Pruning Your Success

I love grapes. I recently had the opportunity to sample some grapes still growing on the vine. They were sweet and delicious. I wondered what made a grape vine successful and productive. Now I understand that it is the same process that makes our lives successful, happy, and productive.

The success of the grape vine and the production of juicy grapes are dependent upon the proper pruning of the vines. Only the green shoots from the plant bears the grapes. The vines must be trained and pruned to maintain or improve their productivity.

The fruit bearing part of the vine gets further away the roots each year. As the vine gets longer, energy and plant food are unnecessarily wasted as the sap is pumped a greater distance from the roots to the leaves. Pruning reduces the distance between the root and the branch and forces the vine to focus upon fruit production.

The lesson here for us is that it is necessary for us to also prune away those situations in our lives that are not productive. Our energy and resources may be better used in those pursuits that fulfill our lives and make us happier and more successful.  

We must be willing to take a look at our lives and ask whether certain activities, tasks, relationships, attitudes, or habits are producing for us. If they are not, we need to take our mental pruning shears to them.

Perhaps a seasonal pruning in our lives is in order. What habits would you like to purge from your life? What situation is no longer working for you? What is sapping your energy, but is not producing positive results? How far away have you gotten from the nurturing source? 

Some activities may need to be completely cut out of your life, while others merely require a little pruning to control the growth. What would you look and feel like if your life was appropriate trimmed?

"The spirit, the will to win, and the will to excel are the things that endure. These qualities are so much more important than the events that occur." 

-Vince Lombardi, former American football coach