Birds are meant to fly, and it’s their feathers that enable flight. They take great care to maintain their ability to fly because they need that to be able to forage.
Foraging is how they obtain their food. God provides the food, but they still have to forage for it.
Like birds, God provides us every opportunity we need for success, but we still have to see those opportunities and act upon them.
So, what birds do every day and oftentimes, multiple times a day, is they “preen”. It’s the process of cleaning, arranging and maintaining their feathers, and it’s critical for their sustained success in the environment in which they live.
Once you understand this process and follow suit, your world will get a lot better too!
Feather Cleaning
Birds always want to be clean. They want to look their best. It makes them attractive to a potential strategic partner (mate) and it sends a signal to potential competitors that it is a viable player in the marketplace (habitat).
They remove dust, dirt, debris and parasites. These are things that inhibit their ability to navigate through the forest and locate the provision God set aside for them. Then they access oil from within their glands and spread it on their wings to enhance flexibility and enable them to get wet without getting waterlogged and unable to fly.
In life, we are inundated with plenty of messages and sights and inputs that left undealt with, can soil our soul and hinder our ability to forage for the opportunities God has set aside for us.
Things like insults, depression, arguments, negative comments, unclean words and thoughts – if they’ve attached themselves to your psyche, need to be removed by washing. It’s called the washing of the water of the Word (Ephesians 5:26)
We also need to access the oil of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us (John 14:17) to enable us to be flexible and thrive in any environment.
PRO TIP
When you find you’re ebbing low in motivation or inspiration or perhaps developing a bad case of stinking thinking, take time to preen. Cleanse your mind with the truth of God’s Word.
If necessary, talk to your soul like David did in Psalm 42:5 “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.”
David would give himself a good talking to. One time, when David’s men returned to Ziklag, their homes had been burned to the ground and their families were carried off by the Amalekites.
Everyone was very distraught, and the men talked about stoning David. In that dire circumstance, David preened. He had to remove the negative words from his thoughts so he could continue with his mission in life. He did this by “encouraging himself in the Lord” (1 Samuel 30:6)
You don’t simply stop thinking negative thoughts. You start thinking and speaking positive words. The the negative ones by default must leave, much like darkness leaves when you turn on the light.
Sometimes when you need encouragement the most, you just have to do it yourself. Don’t be dependent on others to encourage you. It’s always nice to receive positive encouragement, but when you learn to encourage yourself in the Lord, you need never look to anyone else for encouragement!
The act of preening will remove those things that inhibit your ability to forage (trade and do business – be gainfully employed at a high level)
In addition to keeping their feathers clean, birds also realign the feathers that may be knocked out of alignment.
Have you ever tried to make a sale or maybe you tried advertising and didn’t get the result you hoped for? At first you don’t realize what was different than other times. But something was off. Things didn’t line up like you expected and the positive result, evaded you.
That’s when you need to review your process and look for what was not properly aligned or positioned. A good example I heard the other day was a man who spent big bucks hiring Larry King to interview him for an infomercial.
The product was great. The infomercial looked perfect, and they began to air it on TV, but got virtually no sales. It was devastating.
Upon closer inspection of the feathers – the tools such as the infomercial they used to forage and get new business, had a “feather” was not properly aligned.
That all important feather was the introduction to the infomercial. The first 30 seconds failed to set up the rest of the infomercial properly.
To get properly aligned, he hired Larry King again, rebuilt the studio set again and refilmed just the first 30 seconds. They left all the other feathers in place (the messaging, offer, call to action, etc.)
When he went back to the market with the same infomercial but with a different 30 second introduction, he went on to generate over $100 million in revenue.
In your sales and business activities, often it’s the one or two feathers that aren’t properly aligned that are causing you to miss out on many an opportunity.
When things are not going as well as you would like, don’t blame it on the environment or the competition, etc., look for that feather, that strategy or action, that is not properly aligned. It’s usually something subtle, but easily fixable.
For example, in my 3-Day Selling Among Wolves CHALLENGE next week, I will be addressing the key factors that so many folks don’t always have aligned, and as a result they are losing deals they know they should have won.
Nine times out of ten, it’s easy to identify and other than the pain of admitting your mistake or missteps, it’s fairly easy to rectify.
Molting
One other things birds do in the preening process is remove broken or damaged feathers to make way for new ones. If what you’re doing is not working well… If your approach is hobbled or not very effective… If your marketing is not accomplishing the goal or your sales efforts are not yielding the results, it may be time to replace the methods or mindsets that are not working.
When birds do it, it’s called molting. In business it’s a time to renew, refresh and reboot.
Isaiah 40:31 describes it this way… “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles”
It’s where we abhor (put away from ourselves) that which is evil (defective) and cleave to (join to) that which is good. (Romans 12:9).
If one is going to be transformed by the renewing of their mind, they must put off the old man and put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge. (Colossians 3:9-10)
Oftentimes we don’t know the old ways or old thinking that is hindering us until we see the new. That’s why I want to invite you to join me on my very special 3-Day Selling Among Wolves Challenge next week (June 11 – 13) at 8 PM Eastern.
It is going to be in a LIVE meeting format so we can interact and see each other and I’m going to do my very best to download to you tons of Biblical secrets God has given me over the years that have revolutionized my life and I believe can do the same for you.
Check it out here and if you like what you see, be sure to register.
Until next time, be fruitful and multiply!