Pay Attention
You just might learn something.
I grew up on a cattle ranch. My days were spent building fences, driving and fixing tractors, and going on cattle drives. My father is truly a great American cowboy.
He went to college to become a teacher. After he finished - he decided that his heart belonged at the ranch, and his children became the students he had trained to teach. There is a phrase that he would say to me, that in my mind is heard as clear as day - and I’m pretty sure it’s so clear because I heard it said. a lot.
Case 1: Kat breaks the tractor. She takes the tractor to the shop. Kat starts to get bored watching her dad fix the tractor.
Case 2: Long day in the heat. Kat is hot, thirsty, and exhausted since she woke up at 4am to chase cows. She’s not paying attention to the way the cattle are acting, and a calf suddenly runs away from the herd.
Case 3: The fences at the ranch are incredibly hard to shut. They are wood and wire, and require a knot that boy scouts would shy away from. Kat spends what seems like hours trying to shut that stupid f*ing gate.
Dad’s Response: He looks at me. This is no normal look - this is a terrifying look meant to inspire his students/children. He stares for about 30 seconds, and then says “Pay Attention Katie. You just might learn something” - and then he would proceed to instruct me on how I would and should fix the problem.
My dad refused to let us be passive, to sit idly by and let him do all the work. He expected us to act, to learn how he did things, and to replicate them.
This is by far the most valuable lesson I have ever been taught - and I am still trying to truly learn it, to become a master at paying attention. It has challenged me to look at the details, to see how people act, how they work, how they’re feeling. It’s my opinion that everyone has a stroke of genius - and if we pay attention, we can take a little of that genius for ourselves.
Paying attention makes us grateful for the people in our lives, be it at home, work, or at play. It makes work more enjoyable, and it challenges us to grow in the day to day. It has become my mantra, and so I challenge you to Pay Attention - you just might learn something.
