Starting Point

Everything has a starting point. Nobody was born rich. Nobody was born with a job offer. Nobody was born fit. Nobody was born successful in anything. We ALL had to start somewhere, and wherever we started from, we would never get from Point A to Point Z quickly. Progression ALWAYS takes time when you are at your starting point.

Not only is progression from a starting point slow, it's also simple and gradual, slowly growing with small actions taken on a regular basis.

Being a gardener requires accepting this one fact: everything starts with a seed. You can't plant a seed and expect it to become a tree overnight. Knowing that the SEED is the starting point, you would understand that this seed would take time to become a plant, and that you need to care for that seed on a regular basis so that it could become a beautiful plant. If you cannot accept this, then gardening is not for you.

All the beautiful plants you see in a garden center all started from seed. Yes, you know that -- but you truly don't understand the patience and the work that goes behind making those seeds into eye-catching displays at the stores. The seeds are typically tiny, ugly, without any shape or form. Some seeds are so tiny that they look like dust, like the seeds of oregano plants. But give it time and attention, those seeds would produce beautiful plants that produce fruit or be used for medicine.

I think about the Biblical account of creation. In the first chapter of Genesis, it starts with the globe, which was empty, shapeless, having water and darkness covering it. The globe looked very chaotic. Then little by little, God said, "Let there be," and the globe was made more and more beautiful until it was a dazzling sight, filled with living creations. That former globe was very much like a seed: formless, ugly, chaotic, nothing much to look at. But little by little, day by day, that ugly thing would become a glorious sight!

See, no matter where you start from or how ugly that starting point is, when you take small, daily actions, you will eventually be in an entirely new place in your life.

Think about someone who needs to lose 100 pounds, who takes 20 different medications, and has many health issues. The starting point looks ugly, doesn't it? You're struggling everyday just to move around. What kind of life is that? But then you decide that you're going to change. Obviously, you can't join CrossFit and do everything the athletes are doing. You start by simply making small changes in your diet, which leads to doing some physical activity, which leads to more changes, which would eventually lead you to shocking your friends and family with your new transformation!

But do you think your new transformation will happen overnight? Absolutely not! It will take some time. It could take several months to several years (at most 2 years if you're consistent everyday). Eventually, you will arrive at your new destination, but you have to start somewhere.

Here's the good news about starting points: they don't determine the rate of your success. Let's think about seeds. Do you think the smaller the seed, the longer it would take for a plant to grow? No, size makes no difference. Let's take a jack fruit seed. Jack fruits could weigh as much as 120 pounds (and you thought a watermelon was heavy!). The seeds are slightly bigger than your big toe nail. These seeds could sprout a stem with leaves within two weeks. But let's take lettuce seeds, which are smaller than the point of your pen. They could sprout leaves in less than a week. But lavender seeds, which are about the same size as lettuce seeds, could take nearly a month to sprout anything!

So, the condition of your starting point means NOTHING. Don't look at your situation and think it's going to take forever to see any changes in your life. How much and how quickly you make a change depends on YOU.

Let's go back to the seeds. There are ways to make any seed sprout quickly. If you plant a seed directly in the dirt and water it inconsistently, the seed could take a while to sprout. If you plant the seed in the dirt and keep the dirt moist everyday, the seed would sprout quicker. If you take the seed and wrap it in a moist paper towel, you could see sprouts very quickly. Your ACTIONS, not your starting point, will determine the rate of your progression.

Never look at your starting point and get discouraged, thinking how impossible it would be for you to change. Your starting point NEVER determines your success. What you do everyday will determine that.

When you're at your starting point, remember that success will not happen right away. If you go jogging today, will you see your belly flatten on the next day? Of course not. How about within two days? No. Three days? Nope. Maybe a week? Possibly. Within two weeks? You will start seeing some visible changes, just enough to convince you that whatever you're doing is working. Within a month? That is when you see the numbers on the scale making drastic changes. In six months? You could look like a completely brand new person -- AS LONG AS you're taking consistent, progressive action EVERY - SINGLE - DAY.

Let's go back to the seeds -- yet again. After you see a plant sprouting, should you back off and let nature do its thing? Absolutely not, especially if you're planning to leave your plant in a container. At this time, you need to be a bit more aggressive. This is when you need to inspect for pests, prune away diseased leaves, and fertilize the plant. You need to still be consistent with watering the plant, even if the plant is so-called "drought resistant." In other words, the more the plant grows, the more action you need to take. In the same way, the further away you are from your starting point, the more actions you need to take.

We have this mentality of "I'll do it until..." No, no, no. There is no "until" -- unless "until" is followed by "I die." It's very common for people to get serious about their weight when, say, they're getting married, getting ready for summer, getting a job, you name it. But once that event is over, they scale back, thinking that they've done enough. No, no, no! You're just getting started! Once you start seeing changes in your life, you need to get a bit more aggressive -- otherwise, you'd fall right back to your starting point.

When you make progression, NEVER scale back. Keep on going! If you can't lose anymore weight, think of something else you could work on. When you can't work on that anymore, think of something else to work on. Keep the momentum going so that you won't end up back to your starting point. Believe me, if you find yourself back at the starting point, you'd have to start ALL OVER again.

Don't have that "lottery" mindset. You know, if you hit the lottery, you'd quit your job and live the good life. I don't care if you have BILLIONS in your bank account: keep making money. Keep the activity going. Keep that fire burning. Because if something crazy happens to those billions and you find yourself broke, what are you going to do? Beg your former boss for your job, after you've used some choice words before you quit?

It doesn't matter where you are in your life, just start. Start where you are right now. It doesn't matter how bleak your starting point looks. Just start now.