What is the secret to life? That’s the million dollar question everyone ponders. You know… The one thing that Curly, the old cowboy in the movie “City Slickers” talks about. I learned what the secret to life was after reading an awesome classic book which I’ll tell you more about, but first a short story about my brother and I in a small bar in Austin, TX.
So my brother, Andrew and I took a road trip to Austin for a conference and to celebrate a friends birthday party. During one of our free nights we decided to head over to 6th street, the party capital of Austin. We got there pretty early and of course started drinking shortly after. At about 9 pm we find a place that has a mechanical bull right in the middle of the bar. I tell Andrew, that we have to go in, because I had never been on a mechanical bull before.
We decide to go in and of course we have to have a tequila shot first. After the shot my brother and I rode the bull. We had so much fun the first time, we decide to ride a second time. After a couple more beers my brother and I continue to ride the bull and even start competing to see who can stay on the longest. We are both having a blast and the night gets even better when the bartender bought me a couple shots!! Rarely does this happen so by this time, I am top of the world having a great night, when suddenly I think to myself… “I want to ride this bull with a girl… And not just any girl, she has to be a pretty one!!”
So by this time its about 11:30 and the bar has really filled up with people. Tons of pretty girls are coming in. Austin really does have some gorgeous girls. So I’ve got a few pints of liquid courage inside me when I propose my great idea to the first pretty girl I see and I get shut down! So I try my approach again and guess what, SHOT DOWN AGAIN!! So I try asking a few more girls but the response is the same again… and again… and again. It seems not even the ugly girls want to ride the bull with me 🙁
So as soon as I’m about to give up, I see the prettiest girl in the bar. Tall, blond with curves in all the right places. So by this time my ego is in the gutters, but I hide it as best I can and get the nerve to ask, “How bout you and me show this bull who’s boss?” And much to my dismay, guess what she says… YES!!
So she gets on the bull first and I get on behind her. Right as it starts going in circles, I look over to my brother who is outside talking to this 40 year old cougar and he sees me and yells “YYYEEEAAAHHH”. Guess he was proud of his big bro. So this girl and I are going up and down and in circles on this mechanical bull and I really couldn’t have asked for a better night. My mission was accomplished! We eventually got bucked off talked for a while and went our separate ways. Those 20 seconds on top of the bull with that good looking blond has definitely been one of the highlights of the year. Not just because I was on this bull with the prettiest girl in the bar (well 85% because I was on the bull with the prettiest girl), but because I realized I accomplished what I set out to do that night.
So anyway, back to the secret of life. If you haven’t seen City Slickers or didn’t understand what the one thing was during the movie, the secret to life is simply… drum roll… To clearly define what you want out of life and dedicating all your time, money, effort and resources to achieve that goal. And when you fail over and over and over again, like I did in the bar that night, you have to continue trying the process all over again until you finally get what you want. Whether its a goal for a particular night, or one you have for a year or even your entire life you will get knocked down, but those with the courage to keep trying will be the ones that succeed.
The book that opened my eyes to the secret to life is “Think and Grow Rich” an awesome book that should be required reading in school. If you haven’t read it yet, it’s a must read for any goal oriented person. I bought the book from Brian Kim’s website because he includes an awesome follow up he wrote, “The Hidden Secret in Think and Grow Rich”.
Anyway, kind of a long story, but at least you know the secret to life now if you didn’t know already. Hope you decide to follow the one thing you really care about!
1 thought on “The Secret To Life on a Mechanical Bull”
I want to know if your brother took pictures or was he just too interested in the cougar? If not you need an understanding with him when it happens again.