I would like to thank Peter Densham from Rolls Royce who sent me an article about the duck and the eagle and suggested it would be a good story to share in my blog.
This story is featured in an article written by successful business woman Amanda Oling based in the USA and it reminded me of my radio sales days with Metro Radio in the North East of England. I attended many courses and listened to many motivational speakers and one of the most profound analogies I have ever come across was the Duck vs Eagle by Dr Wayne Dyer.
This is the article Amanda wrote:
People often ask the secret to my success in business and life. It’s this one simple story — Ducks Quack and Eagles Soar. I first heard this story years ago and it has stuck with me for years.
At the time I was working in law enforcement and a training officer came to speak to us, to inspire us. I’ll never forget that day or this story. This story has helped me find success both in business and personal life repeatedly ever since. I’m so thankful that the training officer shared this story that day.
Ducks Quack — Eagles Soar as told by Harvey Mackay:
I was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing I noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for me.
He handed me a laminated card and said: ‘I’m Wally, your driver. While I’m loading your bags in the trunk I’d like you to read my ‘mission statement.’
Taken aback, I read the card.
It said: “Wally’s Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.”
This blew me away. Especially when I noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!
As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, “Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.”
I said jokingly, ‘No, I’d prefer a soft drink.’
Wally smiled and said, “No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.”
Almost stuttering, I said, “I’ll take a Diet Coke.”
Handing me my drink, Wally said, “If you’d like something to read, I have the Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.” As we were pulling away, Wally handed me another laminated card — “These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you’d like to listen to the radio.”
And as if that weren’t enough, Wally told me that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for me. Then he advised me of the best route to my destination for that time of day.
He also let me know that he’d be happy to chat and tell me about some of the sights or, if I preferred, to leave me with my own thoughts.
This was an amazing experience
“Tell me, Wally,” I asked the driver, “have you always served customers like this?”
Wally smiled into the rear-view mirror. “No, not always. In fact, it’s only been in the last two years.
My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day. He had just written a book called You’ll See It When You Believe It.
Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you’d rarely disappoint yourself. He said stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don’t be a duck. Be an eagle.
Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd. That hit me right between the eyes,” said Wally. “Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle.
I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So, I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.”
“I take it that has paid off for you.” I said.
“It sure has,” Wally replied. “My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I’ll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don’t sit at cabstands anymore.
My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can’t pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.”
Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I’ve probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it.
Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn’t do any of what I was suggesting. Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles.
Ducks Quack — Eagles Soar.
An amazing and inspiring story
Wow, how amazing is that. Just reading the story inspires me to keep believing that anything is possible and there are more great things to come. Wally was miserable and fed up as a cab driver then he had a mindset change and everything changed. Now he loves his job, and he makes more money!
I did the same thing 8 years ago when I made a choice to believe that I still had a future even though I was deep in debt and living with my mum as a 60-year-old. I had to change my mindset and focus on the positive.
Things looked extremely bleak but deep inside I started to believe that change was possible. I forced myself to speak positively and to think positively, rejecting negative thoughts and words. Slowly but surely things have improved to a level I never dreamed of, and the best is yet to come!
I am no longer a Duck but a soaring Eagle.
Thoughts for the week.
1. Has this story impacted you at all?
2. Can you see any areas of your life where you are a duck?
3. This week work on your duck and see if you can morph into an eagle.
4. An eagle doesn’t work hard – it soars high using the thermals to keep itself in the air.
5. The eagle is majestic and is the king of the air, isn’t that a great way to live?
Well that’s it for this week, have a wonderful weekend and keep soaring.
Warm regards
John
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