Do You Pick The Right Battles to Fight?

“Don’t interfere with something that ain’t botherin’ you none.”
— Judge Roy Bean

I love finding life lessons in movies that I can use in my seminars. In The Outlaw Josey Wales, starring Clint Eastwood, a bounty hunter walks into a dark saloon in a small, dusty town and confronts Josey Wales.

“Are you a bounty hunter?” asks Wales, with a hint of contempt.

“A man’s got to make a living,” says the bounty hunter, almost apologetically.

Wales replies, “Dying ain’t much of a living, boy!”

Wales suggests that they don’t have to fight, that he can just ride on out, and for a minute he does turn and walk out of the saloon. But a few seconds later, he’s back, says he just had to come, Wales acknowledges the inevitable, and they both draw, with Wales shooting him dead with a single shot!

How many of us react just like the bounty hunter — out of pride, misplaced duty, self-justification, rules, anger, fear, or revenge?

Picking battles we simply don’t have to fight.

Battles that consume our time, money energy, emotions, good senses, and even our lives.

How many times should you have walked out of the saloon and ridden into the sunset?

Watch the clip here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3Oa2tLrWqY