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This Plant Takes 5 years to Start Growing!

What a great week I’ve had this week. I was In London delivering my Keynote Mental Resilience talk in the Shard Hotel on Tuesday, I delivered my Masterclass to a company in Tunbridge Wells on Thursday and a further Masterclass in Milton Keynes on Saturday.

Things are picking up and the work I have put in over the past four years is starting to pay off. Good things don’t happen overnight they take time to nurture. You may see nothing worthwhile happening for a long time but if you keep going and don’t give up, there will come a time when it all comes together.

A stroke of genius!

My wife Julie introduced me to the concept of the Chinese Bamboo when I was looking for inspiration. This really helped me to believe that we are on the right track and it’s just a matter of time before it really comes together.

Keep Watering Your Bamboo Tree – Eric Aronson

“In the Far East, there is a tree called the Chinese bamboo tree. This remarkable tree is different from most trees in that it doesn’t grow in the usual fashion. While most trees grow steadily over a period of years, the Chinese bamboo tree doesn’t break through the ground for the first four years.

Then, in the fifth year, an amazing thing happens – the tree begins to grow at an astonishing rate. In fact, in a period of just five weeks, a Chinese bamboo tree can grow to a height of 90 feet. It’s almost as if you can actually see the tree growing before your very eyes.

Well, I’m convinced that life often works in a similar way. You can work for weeks, months and even years on your dream with no visible signs of progress and then, all of the sudden, things take off. Your business becomes profitable beyond your wildest dreams. Your marriage becomes more vibrant and passionate than you ever thought it could be.

Yet, all of this requires one thing – faith. The growers of the Chinese bamboo tree have faith that if they keep watering and fertilizing the ground, the tree will break through. Well, you must have the same kind of faith in your bamboo tree, whether it is to run a successful business, win a Pulitzer Prize, raise well-adjusted children, or what have you.

You must have faith that if you keep making the calls, honing your craft, reading to your children, reaching out to your spouse or asking for donations, that you too will see rapid growth in the future.

This is the hard part for most of us. We get so excited about the idea that’s been planted inside of us that we simply can’t wait for it to blossom. Therefore, within days or weeks of the initial planting, we become discouraged and begin to second guess ourselves.

Sadly, what they fail to realize is that pursuing your dream is a sure thing if you just don’t give up. So long as you keep watering and fertilizing your dream, it will come to fruition. It may take weeks. It may take months. It may even take years, but eventually, the roots will take hold and your tree will grow. And when it does, it will grow in remarkable ways.

We’ve seen this happen so many times. Henry Ford had to water his bamboo tree through five business failures before he finally succeeded with the Ford Motor Company. Richard Hooker had to water his bamboo tree for seven years and through 21 rejections by publishers until his humorous war novel, M*A*S*H became a runaway bestseller, spawning a movie and one of the longest-running television series of all-time.

Another great bamboo grower was the legendary jockey Eddie Arcaro. Arcaro lost his first 250 races as a jockey before going on to win 17 Triple Crown races and 554 stakes races for total purse earnings of more than $30 million.”

This really made me think about the important things in life and how something worthwhile always takes time.

Thoughts for the week.

1. Are you working hard but not seeing the results you want?
2. Don’t despair, if you are working on the right things then if you just keep going long enough you will break through.
3. All the successful people in life have been through the tough times and wanted to give up, but they didn’t and eventually found success.
4. Even if it takes 5 years the results are always worth the effort – it’s not how you start but how you finish which counts.

Well that’s it for this week have a great week ahead and stay positive.

Warm regards

John

Off the Wall – How to Develop World Class Mental Resilience available here
http://www.jdmindcoach.co.uk/product/off-the-wall-how-to-develop-world-class-mental-resilience/ (Special offer. Put in code 10POUND when prompted to receive a signed copy for £10 including postage and packing – UK only)

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