Can you think of a time in your life when you just didn’t feel you were “good enough”? When your self doubts, and frustrations seemed to be a constant companion?
You might be there today? I think we all get there at one point or another. Maybe you are struggling with losing weight or trying to learn a new skill or teach your dog a skill but you have hit a plateau and just can’t seem to push past it. Think of how you feel, how you act, how you walk with this burden of limitation enshrouding your thoughts.
Now imagine if someone made a small adjustment for you that created a clearer path to your goal. Perhaps a doctor found some sensitivity and helped you make a dietary adjustment so that the weight just started tumbling off. Or perhaps you were introduced to a training aid or mechanical skill that gave you the “oh THATS all I have to do!” moment to overcome your learning or dog training struggle.
Think of how you feel now and more importantly WHY do you feel that way now? If you have 80 pounds of body fat you want to get rid of and that small adjustment just helped you lose 3 pounds in the first week — heck you still have 77 pounds to lose so WHY do you feel so much better than you did 3 pounds ago?
The reason is that your frustration has been replaced with hope. You have a fresh outlook, a plan for a favorable outcome, your self doubts and self limiting thoughts have been replaced with empowering ones as a path for success has become more clear to you.
I just love this quote from Les Brown;
“When there is hope in the future, there is power in the present.”
Lately I have started Swagger’s training on his running contacts. I have taken a completely different tack that I did with Encore or Feature. Things have been going along extraordinarily well until a week ago I hit a bump. A similar bump I hit with Feature. Yes I felt the same frustration all of you feel when you are discouraged by a lack of progress. Then I remembered this quote. Once I made a tiny alteration things started to progress well again and all hope restored:). There IS power in the present when we have hope for the future!
If you are frustrated it likely means your hope has faded. When you re-gain that hope, map out a plan of action to bring you closer to your goal, it doesn’t matter how far away from the goal you may actually be, the hope for a better tomorrow brings power to your thoughts and actions today.
Here’s to finding your hope!
Today I am grateful for time off, I took a day off on Monday (unplugged from the computer) and I am thinking I need to do that more often!
Thank you Susan, I felt void of hope before I found Recallers. My rescue dog Bruno came to me and I couldn’t understand anything he was telling me. I searched for help, got a behaviourist, and looked into quite a few supposed dog trainers before I found Recallers. I think for the first year of having Bruno with me I cried most days. Now After being with Recallers for nearly a year I am enjoying sharing my life with him. We have problems but I am working my way through them. So many things we have overcome, and the hope of more to come is what drives me.
I have not been in here for awhile as I have had a major change in my life enforced upon me, I was not reday for it! Now reading this post I have found it really usefull thank you so much.
What was supposed to be a longer holiday touring I have now become homeless in the traditional sense-I do have my motor home and am camped up at a friends, but they are very old school dog people and my Whippets are not at all happy here. This post has spurred me to some thinking outside the square and doing something to make my boys happy again.
this post is perfect for us right now. Im new to all of this, and we havent had the chance to get the materials needed or join puppy peaks but Im soaking up every bit of information I can pull from your videos, webinars, audio tapes and blogs since time is ticking and my boy is now almost 4 months old! we cant waste time here, and this week I have just felt STUCK where to go next? what to do? Im still having problems but this post is what will help me get up and try again, I have the hope, since he is super smart but I need help with technique. your post has inspired me and I will be reffering to it in a week when im discouraged again!
Thanks for the post, Susan. This reminds me of how my dogs feel when they are working through the frustration when learning something new. I have seen their eyes light up when they suddenly “get it.” That must be the look of hope. It reminds me of the light bulb moments I’ve had when I’ve overcome frustration.
Thank you – it’s that simple.
you are just the best Susan !!
and your timing is awesome !!
thanks
Well timed Susan! I am trying to teach Ponto “Get on my shoe” and have come to a plateau, I now have hope for attaining the goal eventually.
Oh wow Susan. This is perfect timing. I’ve almost given up on the weight issue. As you age, it gets harder and harder to get off no matter how hard you try. Yeah for hope! You have given me some today with your post. Thank you.
