Neil Dudley: Hey, everybody. This episode of Straight From the Horse’s Mouth is called More Truth, Less Coincidence. The reason I am coming on with this intro is, for this particular topic, I struggled a little bit. I just want to let you know this is three or four different recordings that I’m getting Johnny to splice together, put them in an order or in a sequence that makes some sense because, well, to be honest, I just struggled a little bit on this topic and putting it out in a way that is easy to listen to and understand. And I also had the great chance to get Brit involved. Brit is our National Retail Sales Director at Pederson’s. And I posted a little more truth, less coincidence social post, and she chimed in and said, hmm, that’s interesting to me. So, we got a little bit of her perspective in here too. I hope you enjoy it. Hey, if you like what you hear, tell a friend. If you don’t like it, tell me. Go subscribe to the Cowboy Perspective.
More truth than coincidence. What does that mean? Well, for me, it is a tool; it’s a way that I put a little measuring stick against things that people are trying to teach me. I mean, look, you’re going to have to decide whether the things that I say have any validity or if I’m just rambling on about stuff that doesn’t make any difference in the world or wouldn’t make any difference in your world or your perspective or how you do it. I talk a little bit about just how people taught me, and one of those things I think I ultimately come out with is when I’m listening to something, I don’t care if it’s Tony Robbins or a sermon or Tyson Durfey or Ty Murray, anybody, I mean, I’m always thinking these people can teach me something, though not everything they know, think, or say is actually 100% right for me. So, what I try to decide or what I think about when I hear things I’m like, wow, I like that, is that more truth than coincidence? Is the fact that that worked for him or her more truth than coincidence. And if it turns out it’s more truth, then, man, I’m going to try to play it in my life. I’m going to put it into my thought processes. I’m going to put it into the way that I operate. If it seems like more of a coincidence, like maybe some of that really worked out really well partly because of just the climate in the economy at the time, or partly because of their specific skillset, it could have been a coincidence that Ty was great at riding bulls because he was built with the right kind of body type and had the right kind of mental attitude towards it – it might be a little unfair to call that a coincidence because I know he spent a lot of time working at it really hard – but I guess the truth would be, for me, riding bulls was just not a thing that I was going to do in my life. It didn’t turn my clock. It didn’t make me- So when he talks about specific things about riding bulls, it’s just not a thing that I need to go put in my life, although it is totally great perspective. It’s just not a thing that I’m going to play in my life specifically to bulls, but I could maybe play it in business or in horsemanship. There’s just a lot of things, and the whole point of the Straight From the Horse’s Mouth series or episodes is to spur you on to think about things and how are you taking in information? I mean, Gary V is another example. Man, I love a lot of his content, but I have to spend quite a bit of time thinking to myself, okay, is that more truth or coincidence? To Gary, it’s all going to be truth. I have to find out is it more truth for me or coincidence? Maybe that’s a tool, maybe that’s a thought process, maybe that’s a thing you can start using in your life when you’re listening and learning, trying to get better.
So, when I say more truth, less coincidence, it means that is that result more truth than coincidence, or it’s more truth, less coincidence? For example, maybe we tried a Facebook ad that blew up and did great. I want to think about that in a way that tells me, now, is that truth that the way we did that, converted, made sales, was successful? Or is that coincidence that there was something in culture, in the economy, in the political angst or whatever might be happening that just coincidentally made that successful? Now, if I look up and I’m like, wow, that is truth, then bam, we just feed that as much as we possibly can because it’s repeatable, it is genuine, and I think that is where you find success. Now, there’s going to be coincidence in almost everything in some way, some form or fashion. But if to me, in the way I understand what’s going on, there’s more truth in it than coincidence, wow, I think I can repeat that. I can go monetize that. I can put this in my life, use it daily, and make it successful. So, that was the thing that’s been kind of percolating in my mind as something I want to share with you because I believe there’s a lot of potential for being misguided, even by me. There are some things that happen to be a truth for me just because I’m a cowboy. So, in my life, that truth is more real than it might be for you or just someone else, some other guy or gal.
