The Journey to Success

The journey to success is amazingly similar to these 8 steps in the process of farming and harvesting in the agriculture world.

#1 - Identify the crop

• The "crop" is your objective or dream.
• You need to identify clearly and specifically what you want to achieve before you can even start taking any action towards achieving it.
• Otherwise, you may end up harvesting the wrong "crop".

#2 - Clearing the soil

• The "crop" needs soil to grow on, and the "soil" is your mind.
• The education and programming of your mind over the past years have brought you to where you are now, and if you haven't achieved your objective or dream yet, obviously it means your mind has been filled with so much "weeds" (i.e. preconceived negative thoughts and ideas) that the crop has no place to grow.
• Therefore you have to clear your "soil" off the "weeds" in order to make place for the "crop" to grow.
• You may go for a long and painful process of clearing the "weeds" by manually plucking with your hands, i.e. getting over your bad habits and self-rejections one by one.
• Or you may go for a quick and no-return process of clearing the "weeds" by burning the soil, i.e. the sort of "burning your bridge" determination to never look back.

#3 - Conditioning the soil

• Just like ploughing the soil, you need to continually stretch and set your mind free off any self-limiting thoughts, so that you can 
• Just like a parachute, your mind can only work when it's stretched wide open.
• Otherwise, your "soil" may be too hard and tough for the "crop" to grow.

#4 - Sowing the seed

• "Sowing the seed" is akin to taking the right actions towards achieving your objective or dream.
• "No seed, no crop" is just the same as "no action, no result".
• Sowing the wrong or bad "seed" will give you the wrong or bad "crop".

#5 - Nurturing the crop

• The "crop" needs to have all the right care and absorb all the right nutrition in order to grow healthily.
• Giving the right "care and nutrition" is like feeding your mind with the right education and inputs from credible sources which are geared towards helping you succeed.

#6 - Protecting the crop

• Just like the "crop" being prone to attacks from "weeds" and "pests", your objective or dream is also prone to attacks from "destructive thoughts" and "non-supportive friends" who try to talk you out from your dream.
• Therefore you need to continuously protect your "crop" by being associated with the right people who really want to see you succeed. They are the ones who will give you the right advice, telling you the things that you need to hear instead of the things that you wish to hear. They will help you stay focused on your objective or dream instead of letting you wander far from your intended path.

#7 - Allowing the crop to grow

• Just like a crop, your objective or dream needs time to become reality.
• Instant gratification - bean sprouts can grow in a few days, and last not even a week. How much is a handful of bean sprouts worth for you?
• Delayed gratification - an oak tree takes 10 years to grow into full maturity, and can last for a century. How much is an oak tree worth for you?
• Is your objective or dream worth a handful of bean sprouts? Or a mighty oak tree?

#8 - Harvesting

• When all the 7 steps above work in perfect tandem and harmony, the harvest will come.
• Perfecting your skills of implementing all the steps will allow you to increase your yield accordingly.

I'm definitely not an expert in the farming and harvesting of crops, but these timeless principles of success are definitely applicable across all areas of our life.

There shortest path to success is the straight line from point A (where you are now) to point B (where you want to be), which means...

STAY FOCUS!