Chris Collins explains the ostrich effect: why we avoid uncomfortable truths like health screenings or hard conversations. He pushes you to stop burying your head and tackle one thing you've been putting off.
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Welcome to this Friday's Drive By. A little something to think about going into the weekend that is going to inspire some new ideas and give you some inspiration coming up next week. So we're doing a series, it's called the Elephant in the Room. Things that we don't normally talk about or want to think about, things that might trigger us, but we should talk about. And today I want to talk about the ostrich effect. So the ostrich effect comes from the fact that when ostriches feel stressed or they feel like they're being preyed on or attacked, they bury their head in the ground. And they think that that's going to protect them. And I don't know if it's because they think if they don't make eye contact with their predator, with whoever's making them uncomfortable, they. That they're safer that way. But it's a ridiculous way of defending yourself, just putting your head in the ground. But I think a lot of us do that. We avoid the truth and think about it. Have you ever had an uncomfortable situation with somebody where, you know, you need to talk to them about something? It might be an employee, it might be a spouse, but you don't want to do it, you don't want to talk about it. Right. Then you don't want to bring it up, you don't want to deal with it. So you don't make eye contact and you don't address it. And that is the ostrich effect. And we also have the ostrich effect internally. We do it to ourselves. There's things that we know we should do, we should work on. We should get up earlier and start working out. We should eat better. Right. We should talk to somebody about a pay plan. We should address things right away. In our business, when people make a mistake or do something they shouldn't be doing, we should jump right on it. But instead we let it go and we kind of let it build up, and then we either overreact or it just gets so far away from us it's unmanageable to begin with. You know, my late father, well, I mean, there's been a lot of guys actually in my family very stubborn. This Collins line is. And it blows me away that guys won't go to the doctor. Like, they literally have all the symptoms of having prostate cancer or some sort of cancer. Something's dramatically wrong with their health. And they won't go to the doctor because they don't want to know. In fact, there was a study.
With breast Cancer that went something like that, where this company was encouraging their female employees to go get mammograms and get checked for breast cancer. And they were doing it. It was successful. And then one of the employees actually had breast cancer. And you know what happened after that? It was really hard to get anybody else to go get a mammogram because in their head they had, oh, I could be like Judy, who actually had breast cancer. And I'd rather not know than know. Think about how ridiculous that is. But that's human nature, and we do it all the time. So this could be in conversations you need to have with employees, friends, your spouse. It could be conversations you need to have with your boss, just things that you need to set up. Like, how many times have I heard a manager say, oh, I've been working on a menu, I'm working on a menu. And they've been working on it for two years. You could fix a menu in a day. You don't need to work on it for two years. But you're using the ostrich effect as a defense mechanism to avoid having to do the things that you don't want to do or the things you don't want to face. So think about a couple things that you know you should do that you're not doing it. It could be personal, it could be business. It could be a conversation with a spouse, with an employee. It could be getting up and working out, hiring a trainer, reading a book, whatever it is. What are those things that you're avoiding that you're using the ostrich effect and you're putting your head in the ground instead of doing them, and let's pull our head out of the ground and let's start doing them. That simple. So just one or two things that you know that you're using the ostrich effect and hiding from, and let's not hide from them anymore. Let's commit to doing those things and just imagine how good you're going to feel after you do. Because, you know, whenever you've avoided something and then you do it, you feel really good, it gives you confidence, and that thing's off your back. Sometimes you carry around hundreds of pounds of weight of things that we don't need to carry around just because we're scared to face them. So let's face them. And hey, maybe that thing is you should go to the doctor and get checked. Let's make an appointment right now and go to the doctor and get checked. So I hope that inspires you going into the weekend. And now do me a favor. Watch this clip from the upcoming episode of Service Drive Revolution.
Next week on Service Drive Revolution. The secret advantage your nuclear weapon and it's free. Get your up and stop asking people if they have an appointment.
I bought it from the Mexican mafia.
I want more guns.
Are you allowed to say that in the state of California?
The governor of California is a moron. I mean, it's just failure at the worst level.
It takes bribes and all sorts of stuff.
Do you know that you think the homeless are bribing him?
I literally was afraid for my life.
Was it three weeks ago when the guy blew his arm off? Oh, that's right.
There was a clown out there before.
Oh, the clown was nice.
Hello, sir.
What are you doing in my car? Did you have an appointment?
Thanks for watching this episode of Service Drive Revolutions Drive by. I hope it gives you something to think about over the weekend and inspires some new ideas and hopefully some new results. If you have any questions for the big show, go ahead and post them below in the comments. We'll be looking out for them and we'll answer them on the show. Make sure you subscribe and hit the bell icon so you're notified when we post new episodes. I'm Chris Collins and you can find me on Facebook and Instagram at chrisbulldogcollins and I'll see you again on the next episode.
