Excerpt from Principled-Centered Leadership by Stephen R. Covey:
The Law of the Farm
Procrastinating and cramming don't work on a farm.
The cows must be milked daily. Other things must be done in season, according to natural cycles. Natural consequences follow violations, in spite of good intentions. We're subject to natural laws and governing principles--the laws of the farm and harvest.
The only thing that endures over time is the law of the farm. According to natural laws and principles, I must prepare the ground, put in the seed, cultivate, weed, and water if I expect to reap a harvest.
So also in a marriage, or in helping a teenager through a difficult identity crisis--there is no quick fix, no instantaneous success formula where you can just move in by getting psyched up at some positive mental attitude rally with a bunch of new success formulas.
The law of the harvest governs. Natural laws and principles operate regardless. So get these agricultural principles at the center of your life and your relationships. As you do, your mind-set will change from a scarcity to an abundance mentality.
In the context of the "potato farmer," the abundance mentality ultimately means "more pounds with less peel." And in plain "John Wayne" English, that's the bottom line.
IF WE ARE GOING TO GET THINGS TO HAPPEN WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING and NOTHING EVER EVER HAPPENS TILL SOMEONE DOES!
Power of Proactivity
Now that is something worth thinking about ... there is power in being proactive!
It's even a great word to consider. By definition proactive means controlling a situation by causing something to happen rather than waiting to respond to it after it happens. To be proactive means we are in control of our lives.
We can choose to take action and take the initiative to make things happen. Isn't that where we want to be .. in control of our time and what we do with it? When we allow conditions around us or circumstance to cause us to become reactive we have chosen to give up control and wait to see what will happen next.
Truly effective leaders, parents and partners become aware of the choice they own in every situation and coconsciously put the power of proactivity to work for them. Lets all feel good about taking the initiative to get things done and enjoy the benefits of being a proactive individual.
Quotes
"It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn't."
- Martin Van Buren
"I don't wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work."
- Pearl S. Buck
"Wisdom is wasted, experience is but a memory, and goals are a passing dream without the courage to take action."
- Leaving A Legacy by Jim Paluch
"How does a project get to be a year behind schedule? One day at a time."
- Fred Brooks
"Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday."
- Napoleon Hill
"Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment."
- Robert Benchley
"Success comes to the person who does today what you were thinking about doing tomorrow."
- Unknown
"A good plan implemented today is better than a perfect plan implemented tomorrow."
- George Patton
"Anything worth doing is worth doing now!"
- Ralph Stayer
All this comes from a group discussion I was in today regarding the idea of self limiting behavior. This is a Christian Businessman's Small Group and we were talking of those things that hold us from becoming all that the Destiny of God has for us. Fear is the way the devil short circuits our destiny.
In the end, the discussion was driven by the book we are looking at:
Your Own Worst Enemy:
Breaking the Habit of Adult Underachievement
If you want to break the bad self defeating habits you have, buy this book and READ it.
Then apply it. Do something.
The saddest most "settling for less" words I heard anyone say in the last week was, "I'm OK with that". It broke my heart. We should never be OK with anything than the best God has planned for us.
We must have the Spirit of creative discontent. That's what was there in Genesis 1. It's alive in you if you know Jesus. So, do something.
3 comments:
Very Good - Thank You
egd
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog today and thought that you might be interested to learn that a new edition of Napoleon Hill's classic book "Think and Grow Rich" has been published.
Its title is "Think and Grow Rich!" (subtitled) "The Original Version, Restored and Revised." I am the editor/annotator of this new 412-page edition, which is really an homage to Dr. Hill. (For several years I was the editor-in-chief of "Think & Grow Rich Newsletter.")
What I have done is this: to restore Dr. Hill's book to its original manuscript content (it was first published in 1937, but was abridged in 1960), annotate it with more than 50 pages of endnotes (most of the persons and events he discusses are generally unknown to readers today), index it thoroughly, add an appendix with a wealth of additional information about Dr. Hill and his work, and revise the book in ways to help remove certain "impediments" to reading the book today (language that today would be considered obsolete, sexist or racist). None of these things had previously been done with TGR.
If you would like to learn a little more about this project, a quick visit to www.tgr-restored-revised.com will give you some details. The "Editor's Foreword" provides more complete information, and the “Testimonials” page will demonstrate how well-received this new book is around the world. Here is the book’s Amazon.com page:
http://www.amazon.com/Think-Grow-Rich-Original-Restored/dp/1593302002/sr=1-1/qid=1172004763/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-1493475-7148634?ie=UTF8&s=books
The book is available on all the Amazon websites and most other online sellers, it can be ordered by any bookstore, and it will start appearing in bookstores soon. We also sell direct, at steep discounts, to personal success coaches and motivational speakers who use it for back-of-the-room sales and to teach Master Mind Study Groups.
Our edition of TGR! is superior in every way to other versions on the market. It is a trade paperback, not a pocket-size mass market paperback. It is 412 pages versus 230+ (depending on the edition). It looks better, feels better, reads better than any other version. It is fast becoming the "version of choice" among Napoleon Hill devotees and other students of success and high achievement.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Ross Cornwell, Editor
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