The Way You Do Anything is the Way You Do Everything: The Why of Why Your Business Isn't Making More Money

Chapter 6

Having Faith

Faith is believing in something when common sense tells you not to.

—Fred Gailey, Miracle on 34th Street

I'm standing in a hay field wondering how the hell I ended up here.

Well, I shouldn't be too dramatic. I do know how I got here. I paid to be here. Specifically, I had registered my amazing superhero dog, Lucky Boy, in a national tracking competition.

Tracking is a bit like search and rescue. The dog follows a scent track laid by humans to find a glove at the end. Truth be told, there are many moments in life when I wonder how the hell I got wherever I am, but on this day I am ready…ready to be the dope on the end of the rope.

The dog walks the course but the trainer is on the lead—and sometimes I feel I am there just to lose. The dog could probably run this thing flawlessly, but there is a catch: In order to succeed, you have to have faith in your dog. You have to trust he can follow the scent better than your rational, logical brain. I am sure you can see how this goes wrong quite often.

I cannot even tell you how much I have learned about my business and life by training my dogs. It's unbelievable.

Here's how a tracking test works:

A human lays a trail (simply by walking it) and drops their scent for about 500 yards, all while taking right and left turns, going over some obstacles, etc. The track ages for about an hour or two, then the dog is put on a lead and tracks the scent to the end, where there is a glove. It's unbelievable to watch!

The dog is ...