Growing up, I did not live in a house. I grew up in a two-bedroom apartment with my parents and sister. Living in an apartment, there were certain things that we did not have. One of those things that we did not have was a yard. More specifically, we did not have our own yard. When my wife and I purchased our house back in 2015, one of the things that I was excited about finally owning was my own personal yard. I could not wait to do things that people with yards did: mow the lawn (yes, I was excited to mow!), plant some flowers, relax on a hammock. Fast forward 10 years – while I still love my yard, I quickly learned that it’s one thing to have a yard, and it's another thing to maintain it. With owning a yard comes the responsibility of keeping it beautiful. In order to keep a yard looking pristine, you have to be willing to do things that are not fun. You need to mow the lawn regularly. Admittedly, that sounded fun in theory, until I had to mow the lawn in the middle of the summer at 1000-degree weather. You must rake the leaves or acorns depending on the season. You have to pull weeds that sprout up seemingly out of nowhere. If you neglect to do those things, your beautiful lawn will turn into a wild jungle.
What I learned in maintaining (or trying to maintain) a yard is applicable in the pursuit of success. Whatever endeavor you are pursuing will include moments in which you have to “pull weeds” so to speak. There will be things that must be done that are tedious and time-consuming, but also necessary. If you hope to become successful, you must embrace pulling the weeds. You have to accept the fact that certain tasks will never be fun to do, but they are still very important to do. Just like neglecting weeds in a yard does not magically make them disappear, neglecting those boring tasks won’t make them disappear. In fact, if you neglect weeds for too long, they completely take over a yard, which means you’re forced to spend more time doing the very thing you didn’t want to do in the first place. Those tasks will come to dominate your time if you constantly neglect them. However, if you learn to embrace the reality that “weeds” will have to be pulled no matter how exciting your career is, then you can enjoy the level of success that eludes so many people who choose to avoid pulling weeds.
With the advent of tablets, streaming services, video games, and social media, we have become accustomed to replacing things that are boring with things that are entertaining. The idea of embracing doing something that is the opposite of entertaining may sound crazy. But, if you were to talk with any successful entrepreneur, entertainer, or business owner, they would tell you of things they hated doing but had to do. That’s what separates those who are successful from those who have yet to achieve success. They do the things that other talented people refuse to do.
The beautiful yards that we all wish we had was the result of people being willing to pull weeds. Likewise, the success that we all long for is the result of people being willing to “pull the weeds”. As you start your day and look through the tasks that you have to do, embrace pulling those weeds. They may not be fun to do, but it will contribute to your future success.