it is that somewhere between the decision to do something and the actual activity of beginning, it goes awry and finds its way into the forgotten bin of inaction. Imagine just how many discarded projects and goals and hopes and dreams lie wasting away in that bin. The saddest part of this scenario is when we stand back and realize just how close the seagull was to doing what it set out to do. It thought about it. Planned for it. Likely even went so far as to announce it to the other seagulls but never actually stretched out its wings and took off. It was that close and yet what came of the thought and plan and intention was nothing. Absolutely nothing. Next time you have a thought of something that needs doing, make the commitment to do this. Just stretch out your wings and take flight. Make certain that one day you are not looking back realize you are just another seagull who never flew. Have an excellent day.
Be well,
Randy Taylor
