"Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you." --Carl Sandburg

While there are those who win lotteries, most of us will have to invest some time in our pursuit of success.

We can look at time, and success, from two points of view. First is the "time" that we put into our endeavors and then there is the "time" that is required for them to grow to fruition.

Let's think about a garden. Just as we are all different and some will want a nice garden of vegetables, another fruit, and yet another flowers, for each gardener to achieve the goal, each will have to invest time to get what they are looking for. Each must take, or make, time to perform regular chores; weeding, mulching, watering, and each must allow time for the natural rhythm of growth to take place.

Just as a seed dropped into the ground does not turn into a tree or a radish overnight, simply setting up a business, exercise program or other process for achieving success is not sufficient. No one would expect to become a champion athlete after one or two practice sessions, nor would any sane person expect to plant a seed and come out the next morning and find a tree. That's only happened once that I know of, and the fellow had to fight a giant as a result.

No one would go in to work at an entry level position and expect to be made president of the company the next day. Yet so often I see people go into business for themselves and quit in frustration a few days or weeks later because they are not making the kind of money they expected or dreamed of making. These are the same people who realize and understand that "success" in a business would require that they show up for work each day, "put in their time", and work their way up the ladder "over time".

Success in any other endeavor is exactly the same. Once the goal has been set, steps towards that goal must be identified and then performed. Just as a crop may fail, or one or two of the bushes we have planted may die, some of the steps we take along the way may not seem to be successful. However, it is the ability and willingness to keep planting, watering, mulching, and weeding that will produce the garden of our dreams.

At the same time, no matter how many hours of the day or days of the week we attend that garden, it will have to grow at its own pace. Just as with a garden, doing the right things in the right way at the right time may make our garden grow to its finest state faster than it would if we skip or miss a step due to laziness or ignorance. Most of us being human will make mistakes or have our moments of weakness when it seems that we have moved farther away from our ultimate objective. At those moments, we must return to the basic formula of success. Do our chores and let nature take its course.

"The great French Marshall Lyautey once asked his gardener to plant a tree. The gardener objected that the tree was slow growing and would not reach maturity for 100 years. The Marshall replied, 'In that case, there is no time to lose; plant it this afternoon!'" --John F. Kennedy