Life Gardening

Weight training and positive nutritional alterations are akin to planting a garden. Even if nurtured appropriately, the bounty doesn’t appear for some time. When it does (if given ample time and energy), however, it fills out stunningly. From weighttraing.com:

When weight training, results are almost instant, although you may not see the results as quickly as they are happening. Your muscles start tearing down with your very first weight training session, but it could take up to at least four weeks before you can physically start seeing an increase in muscle size.

It is easy to become frustrated with the lack of instant gratification. But we don’t survey our garden and demand to know why there are no flowers the day after planting. Nor do we criticize the seeds for their lack of maturity. Instead, we tend to them, trusting our efforts will pay off.

Isn’t this true for all worthwhile processes? Take a presentation or pitch meeting for a venture capitalist firm. For weeks, you and your partner hem and haw over the order of the slides. You talk through the technology to be utilized. Countless hours are spent researching the executives that will be present, all of their tendencies, even their dress styles. There are never-ending practice reps. Your schedule’s flexibility is tested by the whims of others. At times, it can feel like there is no growth as the preparation process takes its course. It isn’t until the day of the pitch that the fruits of your labor appear.

Whenever we embark on a long-term project, we take a risk. Will your tree bear fruit? Not necessarily. Such is true in weight training, nutrition, baseball…everything. A worthwhile effort is one that is not done in the moment. It is critical to focus on the process and to consistently display determination through the scientific method of trial and error. As we discuss regularly here, strong consideration must be give to mining value at the margins in our day to day grind before the tip of the green pokes through the earth. From lifehacker.com:

Most people love to talk about success (and life in general) as an event. We talk about losing 50 pounds or building a successful business or winning the Tour de France as if they are events. But the truth is that most of the significant things in life aren’t stand-alone events, but rather the sum of all the moments when we chose to do things 1 percent better or 1 percent worse. Aggregating these marginal gains makes a difference.

Just like a garden, not every seed will sprout. If all you have invested in is that one plant, you may be disappointed. When my head hits the pillow each night, I sleep best when my day included large quantities of quality “life gardening.” The planting and watering of multiple, quality seeds daily will ensure increased frequency of fulfilling moments and evoke positive vibes about your process.

Strong mind,

Kap