A distant picture of some amazing horse trainers that come work out their horses at our place every summer.
Alot of people stand back and admire those that have succeeded in the horse business and raise and train good horses. Everyone wants to know how they did it and what there secret was. There success boiled down to a few "magic" ingredients:
Consistency. Each day you tackle the same goal. Same time, same place. No matter what else comes up you will find those people consistently in those places and times working on their goals.
Clear, specifc goals. What does a clear, specific goal look like? It's not a statement of "I want to become a good rider." It's the statement of "I will compete this year in such and such horse shows" or "I want to achieve such and such time on the barrels". "I want to get a certain score going down the fence." They are very specific, measureable goals.
Hard, focused work. Have you ever picked huckleberries? They are tiny, delicious berries that are abundant in these mountains in the summer. They take alot of time to pick. Because they are so tiny and everywhere, its so tempting to run from bush to bush picking berries. But the person that "sticks to his bush" and picks them all off one bush and then goes to another bush is the person that ends up with more berries in his bucket. Never underestimate the power of hard, focused work in getting a task done. Most people don't become amazing because they can't stick to their bush but keep moving onto something else.
Not giving up. Oftentimes, when we don't find success in what we are doing, we doubt ourselves. We wonder if we are barking up the wrong tree. We lose confidence and want to give up and move onto something else. The difference between those you see who succeed are that they stay confident that they are on the right path and that the difficulties that they are encounter are just normal bumps in the road that are passable. Don't give up on those goals you have when things get tough.