Work Like a Dog

OK, I really really like all things Oprah. I admit it. I like the Oprah show, Oprah and Friends on XM radio, Oprah the actress in The Color Purple, Oprah the Producer, Oprah the Activist Campaigner for my favorite candidate, and O Magazine.

My March issue of O came yesterday and there was a great article in it by life coach Martha Beck making the analogy of modeling your life after dogs' behaviors. Admittedly this may be a stretch, but I read on mostly because I had heard a great talk on leadership by Polley Ann McClure at Educause a couple of years ago (2003) (here is a link to the article that followed on to the talk) that compared leadership skills to skills needed for agility training with dogs.

This article in O said that dogs follow their instincts and succeed the most when they have jobs that play to their strengths. For instance, beagles live for their food dish. I know this in fact to be true because Murray, Gemma's dog, once ate an entire loaf of bread, a pound each of turkey and cheese, and the wrappers for all three foodstuffs. Martha Beck said that for this reason beagles make great dogs to sniff out illegal food in customs areas in airports. They don't do squat for drugs, but for food - stand back!

She had several other good examples - the point being find a job you are well suited for and you will do it with gusto. You will look forward to it and excel. In other words, you will work like a dog!