Idea/Inception

Have you ever heard the saying “If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there. “ Those words were written by Lewis Carroll in his book Through the Looking Glass. Lewis Carroll is also the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The point is in order to reach your destination (or achieve your desired results) you must have an idea of what that destination is. If you don’t have a destination you can start in any direction because it doesn’t matter where you end up. We can call this idea your vision and where you should start the inception. A Facebook friend of mine, Donnie DeMary, wrote this in his Facebook status today (June 15, 2011). “Good morning Champions! How are you feeling today? Is your vision in line with your goals?” I think that is an excellent question to start the day!

Dictionary.com defines IDEA as a thought, conception, or notion. It defines INCEPTION as the establishment or starting point of something; the beginning. So let’s start at the beginning of your project (gardening or life). What do you want your garden to look like? Do you like colorful flowers? Do you want flowers that come back every year, flowers that you must replant every year, or a combination or both? What about life? Where do you want to go? What do you want to do? When do you expect to get there? What price (financially and effort) are you willing to pay?

In life and in gardening you must first have a vision, a dream, or a goal. I heard once that a dream is a goal with a date on it. I like that definition. Why? Because once you put a date on completing something it will no longer live on that place called “someday I'll.” Someday I’ll do this, or someday I’ll do that. Now, let me say that both my life and my garden continue to be works in progress. My hope is to point out the similarities in gardening and life as I see them.

Once again what is your vision for your garden? More importantly, what is your vision for your life? Write down your answer(s). Tomorrow we will discuss some steps you might take to achieve the desired results in either area.