The Law of the Harvest

Here's the deal, you cannot achieve the results that other people have achieved without doing the things that they do. I'm really tired of hearing people say things like:

"well that just doesn't work for me"

 "I'm a unique situation"

"I can't do that because of [x]"

If you would like to exempt yourself from all that is hard in life then you must also exempt yourself from the rewards and success that come from what is hard.

It's sad, I know, but it turns out despite what some politicians may feel, the world does not and never has, owed you a living of any kind, let alone a successful one. The government, even if it wants to, cannot change natural law.

For example let's take the law of gravity, we can "defy" gravity in several ways these days: space shuttles, airplanes, hot air balloons, etc. But all of these work because of an understanding of gravity and not in spite of it. Congress cannot pass a law, or Obama issue an executive order, that can nullify the law of gravity. They could certainly write down and pass a law or issue an order that says such a thing, but it would have no effect and would be akin to the proverbial Emperor's new clothes.

The same is true of the natural law of the harvest:

We can only achieve success because of an understanding of the law and not in spite of it. There is no way around the fact that to reap first we must sow. Consequently we must sow the seeds of the plant we wish to reap.



But how do we know what to sow? The answer is to look for people who are reaping what we want to reap and following them. It does no good to complain about things, it only does good to do things.

Therefore if you want to be basketball player you must do the things that basketball players do. If you want to be a millionaire you must do the things that millionaires do. If you want to be an astronaut then you must do the things that astronauts do.

The important thing is that we set goals and then work to achieve those goals based on principles that work. Talk to people, read books, watch speeches, search the internet, never has there been more material available to us to learn how to be successful in our chosen path.

But suppose you are a true visionary, and you want to be successful in a way that no one else has been successful before. What do you do then? You learn about other people who have done "impossible" things, even though they are not the same things you want to do. There are attributes that bind across these people as well, things that they "sowed" that you can also sow.

What you should not do is sit around complaining about how unfair life is and how someone else should make it better for you. This is also a sowing, but you shall reap only more sorrow and disappointment from it.

Time is the currency of success. Be careful how you spend it, far better to invest it.

The law of the harvest is immutable. It is one of the realities of daily life. Decide today to give up your excuses, your complaints, your blaming of others. The longer the planting is delayed the longer until the harvest will be realized, so begin sowing today. And remember, live better.


Attribution: image of wheat inside the frame courtesy of Flickr user Brandon Giesbrecht used under Creative Commons License. Design work done by me.