My lessons from 2020 and what we can all learn from horses

Lesson 1: Practice mindfulness so you can readjust when necessary

2020 has shown us very clearly that nothing is certain and the world as we know it can change rapidly. 

Leading through uncertainty and how to deal with it is one of the biggest lessons which we have been teaching since years in our corporate trainings with horses.

When you are with a 500kg flight animal, which is finely attuned to its surroundings and perceives danger differently than we do, you always need to expect the unexpected.

Most participants coming to our trainings have no prior experience with horses.

This gives the chance to practice leadership outside the comfort zone, where we only practice, but we practice in a very real scenario.
You are leading a big prey animal out in nature!
How more real than that can it get?

And when you are out there under the open skies guiding this half a ton animal, the only place where you can and should be with your mind is right there – in the HERE and NOW.

And that is an important take away from 2020

We should really try and spend more time in the present moment.

You don’t know what will be tomorrow, and you cannot change what happened yesterday.
You can only react to what is happening right in this moment and influence the NOW with your actions.

Of course you can and should plan ahead and have a clear vision in our minds of where you want to go – but you can only take each step at a time and have to be open to constantly readjust and reevaluate as you walk along.

Because even if the goal is clear – there are many different paths to get there.

How to practice mindfulness with your team