\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 I’ve been guilty.\u00a0 You probably have as well.\u00a0 It can be really hard for hyper-competitive people to not be guilty of pride.\u00a0 Even when self-pride is not the driving force.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0I prefer to use the term “we” whenever talking about competitive events.\u00a0 I may have bought the animal, given feed & care instructions, showmanship guidance and show management.\u00a0 I may have even paid for the animal and the feed.\u00a0 That doesn’t matter, as I was not the person doing the day2day care or actually showing the animal.\u00a0 At no point was it I, but always WE.\u00a0 And usually, I had other help to make sure that I was giving the right guidance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0We all need help.\u00a0 It doesn’t matter if we are talking about showing livestock, public speaking, ag mech, cde contests, whatever.\u00a0 That ‘bama football coach may be the best ever and I guarantee you that he takes pride in his work but he also knows that he had wicked good players and bad ass assistant coaches.\u00a0 (although his teams have yet to be beaten by a former assistant coach).\u00a0 \u00a0That will soon change.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 I do take pride in my work ethic, my beliefs, my willingness to help others and my strong desire to help others find success.\u00a0 I take pride in our family.\u00a0 I take pride in my willingness to own my mistakes and the fact that neither you nor I are perfect.\u00a0 Therefore, I believe in forgiveness.\u00a0 As we all should.\u00a0 There has only been one perfect person to walk this planet and that dude preached forgiveness.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Now, having written all of that.\u00a0 I do believe that there is a difference between pride, arrogance and confidence.\u00a0 I am proud of some things.\u00a0 But, that is not what makes me.\u00a0 More than one person has called me arrogant but they don’t know me.\u00a0 Those that know me don’t call me arrogant or prideful.\u00a0 And anybody that does know me will agree that I do not care what most people think about me.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Confidence is a different thing.\u00a0 For some reason, I have this in spades.\u00a0 I shouldn’t, but I do.\u00a0 My confidence in myself and those that surround me is unshakable.\u00a0 And I’m not surrounded by perfect people.\u00a0 Cocky is another word that is used.\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0To me, confidence stems from work ethic, beliefs and a willingness to help others more than ones own self.\u00a0 I can’t do the work for you but I can dang sure show you how to do it and have the desire to help when needed.\u00a0 And when I am not the best to help, I will gladly get the best to help.\u00a0 I am extremely confident that I am hardly ever the best, yet I normally know the best.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 I can say that I have the best wife, the best kids, had the best upbringing and have the best job.\u00a0 All of those statements are true.\u00a0 And some of you would call me prideful or arrogant.\u00a0 No.\u00a0 I have the best wife for me. Perfect.\u00a0 I love my kids.\u00a0 I had the perfect upbringing for me and I like my job.\u00a0 In no way was any of that a detrimental statement towards you nor anybody.\u00a0 Not prideful.\u00a0 Not arrogant.\u00a0 Yet here comes the confident.\u00a0 If you don’t like anything that you have read, go read your own blog.\u00a0 Or take your left thumb and shove it directly up your own……….hee haw!!!!<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0I probably shouldn’t tell this story.\u00a0 My mother won’t approve of it.\u00a0 But, here we go.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0In 1996, I was interviewing for the agricultural educational teaching position at Waynoka.\u00a0 I knew that I was not the front-runner for the job.\u00a0 I also knew that the next person to take this job was following an extremely successful ag teacher.\u00a0 Not an easy job.\u00a0 For some reason, I knew that IF I could get this job, it was a fit.\u00a0 Guess what?\u00a0 I was right.\u00a0 Confidence.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 During the interview with the Mr. Dale Ross, superintendent of Waynoka Public Schools.\u00a0 He made a statement and then asked the question.\u00a0 “I know Jake Kelln.\u00a0 Your brother.\u00a0 My son played American Legion baseball with him.\u00a0 Jake the Snake Kelln is cocky.\u00a0 Let me ask you this?\u00a0 Are you as cocky as Jake the Snake?”<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 My reply.\u00a0 “No sir.\u00a0 I am not.\u00a0 I prefer to think of myself as extremely confident in my own abilities.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Hhhmmm.\u00a0 Good answer.” He replied.\u00a0 Then he asked, “We aren’t looking for somebody to walk on water.\u00a0 Can you walk on water?”<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 “No sir!\u00a0 \u00a0I cannot walk on water.\u00a0 There has only been one person that could walk on water and it dang sure isn’t me.\u00a0 However, I will gladly tell you that I am a swimming son-of-a-gun.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Mr. Ross swiftly said, “Thank you and good bye.\u00a0 We will be in touch.”\u00a0 Ooofff!<\/p>\n
Tammy was pissed that I just blew the interview.\u00a0 She went to griping at me once we got in the pickup to head home.\u00a0 I asked her to please shut up.\u00a0 “Honey, I either just got the job that I want or I didn’t get the job that I wasn’t supposed to get in the first place.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 In true fashion, we were still arguing in the parking lot.\u00a0 Mr. Ross walked out, knocked on the window and asked us to come back in and talk some more.\u00a0 That is confidence.\u00a0 Not pride nor arrogance.\u00a0 When you know, you know.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Here’s the items that I am proud of…..yet I am sure that there are a few that might be better.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
I am extremely confident in my knowledge of all things Star Wars.\u00a0 No insider info.\u00a0 Just the force.\u00a0 This is the way.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Once again, I am confident in my ability to name that tune in 4 notes.\u00a0 \u00a0Yet, I know that there is a younger ag teacher that might be able to name that song in 3 notes.\u00a0 Yet, my knowledge of behind-the-tunes music is way better than most, if not all.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
And I am real sure that of all the roads that I have traveled, I have consistently found the best places to eat and\/or….<\/p>\n
Basically, I am confident that I am steeped in the knowledge of a lot of things that may or may not be useful.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Alex, who are three people that have never been in my kitchen?”\u00a0 \u00a0Cheers!!\u00a0 \u00a0(If you know……dang, I loved that show)<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
For some reason, I feel the urge to buy a buck and name it “Cliff Claven”.\u00a0 Maybe it should be a teaser buck.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 I’ve been guilty.\u00a0 You probably have as well.\u00a0 It can be really hard for hyper-competitive people to not be guilty of pride.\u00a0 Even when self-pride is not the driving force.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0I prefer to use the term “we” whenever talking about competitive events.\u00a0 I may have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4610"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4610"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4613,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4610\/revisions\/4613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kellnlivestock.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}