Be A Buffalo
Hey team, here we are for another Monday Message, and I wanted to chat with you for a minute. Some of you have probably heard this old saying: “That which doesn’t kill you will only make you stronger.” I happen to believe that.
As a matter of fact, I had a couple of leaders in the Marine Corps. They used to say things like when we would hit adversity and we’d have tough challenges, stay up all night and work really hard out in the field, face a G3/4 storm, a hurricane, winds basically, and crossing a stream, and by stream, I mean a Class 4 tiver, for kayakers, things like that, just little stuff, jumping out of helicopters. Every challenge that we would come up against, we would have our leaders say. I had this one particular leader; he was a captain of mine. He would say, “It builds character.” To build your character, a 20-mile hump in the rain, it’ll build your character. G3/4 storm, enough to turn over tractor-trailer trucks and move vehicles and lift porta-potties and put them in trees, build your character.
So, I guess you could say I had a lot of character-building going on in my life. But the fact of the matter is, he’s kind of right. That which doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. You have opportunity. Every opportunity has a challenge, and every challenge has an opportunity. Some of you have to process that for a second. Every opportunity you have will have a challenge in it, and every challenge you run into in your life or that you’re going through maybe right now has opportunities, good or bad. The difference maker is your attitude towards it. When you face that storm, do you lean into it or do you run away from it?
There’s this thing I think I learned recently about the buffalo. Up in Montana and Wyoming, they’re at Yellowstone. When a really big storm comes, the buffalo, they move into the storm. They herd together and they move into the storm, whereas cows, they run away from it. Some of you are saying, “What has that got to do with anything?” Well, they face adversity. And here’s the neat thing about it. Because they face the challenge because they face and they band together, they lose less in number and they are in the storm less time. Whereas cows, they’re trying to run away from it, so they’re in the storm longer because they’re trying to stay ahead of it, but they can’t, so they end up in the storm, and they get scattered, so they’re alone.
Now, there are a whole lot of points that we could unpack right there, but this is a Monday Message, and it’s only supposed to be a couple of minutes long. So I want you to think about that. Maybe we’ll hit some more of those points in future messages. But do you face challenges head-on? Do you band together with your team? Do you work with them to accomplish things? What’s your attitude like? These are all things to ponder, and our core values say that we have resolved. Pressure plus pain, times perfect perseverance equals prosperity.
Some of you are going, “Wow, Chad, you’re really dragging it out there.” Yes, I am, and I want you guys to understand that we are here for you as much as we need you here for us. I want to help you go through those storms in life. I want to go through them with you. And I want to head into that storm with you and make great strides moving forward together. So the challenges you face have plenty of opportunity for growth, perseverance, and excellence for you and what’s about to happen through and to you.
Every opportunity that you have that you’re looking at the big, better thing, well, there’s going to be some challenges. There are going to be some challenges that you’re still going to have to go through. But do you have a team to go through it with you? We’re here for you. I’m here for you. We want to help you with that process. All right, so Monday Message is coming to an end. So I want you to be valuable because nothing less will do, and I want you to have a blessed week, an exciting week. Look for those opportunities, face those challenges head-on, and do it with your team. All right, God bless you guys. I’ll see you next week.
