Getting - the results of Seeing and Doing!

The ancient saying says, "You reap what you sow." Stephen Covey calls it The Law of the Farm. The concept behind The Law of the Farm is simple: A farm is a natural system. It requires diligence in planning, working the ground, sowing the seed at the right time and caring for the crop until harvest. One cannot cram on the farm. If you do not cooperate and act on the natural principles of farming, they bite you in a tender location. What you sow you reap!

In the movie The Ten Commandments, Cecil B. deMille points out that " It is impossible for us to break the law. We can only break ourselves against the law."

So (w) what are you reaping these days? What does your harvest look like? If you have a lot of wonderful friends it may be because you are intentionally cultivating them and keeping in touch. Satisfied customers? I trust you are doing your follow through and service. Do people not trust you anymore? Maybe it's because you have been breaking a few promises or telling white lies! Is your car constantly breaking down? How is your regular maintenance schedule? (Might be time to trade in the old junker, too!)

Now one thing to remember on the farm that Covey does not mention is natural disasters. Sometimes you do your diligent working and sowing and a tornado or hailstorm comes and destroys your crop. Life happens! Sometimes we reap what others have sown and where it is not our fault. Depending on your worldview, you may call it providence, luck, bad karma or acts of God. It's life! Accept it and move on! Focus on the circle of your influence. Scott M. Peck says "Life is hard." He points out that once you accept this fact, you can stop feeling sorry for yourself and start working positively to make the best of what you have.

Yet, many times we do reap what we sow. We can whine about our harvest in the last little season or we can do some analysis on what we have been getting and make some changes. Those changes may be painful, but if we want to get different results, we may need to have different paradigms and behaviors. One wise person has said, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

What behaviors are contributing to your success and what behaviors are contributing to your loss? Pick a behavior that works for you and keep doing it. Alternatively, pick a behavior or paradigm that does not serve you and abandon it systematically.

Let me know what happens! Happy Harvest Season!