What Success in Life, Child Rearing, and Pet Training Have in Common

I was having my coffee this morning and watching the pets here interact, as I frequently do, and I got to thinking that there were only three parallels between all the fields I've worked in, and life itself.

I could go on, and put more words into this than it needs, but I'm not in the mood to do that today.

Keeping it simple;  success in life, child rearing, and pet training, all come down to three things.  Decide on what you want.  Focus on the behavior and results that you want.  Do not focus on what you don't want.

I'll use the cats that live here, as an example.  My cat (Lou, my vice pawsident), and Bullet, one of the cats belonging to my roommates, used to not get along very well at all.  They would hiss, spit, growl, swat and generally carry on at the sight of one another.

This is not behavior I wanted to see, and it isn't behavior that I will tolerate, and Lou, bless him, knew and understood that.  I hadn't hand-raised Bullet (cream & white) the way I had Lou (gray & white), so he had a completely different set of boundaries that he operated from.

So, as a former obedience instructor, I broke out the kitty treats and I waited to catch them *not* behaving badly towards each other.  When they were being good and not beating on each other, I administered treats and praise.  I wish I could say that there was an instant understanding and good behavior commenced forthwith.  Alas, if I did, I'd be lying.  This 'catching the cats being good' and offering treats and praise for not beating each other up, has been a process.  The above is about how close they can get to each other, nowadays.  They still do have the occasional wrestling match, or the occasional match of bravado, but, that's about it.

Similar methods work with children, and, for that matter, adults.  Only I would suggest a treat/action that's a bit different than what I'd use on the cats. :)

How can you apply this to your own life, and your interactions with other beings?

Until next time..peace.