The Persistent Bamboo

 What does bamboo and getting what you want have in common? 
Nothing, you say! Well consider this story.

There is a type of bamboo that grows incredibly fast, sometimes averaging two feet of growth a day. The people who grow this bamboo associate it with values such as persistence, diligence, and stability.

Suppose that the bamboo’s abundant growth impressed you so much that you decided to raise a hedge. After consulting the experts, you know to plant the seeds in a barren plot and sprinkle the soil with four cups of water each day. But this is all you know.

YES! you say, as you follow instructions and eagerly await results.  Day after day, you sprinkle the soil and scan the backyard for new shoots. After the first couple of weeks, the novelty wears thin. You become bored with the process. Sometimes you wonder why you planted bamboo in the first place.

After the thirtieth day, you notice how everything else is lush except your plot of ground. The neighbors start to make snide remarks. You begin to wonder, what if I skipped today? Would it make any difference?

Soon the weeks turn into months. You feel foolish and find it harder to defend your original decision. You start to doubt your environment, your skills, and everything that made so much sense before. Surely, there would be a sign of life by now. If bamboo grows so fast, why haven't I seen anything yet? you ask yourself.

After 72 days, you decide the bamboo must be dead and give up.

Would this be your scenario, or would your doubts have stopped you sooner?

The story of bamboo is not only about persistence. It is also about believing in what will happen next. The bamboo is not dead. It just doesn’t send up a shoot until after the 110th day. Then it grows fast. But you didn’t know that. Could you have overcome your doubts to trust the result to come?

For the first 100 days, bamboo focuses on creating an infrastructure of strong roots to support itself. Though it didn't appear to be, the bamboo was saying YES to life the whole time! 

Like the bamboo, we need a strong foundation to grow, and we have to trust it to take time. How many of our well-intentioned goals and ideas get killed before we establish a strong foundation upon which to build them? Sometimes it is easier to follow through once we know what the result will be. But how often do we have the privilege of that knowledge?

The process called “The Magic of YES!^TM” focuses on the importance of building your foundation before targeting the results you expect to see. Through a series of guided questions and exercises, the process helps you identify your true values and purpose (your foundation).

Once you have built a strong foundation, you can persist through self-doubt to achieve your goals with greater assurance. Like the bamboo, rooted in its foundation, your growth will then flourish.