MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY WITH DAN: Are You Guarding a Concrete Slab?
Welcome to a brand-new week. Great opportunities for growth, success and progress awaits. Be expectant.
?How often do you hear: “That’s how we’ve always done it?” “That’s the way things have always been done.” “This is how our forefathers said it is done.” This week I want to share another interesting story with you. I encountered an interesting story last week. It’s a great story from the military about an Army barracks that had a concrete slab out in front of the entrance. It’s a story about “Outdated Thinking.”
?There was an army barracks that had on its duty roster 4 soldiers to guard at all times a concrete slab in front of the barracks. The soldiers changed shifts guarding the slabs for many years. Different commanders came and went and the tradition continued. After many years, a new commander was assigned to the barracks. Amongst the things he did was asking why things were done the way they were. When he asked why soldiers were guarding the slab, he was told, “We’ve always done it this way. It’s our tradition. Our former commanders instructed us to do that.” The commander was adamant on finding out why.
?He went to the archives to look for answers and he came across a document that had the explanation. The document was very old. It had instructions written by one of the retired commanders who had even passed away. The new commander learnt that over 80 years ago, the barracks wanted to build a platform where events could be performed. When the concrete slab was laid, wild animals walked over it at night before the slab would dry. The soldiers would fix it the next morning but when evening came the same thing would happen. So the commander ordered that 4 soldiers should guard the concrete slab for 3 weeks to allow it to dry.
?The following week the commander was transferred to another post and a new commander was brought in. The new commander found the routine and enforced it and every commander that came did the same. Eighty years later the barracks continued guarding a concrete slab.
?The rest is history…for 80 years the soldiers had been guarding a concrete slab that did not need guarding! Why?… Because “This Is The Way We’ve Always Done It!”
?ARE YOU GUARDING A CONCRETE SLAB? What things are you doing now just because “That’s The Way I’ve Always Done It”?
?Take a look at where you can make some changes in your life. What beliefs are you maintaining that are quite possibly outdated? What beliefs, attitudes, traditions have you carried on that were relevant to certain people or a certain time and they are still being carried out by you? Is your opinion about yourself, people of a different race, the opposite sex, certain business opportunities, new products etc. obsolete?
?Get rid of old baggage and cobweb from your thinking and life. Relieve yourself from some of that “guard duty” that you have been doing for years. Do not be a slave to tradition. Don’t remain stuck to the “This-Is-How-We-Have-Always-Done-It” mentality.
?Status Quo is the way things are, but don’t necessarily have to stay that way. To challenge the status quo is what true living is all about. Simply put, “Nothing stays the same. It’s not supposed to.” To your success!