A Leadership Lesson Most Never Get
– Learn to Live Between Your Ears –

If there is one crucial concept that is important to living well, it’s learning to live between your own ears.

It doesn’t sound like much at first. In fact, you think everyone does it. But after further consideration, you realize most don’t.

They live “out there” in the air, like a tiny tree in the middle of a field, buffeted constantly by the winds of conversations and orders and instructions.

Think about it, you wake up and you’re feeling fine. It promised to be a good day. Then you hear somebody say something bad about you, and your day suddenly changes. You’re upset, angry, and on edge.

Everything has changed because of something that happened outside of your ears, not between them. You let those comments reach you and mar your day. It wasn’t inevitable and it wasn’t necessary…

…you let it happen.

You chose to live outside your ears, instead of between them.

Think of the difference between lions and sparrows and the way they go about life and where they live.

A sparrow can see its absolute favorite meal (a juicy worm) on the ground, and what does it do? It looks around and it flies near.

Eventually, It begins to peck, but hears something and flies off. It then looks around, but gets frantic. Then it moves. Looks. Back and forth. A step closer. Move, retreat. Go near. Fly away. Come back. Peck. Move. Run. Fly back. Peck. Peck. Peck. Move. Fly away. Fly back. Peck. Retreat. Look. What? Approach. Look. step back. Step forward. Peck.

Could you enjoy a meal like that?

The sparrow is influenced by every tiny movement.

Every breeze, shadow, and twig invades its consciousness.

It jumps around, looks around, dances around, and does hundreds of things besides just sitting down to its favorite meal.

The lion on the other hand is the ultimate in living between its ears. It walks out onto a prairie with big hairy, smelly creatures everywhere. Giant hooves and tusks and horns and teeth all around. Neighing, growling, roaring, chirping, howling going on everywhere.

But the lion chooses its spot, plunks down and goes to sleep. Sleeps till it’s hungry. Then gets up and stretches and limbers up, and lets everyone know with a thunderous roar that it is hungry and about to kill its dinner.

What an incredible difference in lifestyle from the sparrow. The lion kills something and eats it right there on the spot. Packs of hyenas howling a few yards away, wolves growling, huge birds flapping their wings and waiting impatiently for the leftovers.

Do you think the lion hurries?

No.

Lions always eat at the same speed.

The vulture and hyenas and wolves can wait, and will wait. The lion takes its time and eats until it’s full, then walks off a few feet where the air smells better and plunks down on the ground again to sleep. It’s up to the others to drag the leftovers away where they can try to eat in peace.

Now think about it. Which are you? A sparrow, or a lion?

Do you live between your ears? Or “out there” in the air where the roars and howls and growls of life are a constant source of bother and worry?

It’s up to you to live between your own ears. And I believe you can learn to do it! Because I believe in you.

An excerpt from ‘Smart Moves’ By Dick DeVenzio.