[Mahler]

Mahler’s Monday Morning Motivator # 90 – A Walk in the Orchard

Good morning, guys.
Have you ever taken a walk in an orchard? The trees are all lined up neatly and when the season is right, the fruit is ready for the picking. But, take a look at the fruit closely. Sometimes the best fruit is high up in the tree where it bathes in the sun. Lower hanging fruit may not be as good, but a little easier to pick. Of course the easiest pickings are the fruit that has already fallen to the ground. It has some flavor, but is also bruised, with a rotten spot here and there or even a wormhole.

Our journey through life is much like that walk through the orchard. Our goals and ambitions can be like the fruit on a tree. Some of us don’t climb to the top to get to the choicest fruit. Why? We fear that we just can’t make it that high. We worry that we might fall. What if we get hurt? The risk is just too great.

The easier goals are the low hanging fruit, but they still require some effort. It is often our choice to settle for the fruit that is at hand. Make no mistake; we have to stretch and reach to make them our own, but they are there for us and require much less work. But for some, even that stretch is too much. It’s too far above our head. We might look silly jumping up to get it.

So, there are those of us who walk the orchard and never look up. The fruit on the ground has caught our eye. It’s there for the taking and so easy to get to. So what if we have to settle for something that is less than the best. It was so easy to just pick up and eat that it was worth it. Right? It required little effort and is almost as good.

Don’t fool yourselves. Sooner or later, while you are leaning back against your tree eating the fruit you picked up, your eyes will spot the guy climbing the next tree, going for the fruit at the top. You will look at the fruit in your hand and suddenly lose your taste for it and perhaps toss it aside. Where are your goals then?

The next time you take the walk in the orchard, resolve to make the climb. Go for the choicest fruit. There are no guarantees that you will reach the top and you may even fall, but what you taste on the way up will be so sweet that you will want to climb again and again. And, you know what? Sometimes the fruit becomes secondary and you just start enjoying the climb.

So the next time you set a goal; the next time you prepare for your walk in the orchard, keep your eyes off the ground and look up. See what is there high in the tree. Grab hold of that first low hanging branch and start climbing.

A goal that requires little effort to achieve, yields even less in results.

Have a great week.
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In Fitness & Friendship,
Mahler