Prepare-Plant-Nurture-Reap.
I’m sure the farmer would like to be able to just go straight to reap sometimes. Especially in years where the prior few haven’t been good harvests. The farmer is hungry and low on resources, but it doesn’t matter. He must work the farming process with the same diligence as if he was flush with resources and had a full belly.
The farmer KNOWS that “the Process” works and each year he (or she) works it. He doesn’t question whether or not it works. He works it at the appropriate times as diligently as he can.
Some seasons he works hard but he doesn’t reap as well as he would like. Perhaps the summer is too hot or too dry. Perhaps the Spring was too wet. Sometimes the equipment breaks down or the farmer becomes ill or the soil is not as cooperative or the seeds are just not so good.
Some seasons he works hard and he reaps beyond his wildest expectation. All the conditions align just right and the harvest is much greater than the effort he puts in.
This is representative of anything that is pursued. There is always a simple process that works to produce a harvest. It cannot be short-cut. Some times the harvest will be greater than others for the same amount of effort and some times it will be less. It would be wonderful if we could just work our process at the times when the harvest will be great, but that would be a fantasy. The nature of life is that you put in the wood and then you see what kind of fire you get….
But the effort, the planting and preparing, the sweat and energy, have to come before the nurturing and the harvest. The farmer knows this and he does this and it works every time. As he gets more savvy he learns to make adjustments that tilt the odds of a good harvest more often in his favor. This is called wisdom. This only comes from experience, practice and applied and deeply ingrained study.
Whatever you are doing, take the approach as a farmer. Work the process that has been proven to work, and work it non-stop until you reach your goals.
