Are You Living in Drought Mode?

Dead plant in pots (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I've done this more than once.  I work for hours in the garden, weeding, transplanting, moving plants here and there, then exhausted I gather up all my tools and head inside for lunch and a well deserved break.  I just figure I'll water the newly transplanted plants later.  Unfortunately, this usually means I forget abaout them altogether and the next day I find my plants wilted beyond belief. Sometimes I can rescue them... sometimes not.

It's not that I don't know watering is essential.  This past summer like many summers recently, Georgia was in the midst of a drought situation.  I needed to water not only my garden to ensure that it flourished but also my grass which suffered from the extreme heat and lack of rain.  It didn't always happen.  Sometimes I don't water because I forget.  Sometimes I don't water because it looks like it might rain soon and I'd rather not waste the water.  Sometimes I don't water just because I'm tired and don't want to make the effort of moving sprinklers around or unkinking the garden hose.  In the end though the reasons for not watering don't matter so much as the  fact that the  plants that I expend all kinds of time, energy and  money on, don't thrive.


Much like previous lessons from the garden, this one has an application to real life as well.  Just as plants need water, we too need refreshment and nourishment in our lives. There are times when I can become so consumed with the details, the jobs, the chores of life that I forget to take time to refresh and nourish my mind and my body. There have been whole seasons of my life when my only goal was to to get through the day at work and at home in the easiest simplest way possible, always flying under the radar and staying clear of any problems.  I was just marking time until I could get to the pleasurable weekend or evening when I could do what I wanted and relax.  In many ways my life was in survival mode not growing mode.  Much like a plant during a drought, I was just waiting and hoping for a better growing season next year.


A few years ago, I come to my senses and decide to begin living more intentionally.  Rather than trying to live the easiest, simplest way, I begin setting goals and striving daily to reach them.  I establish priorities and I push myself into new areas and new ventures.  It's been risky.  It's been scary.  It's been exhilerating!

I begin determining a focus for my energies, a theme for the year.  I have lots of interests, lots of needs and areas I'm interested in learning more about.  However, time and finances are limited so I determine that I will focus first on one area at a time.  2010 was the year for speaking.  I attend Kent Julian's Speaker's Bootcamp and join his Mastermind group. That's me in the green shirt!  I work hard at establishing a network of speaking opportunities.  I water and nourish the seedling and this year it has really started to pay off.  I've had more speaking engagements than ever and most of them have sought me out rather than the other way around.

This year, I determine to focus more on the craft of writing and to nourish that gift.  Writing has always been a first love but I've truly had little training in it.  It's just something I love to do so much, I do it naturally.  But this year, I decide to be intentional about learning and growing in that area.  Again, I am nervous.  What if everyone agrees I'm not any good at it?  What if I'm fooling myself?  I begin by applying for the Kennesaw Mountain National Writing Project.  I am accepted and I spend a month attending classes with other teachers who love to write.  It is challenging, it is amazing, it is life changing!


Currently, I've just signed on with Jeff Goin's online Tribe Writer's course.  I'm determined  to continue watering and nuourishing the gift of writing and making it a priority in my life.  Malcom Gladstone in his book Outliers, writes that it takes 10,000 hours to become knowledgeable or an expert in any new area.  Pay attention to that statement.  He doesn't write that you must have the gift, the determination, the IQ or the talent, although those things help of course.  The real determining factor is simply putting in the time, the hours and hours of work.  Dan Miller in his weekly podcast often recommends that you budget funds for personal growth and education.  I love this concept.  Be intentional.  Watering the plant is essential.

It's a reciprocal relationship of course. When you give the appropriate amount of water, the plant flourishes. When you take the time to learn and grow, to try new things and new experiences, to feed and nourish your mind and body then you grow mentally, physically and spiritually. When you neglect them, both plants and our spirits wither and die.


What about you?  Is your life in drought mode?  Are you waiting and hoping that the next month, the next year, the next season will be better?  Or are you watering the plant?  Are you living intentionally and nourishing yourself?

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BE DO HAVE...Are You Working The Plan Backwards?

The weekend of May 19th and 20th,  I'll be participating in the Canton Arts Festival, hosting a booth and selling my books.  I've been invited to participate before but it is only this year that I've felt I had enough of a product to justify it.  Now that I have three books that I've authored I am ready to take it on. I hope you will come out and see me and Wyatt.  I'll be sharing the booth with Kathy Brunner whose recent book, Finding Your Fire: How To Get Fired Up Not Burned Out,  will be reviewed on this blog next week.  It's a great read!  In addition, Lacey the therapy dog in real life will be joining us for part of the time.  Lacey is a love and a recent addition to Wyatt's friends.  Come out and meet her in person before you read about her in Wyatt's next book--Wyatt Goes To Kindergarten.  


It's really an exciting time and I'm not sure that almost three years ago when I decided to BE an author instead of a someday-author or a wanna-be-author or a wish-I-was-one-author, I had any idea I'd be able to accomplish so much.  I look back on the journey and while it's been a ton of work it has been exhilarating.  It has also taken a total shift in my mindset, my perspective to accomplish it, so if you are reading this and thinking, "Well it worked for you, but I'd never be able to accomplish something like that," please read on because I stood solidly in your shoes for years.

One of the most common statements I have heard from others as I am out talking about writing my books or establishing my blog or developing a business as a trainer, is “I have a story that I want to write but I just haven’t got the time.” Or, “I’d like to start my own business but I have a full-time day job now.” There are a lot of reasons that people give for not getting around to fulfilling their dream. Sometimes it’s because they have a family and it just keeps them too busy. Sometimes it’s because they have a full-time job and when they retire they’ll get around to it. Sometimes it’s because they don’t have the financial resources and someday when they make more money, inherit some money or their ship otherwise comes sailing in... well, they’ll do it then. Do  you believe those excuses? Do you make them yourself?  I did. I've made them all.  Probably the main excuse I made was that I just didn't know how to do it and if someone would just show me, well then I'd be right on it.  Of course no one ever did because I never asked.  All of these statements are just excuses and not because the person making them is lazy or unmotivated.  They are excuses because you are putting the cart before the horse.

Successful people understand that to be successful you must: BE. DO. HAVE. Unsuccessful people believe that the order is: HAVE. DO. BE. Unsuccessful people wait to HAVE the time or HAVE the resources or HAVE the right contacts. Successful people know that in order to be successful you must first change your mindset and BE what it is you want to be.  When I made the decision to be an author,  I started by writing in my journal everyday, "I am an author who is publishing and selling books."  The more I wrote it, the more I believed it, the more I talked about it, the more I searched for ways to make it happen, the more I spent time writing.  Rather than waiting to have what I needed to accomplish my dream, I began by believing and acting like I was the dream.   No matter whether you want to be an author, or a musician or a CEO of your own company, you must first be what it is that you want to be not wait for the dream to appear fully realized.   Recognize that your excuses are just that. If your goal is to write a book and you believe you don’t have time, ask yourself how many books you wrote before you had children... before you found your first full time job... during your last vacation time, etc. Creating the life you want to have first involves visioning it, developing goals and then taking action on them. BE the person God meant you to be. DO the necessary steps and then expect that you will HAVE the success you envisioned. Don’t wait to HAVE the time, the relationships, the resources or you will never move forward because you are working the plan backwards.

What about you?  Are you BEING who you want to be now?  Or are you waiting to HAVE the time, resources etc?  How's that plan working for you?