Reflections of a Small Business Rhino

A year ago, I read a book that changed my life.

It’s the cheasiest…shortest book I think I’ve read in my adult business-hood, but it made QUITE the impact.

In “Rhinoceros Success” by Scott Alexander, he walks you through WHY (as a business owner) YOU…are a Rhinoceros. He goes through all of the reasons you might expect:

When you get knocked down…you jump back up and break right through the wall…

You have insanely thick skin…

You have an insane ability to charge down opportunities…

I don’t necessarily want to break down the book…primarily because I REALLY think you should read it. But what I DO want to talk about, is it’s symbolism.  As an adult, I sometimes like to imagine that I’m Angelina Jolie in “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”…

Maybe even Meryl Streep in “Devil Wears Prada”…

I’m a badass chick,  who takes ZERO crap from anybody.  And this, my friends, is a survival mechanism.

We may be adults, but being able to channel our inner Eon Flux (yeah…my nerd-dome went there) is an amazing survival technique…especially in the cutthroat world of small business. (PS…I’m not excluding guys from this, either!!! I just have a harder time channeling Jason Stathom…).

As children, we play pretend…NOT to simply escape our parental constraints, but to train us to become more empathetic and imaginative as adults.

SO, when I read Scott Alexander’s book…it was SUPER easy for me to tell myself “I AM a rhino!!  Hell YEAH I’ve got thick skin!!”.  MY brain proceeded to line up EVERY instance in my life where I was thick-skinned, where I rose to a challenge, or where I fell off the horse…er…rhino…and got back up again.

Since reading the book…I put rhino’s discretely all over my house.  (I’m PRETTY sure JOSH doesn’t even know they’re there!)

There’s a Rhino hanging next to the back door, a golden rhino on the bookshelf in the living room, a rhino by my bedside table…and even a rhino as my desktop background image.

Every single day, whether my day is amazing…or has become a big ol’ pile of rhino poo, I’m reminded that I’ll barrel through.  I’ll charge forward like the rhino that I am.

SO…I have a question for you!! Are you a rhino?

Look…you don’t HAVE to be a rhino!!  It just happens to be what I associate success with.  BUT, whether you’re inspired by a rhino, a unicorn, or Laffy Taffy…start putting subtle hints to your badassery in your everyday life! BECOME the embodiment of the characteristics that motivate you.

Here are a couple of ideas to get you started:

The WHOLE point is to remind yourself of your strengths throughout the day.  After a while…you’re brain will simply KNOW that these strengths are what you’re naturally great at.

Remember, you’ve been training for this since you were a kid!!!  So make those moments matter!!

I would LOVE to hear what your strength symbols are!! Do you have a symbol that reminds you that you’re amazing every single day?  Tell me below!!