One year in late winter, I decided to try sprouting an avocado pit. In some ways, this seemed doomed to fail at the outset. For one thing, avocados are tropical plants. Currently, it’s the coldest season in the Midwest. The best light happened to be in the kitchen in front of the sliding glass doors. It was also the coldest place in the house.

I’ve tried sprouting avocado seeds before, in warmer climates like Florida where the environment is ideal and everything sprouts easily. The pit sat suspended by toothpicks over a glass of water. The tissue thin brown skin peeling over the next three months until it became mostly pinkish. When the orb no longer touched the surface of the water, I added some. I trusted it to sprout. Daily I willed it to sprout.

One day I thought, “Just throw it away, try again in the summer.” I had a thought. It’s been said certain plants can be encouraged to root if other cuttings that are rooting are placed in the same container. I placed a six-inch portion of one with the avocado pit to encourage it. Within weeks, (in the freezing month of March) it noticed a root the size of a mouse tail. Shortly after that, a top shoot. That pit went on to grow into a small tree just over five feet tall in the following years.

What does this mean for you?

Sometimes, the effort I put toward something new seems to gain very little traction at first. I may stick with it for months, maybe even years with not much visible improvement. Precisely when I want to give up is the point at which the breakthrough is imminent.

By waiting just a little bit longer, especially when I feel I’ve hit a wall or think I can’t do this one second more, the reward is just around the corner. Ninety-nine percent of the time the growth is sudden, significant and mind-blowing. It has always been worth the wait.

The tree script is pre-encoded in the avocado seed. If the environment isn’t ideal, growth is delayed until the conditions are right.

Sometimes while staying the path, I need encouraged. Sometimes that’s a mentor who’s just a little farther down the road to show me that my chosen course is doable! Most often I have heard, You’re doing the right things, it’s just a matter of time until it all clicks. If you remain true to yourself, and imagine your success, you will succeed. Think of all that is being aligned so you can move forward. Like the avocado pit, it needed sunshine and water. The cutting spouting in the same water was the encourager to avocado seed.

Your true destiny is embedded in you! A great future cannot be handed to you, it must be earned. In the persistence, you earn that success. Every day that you’re in the right place, working toward your goal, you are aligning your mind and being to that end. You are worthy of success and destined for great things. Keep pursuing your goal. Becoming a writer took me many years, but I wrote every day and often every night. I worked a day job and went home to work my writing gig.

In a conversation with someone very dear, I said something about the length of time it was taking. What they said to me was so profound. “I already see you as a writer.” Why hadn’t I? What undefined goal post did I think I had to pass to be a writer? The definition of a writer is one who writes. I had been doing that. So there must be another goal I wanted to reach. When I defined that I wanted to be a ghostwriter, I found the right mentor, and the goal was reached relatively fast. I was born to write. Just like the avocado seed was always going to an avocado tree. (Or mole sauce, but that’s a different conversation.)

If you or someone you know needs to be encouraged through the book writing process, I welcome you to contact me for a free half-hour consultation. You’ll gain insight and information from an industry insider to help you make informed decisions regarding your book. I provide a no-stress environment and absolutely no pressure to commit. Best of all, no annoying high-pressure follow ups. I’m always game for interesting conversations with new people and I look forward to meeting you. Set your appointment here and I’ll send a meeting link usually within 24 hours.

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