Peep peep peep peep peep peep peep PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP
I still hear it.
It’s been hours since I returned her to her adoptive mother, but I still hear it.
That peeping. That incessant peeping.
“How hard could it be?” I thought, when I offered to baby-sit my friend’s orphaned duckling for the day.
I now question whether she really had meetings all day, or just wanted a break from that incessant peeping.
“I’ll just put her in a box, and she’ll sleep right under my desk at work. It’ll be easy,” I said to myself.
Yea… it wasn’t easy.
This little duckling had a serious fear of abandonment.
Every time I got up to go to the restroom, to get something from the printer, or even get a drink of water, the peeping started.
And it didn’t stop until I returned.
It just got louder and louder until it reached the intensity of a smoke alarm.
No joke.
It was crazy.
Once it saw me again, it’s little body stopped quivering with fear and relaxed.
The whole thing was hilarious (although I don’t think the little duck thought so).
To see that baby duck standing up tall in the box desperately trying to find me, when I moved out of eyesight, was just too much.
I wasn’t trying to scar this poor duck, but I did have business to take care of.
It even tried to jump out of the box.
REPEATEDLY!
It succeeded once, which kind of surprised me, considering the top of the box was well over it’s head.
I’m telling you, the determination in this little duck inspired me in a BIG WAY.
It’s been some time since I’ve been around non-domesticated baby animals, and witnessed their survival instinct up close and personal.
Her adoptive mother had warned me about this little duck’s need to be close to you at all times, but you can’t really put into words just how intense this attachment was.
This little duck taught me a serious lesson in success today.
The lesson…
Just keep on peepin’ and don’t give up!
Loosely translated to English, this means… “Just keep on progressing toward your goal. Don’t quit, and don’t give up.”
Even in the face of overwhelming evidence that you’ll never realize your goal, just keep progressing toward it.
It dawned on me later in the day, that this little duckling wasn’t just peeping to peep.
It wasn’t punching a time-clock.
It wasn’t just going through the motions.
It was peeping to survive!
In this baby duck’s mind, every time it lost sight of me, it’s thought process was “I’ll die if that person doesn’t come back.”
That’s a serious reason to peep.
Can you imagine the results we could achieve in any area of our lives if we adopted this mindset, and applied it to our own goals?
I can.
It would be HUGE!
For most of us, there’s no real threat of dying if we fail to realize our goal.
Whether we’ve set health goals, financial goals, or relationship goals, if we perform in a mediocre way, it’s kind of no big deal if we fail.
And that’s exactly the problem.
I know I’m guilty of this.
I’ve been guilty of approaching goals I’ve set for myself in a ho-hum, lackadaisical, kind of way.
And with this mindset, guess what kind of results I got?
That’s right.
Ho-hum, lackadaisical kind of results.
So I owe a huge debt of gratitude to this duckling, and it’s adoptive mother, for teaching me this valuable lesson in success, and for showing me that I’ve got to go all-in on my goals.
It’s so easy to loose the intensity of our actions over time.
To become complacent.
To settle into mediocrity.
This is ultimately a death sentence for our soul if it goes on long enough.
If you’ve got goals, perhaps you too can benefit from the lesson this little orphaned duckling taught me today.
Sincerely,
Mark
P.S. – Here’s my teacher in action.
