The Dog Star: Taking A Sharp Right

August 9, 2007

The Dog Star: Taking A Sharp Right

(The Dog Star is a symbol of power, will, and steadfastness of purpose, and exemplifies the One who has succeeded in bridging the lower and higher consciousness. – Astrological Definition)

At the pool today, the dogs were fighting and playing as usual when Buddy suddenly ran onto the lawn between the pool and the pond. That is unusual, because Koufax can easily run him down in the open.

Buddy was running for all he was worth but Koufax, resembling nothing so much as a Cheetah running after an Impala, was just about on him. Suddenly, Buddy hit the ground and came to a screeching halt. Koufax couldn’t stop in time, and ran right over him. By the time Koufax turned, Buddy had taken a sharp right and ducked under the bushes. It was a brilliant, gutsy tactic.

I’ve told a great many of my clients to “take a sharp right.” That means you stop a fruitless, agonizing run that you are bound to lose, and set a new direction for yourself. I’ve told clients who are number three in their industry—when the number one competitor was so far ahead as to be over the horizon—that trying to overtake them was worse than impossible, it was a criminal misuse of resources and energy.

Countless prior consultants at my clients have taken an inevitable pharisaical position: keep striving, cut costs, innovate, motivate, yada yada yada. My advice was to end the Quixotic quest and tilt at a windmill you could actually arrive at first, before the competition.

Hence, instead of being number three in the lawn treatment business, why not take a sharp right and instantly be number one in non-toxic, organic lawn management? Instead of being the number four farrier, why not be the number one in equine foot health? Instead of being a distant number two in water treatment, why not be a solid first in effluent management?

The martial arts specialize in using an opponent’s momentum against himself. That’s what Buddy did to Koufax, then took a sharp right. Koufax is still a larger, more powerful dog, but Buddy got to his destination first.