I want to mention I’m watching a lot of self-help stuff, and when I say watch – paying attention to social media, podcasts, books from people, successful people, supposedly, I don’t know, I’m taking their word for it. Now, in real life, my friends, my cowboy mentors, my wife, my mom, my dad, these people are all great examples of self-help resources I have. And I really leverage them a lot. But as I’m watching out on social media and seeing people with Ferrari’s and saying, hey, or hearing stuff like go buy a Ferrari, it will change your life, people will all of a sudden start respecting you, I have to think or I like to run that through the filter of more truth, less coincidence. Now, is it really truth that owning a Ferrari makes you a better businessman, gets you more opportunities, allows you to start conversations, helps you build your network? Or is it more coincidence that you happen to have a fancy car and it gives you confidence? There’s a great book out there; it’s called Blink, it is by a guy named Malcolm Gladwell who’s wrote a lot of great books. He’s a very deep thinker, I mean, he’s researched these things. In the book Blink, it just talks about how quick our brain makes assumptions, decisions, judgements on just everything in life. Just we see it, we’re making little slivers of judgment and cross sections of what we believe is happening just all the time. I’m doing it right now even while I’m recording this episode or this conversation about more truth, less coincidence. So that’s another piece as you’re going along thinking, hey, all of these blink snap decisions I’m making, I might want to slow down. Like you see the guy in the Ferrari talking about all his business success and what you need to do to have what he has, assuming that is what you want, I just want to encourage you, audit that – is that truth or is that coincidence? Okay? Just audit those people you pay attention to. What you put into your brain is what’s going to live there and direct you. Right? So, I highly recommend the Bible. There’s just not a better resource than that. And then who you talk to, who you’re around each and every day, that’s hugely important. Make sure those people lift you up, build you up, expect you to do great things, have an abundance mindset, hold you accountable. Those things are very important. Now, maybe the Ferrari’s aren’t so important. Maybe the whatever tactic somebody is proposing to be used to sell people or to build a brand, maybe it’s not as much truth as it is coincidence. And I want you to have all the success you have coming for you and to you that you can have. And something just told me let’s talk a little bit about this. Just say to yourself sometimes when you’re thinking, wow, that’s what I want to do, run that quick, is this more truth and less coincidence or more coincidence and less truth? Because you’ve got to believe the truth is always more repeatable, more monetizable, more consistent.
Here are the thoughts that Brit Hayes shared with us. Hope you enjoy them.
Brit Hayes: I was scrolling social media a few weeks ago and came across your post posing the question of more truth than coincidence. And it definitely piqued my interest. It’s not something I’ve spent a ton of time reflecting on, but it definitely made me think of a few different instances in my life where I guess I’ve maybe challenged the idea of truth versus coincidence. And I think your example was in regard to receiving advice – did it work by coincidence, or did it truly work for you? When you’re shopping for something new, particularly I have experienced this in car buying – you start researching such and such car that you’re interested in buying, and all of a sudden, you see them everywhere. It’s like, geez, does everybody own a Jeep these days? No, it’s just coincidence that your attention has been brought to that particular vehicle. And I think tying that into your question that you posed regarding advice is the truth is in the coincidence that somebody gave you a piece of advice that finally gave your brain focus and purpose, and that’s what got you across the finish line. And that’s why it worked. The truth of why it worked is coincidence and just influence and focus.
I was kind of hunting around the internet and podcasts, etc., just kind of exploring this after my interest was piqued, and I came across a great quote that I had actually never heard before. The quote is by Albert Einstein, obviously a great mind, and the quote says that “Coincidence is God’s way of staying anonymous.” And that really resonated with me. I like that thought that the greater universe, the cosmos, God, whatever resonates for you, is guiding your path, and that may look a bit like coincidence, but maybe there’s a bigger purpose behind it.
Neil Dudley: Find those things that are truth, repeatable, believable, genuine, and then go replicate those things, and really be cognizant and careful with anything that turns out to be coincidence.
I hope you guys found some value in this quick conversation. I’m going to be doing these Straight From the Horse’s Mouth, trying to nail down some specific things on topics for everyone so you get a little quicker listen. And if you want to get deeper, you can listen to these full episodes. Thanks everybody for listening.
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Now for your listening pleasure, a little Traversing the Trail from Mr. Byron Hill.