How a plant can teach you about growth

Growth has its ups and downs, like trees and plants. A lack of rain can either kill trees or slow their growth, causing them to suffer. During drought, a tree will try to preserve its greenery and signal its need for water by turning a few leaves yellow.

You and I expect growth to happen fast—not in the blink of an eye, but within a few days, weeks, or at most, a couple of months.

When we try something for the first time, we anticipate successful results. For example, if we want to learn to play the guitar, we take classes and start practicing.

In a short time, when we play the notes for Hotel California, we expect to play them well by default. But no—we fail to meet what our minds desire.

We don’t understand growth

We forget that these tasks are new to us—foreign to our minds and not part of our daily practice or routine. It’s like moving to a foreign country; it takes time to learn the language, culture, laws, and rules.

Many of us, when we don’t see the fruits of our actions, feel discouraged, lose hope, and quit. We’re not some genies who can nail everything on the first try.

There will be ups and downs during the learning journey, like with plants and trees. Their growth doesn’t happen overnight or in a few days—they go through hardships. It’s process.

We need to cope with growth

Some of us may disagree and give up. Because, despite practicing for over six months or even a year, we still haven’t reached our goals.

That's fine; some things take time, especially if what you're trying to learn is a craft. No champion becomes a champion after one year of practice.

Things take time. The business you launch and the career you aspire require patience. And continuous improvement in actions.

I once read a story about SpaceX. As most of you know, it manufactures and designs rockets.

It's primary goal is to reduce the cost of rockets. And make them reusable—something NASA didn't achieve despite their years of expertise in the field. It took SpaceX six years to launch a rocket into space—six years of failures—but Elon didn’t give up.

So the next time you don’t see growth, don’t judge, quit, or label it a failure.

The good part is that we are growing, but we often don’t notice our progress because we focus on the end goal, picturing the outcomes. However, if we compare ourselves to where we were six months or a year ago, we will see the change.

It’s like a small tree or plant that may not grow fast in height but develops stronger roots that aren’t obvious.

When we try, learn, and improve, we are building the foundation for the goals we aim to reach and expanding our mental horizons.

How my houseplant became my life coach

It taught me about personal growth. Last year, I bought an indoor plant for the first time.

Here is what I learned: plants need care like humans.

• Plants need exposure to light. We need exposure to people.

• A "dead" plant can revive with care. We can bounce back from rock bottom.

• Keeping a plant in the same pot limits its growth. We limit our growth by staying in our comfort zone

• Too little or too much water kills plants. We go nowhere with too little or too much knowledge.

• In response to drought, some trees shed their leaves to conserve energy and reduce water loss. In difficult times, we often let go of unnecessary burdens—whether material possessions, toxic relationships, or unproductive habits.

There will be times when you: neglect yourself, give it too much care and don't understand your needs.

But with trial and error, you'll grow strong like a tree.

It takes time and patience to become a tree ready to navigate other phases of life.

Get a plant and learn how it grows. And if you have plants, observe their growth and compare them to how you grow.

Thank you for reading. We’ll talk in the next letter.

By the way I am starting two new projects besides to what I do.

See below

Ahmed

If you want to:

1. A fun way to connect with people that leads to opportunities Toilet Mind

2. Learn problem solving strategies for business Creative System Thinking

3. Innovate and solve business challenges Neo Strateje