Car Count Daily

Let me take you outside of the auto repair industry, okay? Let’s just forget that you own a shop, and let’s just put you into the horse racing industry, okay? More specifically, you own one horse. This horse, this magnificent thoroughbred is there to put food on your table, to buy you the house of your dreams, to have you drive the car you want, and to put your kids into the right schools. This one thoroughbred is responsible for your entire livelihood.

Now let me ask you a question: if this one horse was responsible for all of that, what would you feed that horse? Would you take it to McDonald’s every single day? Would you just feed it whatever’s convenient? Or would you give it only the best nutrition possible, and to ensure that it was taking in the energy that it needs to win a race? Of course you’d probably go that route, correct? What about the amount of sleep? Would you let the horse run around all night long, as long as it really wanted to, and not give it enough sleep? Of course not. You’d look at that horse and say, “You know what? This horse is responsible for my livelihood. I have got to keep it rested, because only a rested horse can run at peak efficiency,” right?

Now, what about its stable mates? Who would you let that horse hang around with? Would you put it in a stable full of donkeys? Of course you wouldn’t, you’d probably put it around other thoroughbreds, other winning horses. ’cause I don’t know if you know a lot about horses, but they have their own unique personalities. They’re a lot like you and I. They respond to the same kind of stimulus that we do, and they have great personalities. So of course you’re not going to let them hang around a bunch of donkeys, they’re going to hang around a bunch of winners.

What about going to the doctor? Would you have the vet go and check out that horse as often as possible, and have it repair or fix whatever’s wrong? Of course you would. You wouldn’t want an injured horse trying to win races, ’cause if you don’t win the race, you don’t make any money. Talk about rest, I mean overall rest. Around the country there are different racing seasons. If you were in Florida, and you just completed the entire Florida racing season, would you then move it out to Arizona, or to New York where the next season is starting and just have it run everyday? Day after day, month after month, year after year? Of course, you’d let it rest once and awhile

Let me change the scenario a little bit, and let you realize that you are the thoroughbred. You’re responsible for your livelihood. Who you hang around with, the food you eat, the amount of exercise you get, the doctors visits, the amount of rest, relaxation, and vacations all are part of winning. A lot of times we as entrepreneurs run ourselves to death. We don’t take care of ourselves, we take care of everybody else around us rather than taking care of the most important thing in our lives, which is us. Without us, our businesses simply don’t exist.

I mean think about it, if you had to go away from the shop for a month right now, what would your shop be like? Would you even have a shop if you come back after a month of you not having anything to do with it? Well like most shop owners, you wouldn’t have a shop. Everything would be in shambles. See, we can’t afford to go down, we can’t afford to go lame, we can’t afford not to put the best nutrition in our bodies so that we can run at peak efficiency. If you’re tired in the afternoon, it’s because of the energy that you put into your body, it’s the food you put in your body, it’s the attitude of the people that are around you. That they either draw energy away from you, or give you energy.

We have to really protect ourselves, our health, our mental health, our bodies, and everything around us because we are the sole source of income for our families. And not only our families, but our employee’s families. It’s up to us to be running at peak efficiency. Kind of keep that in mind next time you go reaching for that hamburger, or next time you grab something ’cause it’s convenient, or next time you have to deal with that pain in the butt employee, or customer that just draws the energy from you. Keep that in mind, you’re the thoroughbred, start treating yourself like it.

This is a little different than what I normally do, but I think it’s important that we take care of ourselves first because unless you’re running at peak efficiency, nothing else matters. Unless you’re happy in your life, nothing else matters. Unless you have your family around you, nothing else matters. Sometimes we have to remember that. Let’s take care of ourselves first.