Greatness: The quality of being great, distinguished, or eminent. Dang! Double Dang! I had to leave the mule corral on this one, Do you realize if mules focused on developing greatness, they would be unstoppable? That would keep me in the bleachers for a long, long while. This is what I found in how we, as humans, measure greatness. And interestingly, I also found some of the same qualities in mules:
- Authentic – A hybrid is a hybrid, so that clarifies a mule is a mule.
- Brave – typically, mules are going to save their own ass, however, there is one mule that comes to mind that rode into danger. General Crook and his mule “Apache” captured the great warrior Chief Geronimo.
- Decisive – Once a mule has made up his mind, there is no changing it.
- Goal-oriented – This is a good one. Eat in the pasture all night under the moonlight, chase a coyote out of the pasture, play with the cows if they are around, head to the water trough in the morning, roll in the dust and bask in the sun during the daylight.
- Humble – If anything, you will learn to be humble when hanging out with mules.
- Inspiring – This is where your true test of character will come in. You have to be able to inspire mules.
- Justice – A mule will teach you this from day one. Remember, the punishment must match the crime. All mules are different as are their sensitivity levels.
- Listener – Mules are great listeners.
- Motivating – Mules will teach you motivation. You will spend a lot of time thinking of ways to “convince” or convey a new thought or task to your mule. It’s their job to question your resume or sales pitch. Your mule wants to know why he should hire you? If you can motivate mules, you are doing well at achieving greatness.
- Encourage – Mules require this encouragement thing. Keep moving, increasing and growing, and pioneering new frontiers.
- Trustworthy – No doubt about it, a mule requires all humans that come into their domain to be trustworthy. They know deceit when they see it, coming from a mile away.
- It takes a confident and good mind set to work through challenges that will come along in your equine training program. And, working with mules will no doubt, make you into a better person. The kind of person that has a deeper understanding in how mules and donkeys think. You will have respect for those you work with and will develop a better temperament… and that my friends, is the path to greatness.
