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Week 65: Finding Old Inspiration and Planting the Seed

Years ago, while in business school, I was trying to find what to do with myself once I graduated. I went back and forth with the decision that I would look for a new role elsewhere or stay with Boeing (where I worked at the time) and try to grow there.

It was during a leadership development course that I stumbled upon the writings and books of Jon Gordon.

I started with “The Energy Bus” and learned all about harnessing our positive thinking and eliminating negative energy “vampires” from our lives.

I next went through several of his books like Training Camp, The Garden, Soup, The Seed, and others.

I read and adopted “The No Complaining Rule” as a basic tenet of my professional life.

I took notes all along the way and wildly oscillated between visions of grandeur and inspired realism. In short, his work spoke to me in a way that others in that genre didn’t. The relative simplicity of his messages seemed to translate well to bringing good things into my life.

I even saw him speak a few years ago, in which he made a joke and I didn’t laugh. We made eye contact at that exact moment when the rest of the audience was laughing, and I was sitting there stone-faced. An odd look crossed his face, he shrugged and went on with his presentation.

That part made me laugh out loud.

Anyway, I recently purchased a box set of his books, mostly his older collection which I read years ago when I was searching for what to do next.

It’s funny how things go sometimes.

I held up the boxed set and asked my oldest son to pick one he thought I should start with.

His selection?

The Seed.

The story details a young man, Joshua, content in most things but searching for meaning. He wonders if he’s doing the right things, applying his energy in the right places, and doing work that really matters.

He goes to corn maze with some friends and gets lost. Thinking of it as of microcosm of his life, he gets more and more exasperated until he runs into a farmer strolling through the maze.

The farmer tells Joshua about how we must find those things, they won’t come to find us. He tells him about how we have to find that place to apply ourselves.

And he gives him a seed.

The farmer concludes by telling Joshua to find that spot to plant the seed and unleash his passions on the world. And to look for the signs.

Joshua, buoyed by this, starts looking.

He goes back to his old college. He goes back to old jobs. He goes back to old friends and coworkers.

Nothing from his past seems to make sense.

He decides a new job is the answer. He gets a call from a recruiter for an amazing opportunity. But then when flying out for the interview, his plane gets delayed.

While waiting on his flight, he meets a man seated next to him who tells him an amazing story. He tells him about how he to used to be so anxious for the next thing, always unhappy and just going through the motions.

Joshua realizes while talking with this man that this is another sign, this person is here to dispense just the advice and wisdom he needed at the time and place he needed it most.

He calls the recruiter and cancels the interview.

Joshua realized that the place to plant the seed wasn’t somewhere the future either.

It was in the NOW.

Humans have a remarkable ability to either live with our heads buried in the past or in the clouds of the future. In doing so, we shortchange the present.

The place to plant the seed is here and now.

I realized I’d been going through old documents, looking for signs. I’d talked with old colleagues, looking for signs of what to do.

Today I watched our annual celebration when we award sales professionals throughout our organization with an amazing trip for a stellar year of performance.

I’ve never won.

And I’ve never even come particularly close.

I’d been sitting there looking for signs, when signs were actually all around. It was fortuitous that my kid chose that book, at this time and place. Perhaps it was the sign.

The sign that planting the seed in the present was the answer I was seeking all along.

It’s not really about winning awards, although awards are nice. It’s about becoming the type of person that competes for them.

Not somewhere else. Not somewhere new.

But here. And now.

Live triumphantly. See you next week.

P.S. One of my other goals is to grow this newsletter. If this writing resonates with you, please share it with someone cool.