Planting Creative Career Seeds – How Does Your Garden Grow?

Success does not happen overnight. Even people who seemingly have just come on the scene with a lot of fanfare have often been working for years, day after day, pushing towards their goals on the path to achievement. When I launch a new project for myself or for a client, I know that a lot of what I am doing is gardening, planting seeds for future abundance. I used to want things quickly, I would look for immediate results. Then I started to think long term. I saw that often when the project or goal was stretched into the future, I could put a lot more into it, hence the greater chance of success.

A good example of this is exercise, people want to be in shape in a week. They make a commitment on Monday, work out a day or two, struggle to eat right and then jump on the scale at the end of the week. Sometimes they have lost a little or actually gained weight. Oh my that has got to sting! But then they give up. Done.

It’s important to realize that a delay of your goal and outcome is not a denial, actually not doing it is a denial.  A delay of the payoff is often needed. Once you add time you have much more chances for success.

A lot of people ask me, where do I come up with the ideas for this blog and my show? Most of the time it involves note taking during reading and listening. Also when thoughts pop into my head. As I learn, I jot stuff down, all the time. Now the idea may not be immediately applied. But it plants a seed. A technique that I can think about, save to reflect on, share with others down the road or implement when it is more appropriate. As such I have amassed a large collection of ideas and career development advice, a pretty fertile garden of thoughts that I can pick from. Quite different from zoning out at a blank page and wracking my brain trying to come up with an idea, concept or method that I want to share with my audience or help out a friend or client with.

Delaying the payoff is not bad, as long as you are working toward it. A truly abundant garden of prosperity comes from careful planting, care, weeding out what is not needed, attention and focus. If everything was quickly and easily achieved, everyone would be super successful, have a huge audience, be amazingly wealthy and swimming in abundance.

We talked about Starting Monday, the problem there was delaying the start. This concept here is to delay the end, don’t rush toward it, nurture and build. Think big but think long term. Like anything that grows, the more you put into it, the bigger it will get.

I mentioned blogging earlier, I have to say I have had several blogs over the years. I would get all fired up and blog several days in a row, then get busy and not blog for a week or two. Lose my audience, blog again, work to get them back. See interest, see it drop, lather, rinse, repeat. I realized that making a commitment to blog weekly, several days a week, was consistently steady and kept things building and growing just as I wanted it.

I also realized that in the past if I was not planting, growing and harvesting I was letting myself down, starting from scratch all the time and most importantly letting my audience down. If you are in tune with these concepts I am talking about weekly, you know that building an audience is one of our key concepts, bringing our craft to the masses.

Also remember that when it is cloudy and rainy, that is when lots of things you have planted in the past can begin to really grow. You may be seeing some green ($$) more often than you anticipated if lots of things are growing over time.

OK I think I have overdone the gardening references…

This is a process that takes refinement and one I have learned over the years. I will tell you it does take practice. Planting seeds for future success. Now if I could just get good at actual gardening (like the real kind, with leaves and plants) that would be nice as well.

Are you looking for quick results? Or are you working (planting) systematically towards your goals and plans, putting the time into it that will give you the results you want to get out of it?

Do you have a creative career green thumb?