Want to grow? Gotta plant some seeds.

Once upon a time, there was a man who loved apples.

He ate apples every day, for every meal.

Each morning, he climbed out of bed and walked down the road to the local apple orchard, where he worked from dawn until dusk picking ripe apples from the trees.

The orchard owner paid him in apples.

The man was content most days, because he always had enough apples to eat.

But he never had any extra.

One day, as the man was walking back home from the orchard, an apple fell from his basket without him noticing.

The apple rolled into the ditch alongside the path.

That evening, the man went to bed feeling hungry, because was forced to eat fewer apples than he was accustomed to.

Months later, the man was surprised to find a small tree growing alongside the road to his home.

He looked at it with curiosity, as it grew larger each day.

Finally, one day, the man was delighted to discover a batch of apples growing on the tree.

His tree.

He immediately picked all of the apples, and enjoyed an apple feast that evening.

But the next day, returned to the orchard to work.

Months later, his single apple tree began to bear fruit again.

But this time, them man only collected a handful at a time.

Sometimes, the extra apples allowed him to work less in the orchard. Other times, he simply enjoyed more apples at mealtime.

Until finally, an idea struck him.

For an entire year, the man carefully collected the apples from his own tree, but did not eat them.

Instead, he planted them around his home and along the road.

He even planted some of the apples he earned from working at the orchard.

During this year, the man was always hungry.

He was also tired.

Planting apples and tending to the growing trees was exhausting, especially after working full days at the orchard.

But he did not give up.

That spring, something incredible happened.

As all of his new trees bore fruit, the man found himself awash in apples.

He suddenly had more apples than he could possibly enjoy in his lifetime.

The man quit working at the orchard.

He hired workers to come and care for his own orchard, paying them in apples.

And sold the surplus.

Reflecting on his success, the mean realized two things:

1. He had learned how to become the producer of something, not just a consumer.

2. He had developed the discipline of consuming less than he produced.

May the rest of your year be fruitful,

Greg

P.S. If you happen to be looking for seeds to plant, there are fewer assets more valuable than a high quality email list. Next week, I am leading a live training on how to do exactly this. We’ve got 30 people already signed up. You can catch the details here.