Thanks for lifting us up Susan. Great timing. Today is a new day 🙂
You have restored all of my hope with this post Susan! My young dog has lots of potential, but my older dog who is already competing has C.R.A.P contacts but you’ve made me realise that anything is possible as long as you have hope….as cheesey as that is!
Thanks Susan!!
Thanks, I will send this out to some of my friends for thoughts today.
What a perfect post for today! thanks!
LOL Susan, kinda spooky after my reply on recallers earlier!!!
Think lots of us needed to hear that, you rock!
I had one of those moments yesterday, when the clouds parted, and the sun came shining through on a training issue. I felt like crying with joy!!!
I had been struggling with an issue for several months, very frustrated. I asked a mentor to have a look and make suggestions… and he supplied an easy answer that seems to have worked miracles! I have a whole new outlook and lots of hope for the future. It’s a great feeling! Here’s hoping that lots of others can have a break through with an issue too!
…and perfect timing for me too!!
Thanks for posting this Susan, I am also struggling with frustration and self doubt, in fact with all the examples you gave (weight loss, new skill for me AND new skill for my dog!!) sometimes I think I might need a psychologist rather than a dog trainer!!
VERY reassuring to know you go through the same struggles and also to know that many others are too 🙂
thanks again Susan, from she who too often finds herself curled up in the foetal position and also to my trainer who picks me up and slaps me around the head 😉
Very timely for me – thank you
Perfect timing, thank you!
Thanks Susan! Sharing these insights and experiences will always help someone else. It is so generous of you. And so timely for me:)
Gosh don’t you just know it!!! After literally 5 years of struggling to control my dog’s allergies to house mites and other stuff, a treatment, with minimal side effects, has been tried and is successful. My dog sleeps and recuperates once again, and I can stop juggling with cortisone, skin treatments, tranquillisers before and after densibilisation shots etc. She is liberated, I am liberated, and our training plans need no longer be interrupted by allergie peaks, and competitions planned with “what if…” considerations. There is hope. I can look at my dog run, play and work and know that there is no medication influencing how she behaves and how she feels. Wonderful. Her abilities and my skills are laid bare, uninfluenced by other outside factors. What can I ask for more?
What is it Ann? I struggle with the same thing with one of my girls who developed a bunch of environmental allergies after a reaction to vaccines?
Atopica by Novartis. The downside is it’s price at least for the first two months trial period. Novartis says that if it doesn’t work after two months, stop because it will not work. It targets a particular mollecule or something and if your dog’s allergies come from another mollecule, Atopica can’t help. Ônce it works well, you space out the number of days you give it and it becomes more cost effective. With my dog it worked completely after 12 hours, I’ve weaned her off the cortisone now and will begin spacing out the days. Need a vet’s prescription. Cassie suffers like your dog from Vaccinosis. There’s good info on the web about it! Good luck!
Thanks for that, Susan…I’m having a struggle with the ‘wooden spoon’. Snap is taking it, just not holding it…I need to tweek something…:o} Also, being a cold winter with lots of snow…I’ve not been able to get out like I like and I’m falling into a rut. Thanks for the quote..I needed it.
What a GREAT, uplifting message! Just the thought that there is an answer to be found creates that HOPE! THANKS!
PS I’m working on increasing Jake’s (my JRT youngster)focus on the task at hand. A task to which I know you can relate.
Thank you Susan! You couldn’t have timed this any better for me. Kindle and I are going outside right now to try a slight modification to his training, and somehow I just know it will be successful in getting us over our current bump!
This post couldn’t have come at a better time for me. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I’m still looking for the hope, but I guess just knowing it’s out there is, in and of itself, hope.
Did you fix your “bump” with duct tape?! ;p
On the second toe, Anji:)
I have to laugh, my “fortune” (fellow UNIX geeks know what I mean by that) for today was:
“Gaffer’s tape, like The Force, has a light and a dark side and binds the universe together.”