The law of the farm

I've been reading this book named 'First Things First' by Stephen Covey & others (for quite a while!)and I read something right at the beginning of the book which struck a chord in me. I shared it with a few like minded people and have been itching ever since to share it with a wider audience. It is a simple concept, however, it seems to be so right that it looks stupid to not know it or think about it.

The 'law of the farm' is far too simple to be taken seriously. This law simply explains the natural system whereby one has to sow at the right time, toil hard to grow what he sows and then reap the harvest. The farmer just cannot cheat the natural system and forget to sow and water the seeds at the appropriate time and then one fine day realize that he has to reap a harvest and then overnight sow and water the seeds and hope to reap a rich harvest the next morning.

The author challenges in this book that one could try and apply this law to every single action in life and one will never fail to see that the law does work perfectly. For instance, think of the number of exams in our school or college days for which we crammed over night. I'm sure none of us ever had any use for those pages of so called wisdom we acquired over night as they just served the purpose of getting us past an exam and nothing more. I've done that myself and cannot deny that it was a great feeling when I worked all night and then got through the exam the next day but, in hindsight, that night's work didn't make me more knowledgeable, which in all fairness, is the purpose of education.

Consider another instance of health and staying fit. Years of bad eating habits and no exercise cannot be reversed overnight. Similarly a relationship between two people. When you just take a relationship for granted and not bother to nurture it by giving it care and attention you do not get the happy results you are looking for. I can go on and on with more examples. You can think of a lot of examples too because I've tried to apply this law to any action in life and it seems to fit the bill.

The lesson here is so simple: you cannot sit back, not plan, relax, not toil and expect to reap the benefits over night. Even if you did do it, like in the case of cramming for your exams, ultimately the effort goes waste as you realize that you never achieved what you thought you would or you should. As I read it I was so taken by the law that I literally tried applying it to several situations in life and it made sense every time. I shared it with friends and I could see their heads nodding in agreement. Then, it looked like we all understood how much sense this law makes but it is probably too simple for our complicated lives that we are probably looking for a training program or a discourse to make us think about it at a deeper level!

Picture courtesy: http://persianoad.wordpress.com/2007/10/24/why-india-should-promote-organic-farming/