Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”

I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather be a lion going out and getting after my goals.  A lion knows exactly what it must do each day to feed itself.  It has a mission, sense of urgency and purpose to capture it’s prey- the gazelle.  While a gazelle knows it must run to save it’s life- it’s playing D all day trying to survive and defend itself from being eaten.  A gazelle reminds me of someone who just runs around like a crazy person with no sense of purpose just running and trying to survive day to day.  I see that as a limiting mindset with no direction or opportunity for growth.  All it knows is that the lion is after him and that it must run.  It must outrun or outsmart the lion in order to survive.  What if it does just get up and run, but happens to run the wrong way?  Game Over!  No second chances.  At least a lion can go a day without eating, right?

What are you doing today to get yourself closer to your goals?  I know it can be hard to start the day with momentum, but if you really train your brain to get up with a mission of accomplishment, you can really set yourself up for success.  I have found that daily to-do lists are a great way to stay on track.  In fact, the most successful people are said to work on their most important task of the day first, early in their day, instead of procrastinating and putting the harder and more time consuming things off until later.  Attack that item like a lion and then reward yourself when you get it done.  After you feast on your gazelle, then you have the time to roam around, play and knock other things off your list.  But, at least you can go to bed fulfilled, regardless of whether you get everything done.

So ask yourself, are you a lion or a gazelle?  Which one do you want to be?  Decide and run!