There’s an old, well known story of a chicken farmer who found an eagle’s egg.
He put it with his chickens and soon the egg hatched.
The young eagle grew up with all the other chickens and whatever they did, the eagle did too. He thought he was a chicken, just like them.
Since the chickens could only fly for a short distance, the eagle also learnt to fly a short distance.
He thought that was what he was supposed to do. So that was all that he thought he could do. As a consequence, that was all he was able to do.
One day the eagle saw a bird flying high above him. He was very impressed. “Who is that?” he asked the hens around him.
“That’s the eagle, the king of the birds,” the hens told him. “He belongs to the sky. We belong to the earth, we are just chickens.”
So the eagle lived and died as a chicken, for that’s what he thought he was.
I want to encourage you today that you are an eagle.
You may have been brought up in a situation that limited your understanding of your potential, but it’s time now for the past to lose its hold on you.
Don’t die thinking you’re a chicken.
Soar high, just as you were meant to.
Be all that you are meant to be!
Previous post – Some Day Never Comes
Next post – Have a Coffee First


16 comments
Comments feed for this article
January 6, 2012 at 6:51 pm
granbee
With my last name being Byrd, how could I help but profit from this coaching lesson? While chickens are certainly worthy and useful beings with whom we share this planet, we should not be content to stay fenced in, sleeping in a coop, if we were gifted with eagle-ness. We should soar if we are eagles. We should not assume we are not eagles just because some hen told us so.
LikeLike
January 6, 2012 at 6:59 pm
Darren Poke
Thanks granbee, I agree.
LikeLike
January 6, 2012 at 9:25 pm
Roy Savery
Great post. It reminds me of a book, “Where Eagles Soar” by Jamie Buckingham. I think that it’s important to realise what our purpose is and hold a vision of what we can achieve.
Roy Savery
LikeLike
January 7, 2012 at 9:37 pm
Darren Poke
Thanks Roy, that sounds like a great book.
LikeLike
January 8, 2012 at 4:02 am
Debbie
This is just so encouraging, Coach D! Thank you! And this week we saw an eagle fly right over us as we were driving across a river. It was magnificent!
LikeLike
January 8, 2012 at 10:00 pm
Darren Poke
Awesome, they are truly amazing creatures.
LikeLike
January 9, 2012 at 7:02 pm
Renuka
Hi,wonderful post…….I have always been fascinated by eagles …… I just love to see them soar across the sky …. Thanks for reminding that we all are eagles, magnificent in our own unique ways.
LikeLike
January 10, 2012 at 7:48 pm
Darren Poke
Thanks Renuka, I’m glad that you like them too.
LikeLike
December 8, 2012 at 1:57 pm
daniel
15years ago i was suffering anxiety due shyness, one day i come across reading this story, since then i always remind my self that i am an eagle, i even bought pendant with eagle surfing in it. this story really changed me. thanks for the post
LikeLike
December 8, 2012 at 2:15 pm
Darren Poke
Thanks for sharing Daniel and keep flying high!
LikeLike
January 2, 2013 at 3:58 pm
Lady Gwendolynn
Very awesome. It’s a cool and wonderful story much like the Albert Einstein quote I have seen about, if you call a Fish stupid because it cannot climb – then it shall forever believe and think it is stupid for something that is not in its nature to do. I’m paraphrasing of course. Still, more or less along the same lines. Very awesome story to share!
LikeLike
July 10, 2015 at 5:39 am
timothy
thanks for this …
LikeLike
October 11, 2017 at 12:41 am
simonmbrooks
Be really interested in your source for this tale. Many thanks.
LikeLike
December 6, 2019 at 7:19 am
Brett
I see some managers who are eagles, surrounded by other managers who are chickens. “Be like a chicken!” they tell eagle. The eagle is uncomfortable, because they know they are different, and just being the best chicken in the coup isnt really much of an accomplishment. If you are an eagle, surround yourself by other eagles. They will tell you how be an eagle.
LikeLike
April 14, 2020 at 1:58 pm
leo martinez
encouraging, motivating and a very good analogy used to help us understand that we can always do and be better and not consider yourself being a product of your environment.
LikeLike
October 25, 2020 at 12:20 pm
Marliz
Coach D. I used this in one of my stories in my vlog.
Thank you very much
LikeLike