Be the Cheetah: Why Deliberate Action Always Beats Anxious Motion

Question and Thought of the Day March 23, 2025

Thought of the Day: Predators move deliberately; prey dart anxiously. Be the cheetah.

Question of the Day: What’s something you wish you understood better?

You ever feel like you’re constantly reacting?

Ping—new email. Buzz—new notification. Someone says something sharp, and before your brain even kicks in, your mouth fires back. You’re not moving forward. You’re just dodging. Ducking. Spinning in place.

That’s prey behavior.

Predators move deliberately; prey dart anxiously.
Be the cheetah.

That’s today’s thought for the day.

There’s something almost spiritual about the way a cheetah moves. It waits, observes, and calculates. Not because it’s slow, but because it knows: speed means nothing without aim. Power means nothing without timing. And instinct isn’t the same thing as wisdom.

When you’re always reacting, you’re handing over control. To your emotions, to other people, and to circumstances.
That’s not power. That’s panic.

But when you move with intention—when you choose stillness, and then move deliberately? That’s when you become dangerous. That’s when things start to shift.

Question of the Day:
What’s something you wish you understood better?

Let’s sit with that for a minute. Not skim past it. Sit with it.

What do you wish you understood better—not just had an opinion about, not just knew a few random facts about—but understood deeply?

Here are some ways that question has smacked me in the face recently:

• I wish I understood why I procrastinate on things I actually care about.
  It’s not laziness. There’s fear in there somewhere. Fear of not being good enough. Fear of failing even when I try my best. But I haven’t taken the time to understand it. I just beat myself up about it.
  
• I wish I understood my kids better.
  They’re little versions of chaos and love. But sometimes I react instead of connecting. I raise my voice instead of lowering my expectations. I want to understand what they need underneath what they say.
  
• I wish I understood how to rest without guilt.
  There’s this voice in my head that says if I’m not producing, I’m falling behind. But I know that isn’t true. I just don’t understand yet how to shut that voice up—or where it came from in the first place.

What about you?

This isn’t a surface-level question. This is the kind of question that reveals where you’re still darting instead of stalking.

Understanding is power.
It’s what separates the cheetah from the herd.
The leader from the follower.
The version of you that just gets through the day, and the version of you that runs the day.

So be honest. Be still.
Don’t flinch. Don’t fidget. Don’t react.

Observe. Learn. Then move like you mean it.