Upon their return my father went straight to the garden eager to see if his pumpkin vines had sprouted. He was thrilled to find that things had sprouted and dismayed that there were both weeds and pumpkins. Knowing that he had to pull the weeds so that they wouldn’t choke out his crop of pumpkins, he got to work. But he quickly realized that he could not tell the weeds from the good plants. I advised him, tongue in cheek, of the old saying that “a good plant will be easy to pull from the ground while the weed will be difficult.”

My mom wasn’t thrilled about having him experiment with the tensile strength of the plants. So I suggested that we look on Google to see if we could find help identifying the weeds, so we could tell the good plants from the bad plants. I typed in “identifying weeds” and got 1.6 million results. Turns out that this is something a lot of people are interested in, and for good reason. By pulling the weeds early the good plants don’t have to compete for nutrition, space or water and will grow into healthy, mature pumpkins. But by waiting until the weed can be easily distinguished from the good plant – well by that time it is too late.

That got me thinking about the weeds in our own lives. Just as in any garden, in life, weeds are inevitable and frankly just evidence of our fallibility as humans. Weeds of fear, poor attitude, bitterness, laziness, indecision, ignorance, clutter, poor time management, failure to set goals, lack of exercise, poor eating habits, and neglected relationships.  How often do we allow them to grow unchecked until they choke out our happiness, contentment, and success?

Our weeds usually start out small. A simple lapse in self-discipline, poor judgment, or procrastination provides fertile ground for weeds to grow. At first we don’t notice a weed has popped up, but, a little bit every day, it grows and becomes habitual; and, by the time the weed is easily identifiable – it is too late – the damage has been done. Our physical and emotional well-being are choked. Our relationships suffer. Our careers falter. Failure takes the place of success.

It happens to the best of us. We have all allowed weeds to grow in our life unchecked and suffered the consequences. It happens to Sales Professionals every day when they put off prospecting and activity only to find a month or two down the road that they are producing no business because their pipeline is empty. By the time this weed is identifiable, it is too late and many lose their jobs.

While no one is perfect enough to keep weeds from sprouting, we can take measures to identify and pull our weeds before they take hold. One the most effective means of identifying and pulling the weeds in your life is through honest introspection. This means scheduling time to sit in silence and just think, to listen to your inner voice, to heed your intuition, and to take stock of where you are and where you are going. For many people this quiet time involves prayer. Silence allows us the freedom to just think and contemplate without intrusion from the outside world.

Shakespeare’s famous line from Hamlet, “to thine own self be true,” is important to remember when pulling weeds from our lives. I believe that we all have the capacity to identify and pull weeds before they take over our lives. The key is becoming self-aware. Self-awareness is a simple equation of taking time to just think and being honest with ourselves – being true.

This week I challenge you to set aside 15 – 30 minutes on your calendar to sit in silence and just think. When you do, I am positive that you will discover for yourself the fine art of pulling weeds.

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