I don’t know about you, but I love stories that carry an important message. One such story I discovered this week was the bedtime story of the ‘Raven Who Would Rival The Eagle’ by the Greek storyteller Aesop.
If you haven’t heard the story, please google and look it up- it’s been adapted into a poem by W.T. Larned.
For speed and convenience, here’s a very quick summary:
-A raven sees an eagle swoop down from the sky, snatch up a sheep and fly off.
-What a meal he thinks to himself, I could do that.
-The raven picks out a fat looking sheep from the flock and landed on her back.
-He tries to fly off but cannot lift the heavy weight.
-The shepherd hears the commotion and rushes over.
-The raven is captured in a cage and has neither a feast nor his freedom.
WHAT’S THE MESSAGE?
Some might say the message is about the risk of being over confident, but I prefer the interpretation I heard from Darren Hardy, which was this- if you’re a raven, don’t try to be an eagle, just be the BEST YOU! You can’t be someone else but what you can do is learn the mindset and action steps they used to create their success, and the resilience and grit that they applied consistently.
I’m sure everyone who reads this will have a version of this at some point in their lives, trying to copy or be someone else. What’s yours? And what does being the best you look like?
For me, back in 2014 the eagles I tried to copy were software entrepreneurs. I struggled like hell to build a software business, something totally alien to me. I was definitely the greedy raven but the proverbial sheep (the software business) was too heavy for me to lift.
But thankfully my little story has some pretty cool outcomes. I applied the same principles I learned in starting a software business and used them to start a serviced accommodation business from scratch, that was profitable on day one! I found a way to be the best me doing something I really enjoy, and will continue to do all my life- investing in property.
I’ve also come to recognise that part of being the best me is to share what’s delivered results for me so that others may grow and become the next best version of themselves. Everything I’ve been referring to with my little story above about applying a powerful approach to serviced accommodation, and now other property strategies, I’ve shared in my new book.
It’s called Predictable Property Profits and it launches very soon so please look out for the notifications. In the book I share all the detail behind the approach I’m talking about, and there will also be some great bonuses available with the book on launch day.
Until then, I encourage you to think about the message in the fable of the Raven and the Eagle- what does being the best you look like?