Monday Morning Match is a quick post – maybe a quote, inspirational story or idea – intended to spark some motivation inside each of you so your week gets off to a fantastic start on Monday morning.
Not Where It’s Supposed to Be
It was Mother’s Day yesterday. I went to visit my mom in the morning to deliver some gifts and take her out for a Starbucks. We chatted about life and then I dropped her off to meet my brother and his family for brunch. While we were having our coffee, she asked me to bring my son Ryan down to her house to do a little simple yard work.
As we got down to her house, our chore was to tend to all the loose bamboo shoots that were sprouting up outside of her bamboo garden. Now when the bamboo is full height, it’s an amazingly beautiful habitat for birds and other small animals but after some heavy frost last winter, she had to instruct her landscapers to trim it down to the roots and let it grow anew. We’re not sure whether is was the birds carrying the seedlings or wind or rain that caused all these loose bamboo shoots to pop up but they were everywhere. Picture a middle-aged man’s head; there’s a place where the hair is supposed to grow but without an undue attention but now there are hairs suddenly appearing in the nose, eyebrows and ears.
Equipped with our garden clippers, we started around the perimeter of the garden and started shearing the shoots at ground level. A snip here and a snip there and before you know it, we had the place looking “bambootiful.” Hopefully our efforts to prune down the loose plants will allow the rain and sunlight to nourish the heavy patch of bamboo to grow healthy and allow the birds that mom loves to watch gather at her feeder to return.
What Needs Pruned In Your Garden?
Blinking lights, chirps from smart phone texts, pings from emails and audible notifications from social sites after every Facebook post, tweet, Snapchat or Instagram post can really cause us to lose focus. In a world where the shiny objects and squeaky wheels (i.e “vocal clients”) get our attention, it’s no wonder that we sometimes make it through an entire day without doing anything to build our business. Is it time to grab your clippers before you venture out into the week only to be distracted by loose shoots and all the things outside of your garden?
- Do you have a “to do” list for today or the week ahead?
- When was the last time you reviewed your annual goals? Are you still on track?
- Would it help to implement “phone control” and block out times to respond to calls instead of reacting to them as they come in and interrupt your flow?
- Who could you delegate some of those business support details to instead of taking your eyes off the growth opportunities ahead?
Too many gardeners plant beautiful flowers yet once they are in bloom they don’t even take time to enjoy the colors and aromatic scents because they are worried about the dandelions and other weeds that pop up here and there. Acknowledge the weeds are there and pull them while they are little… but remember, the weeds only help you appreciate the gorgeous blooms even more.
Have a great week building relationships, solving problems and having fun.
Photo Credit: Henry Burrows via Flickr
Photo Credit: Mario via Flickr