Is our instant gratification society hurting success in business? Think about it. We live in a nearly instant society. Order food and it arrives in 30 minutes. Order from Amazon and it arrives the next day. We are so far removed from the principle of delayed gratification and they may be hurting our chances of success.

This instant society creates an expectation of instant success. There is an old saying “It takes 10 years to become an overnight success”. I am not saying it takes 10 years but, it takes some time to become successful. You can’t try it for 90 days and give up. It takes longer than that. There is a growth and learning process at work.

I am often reminded of farming. I grew up in the south and came from a farming family. From a very early age I learned the principles of nature. Growing things is a process, just like growing a business. You can speed things up a bit with fertilizer, weed inhibitors and equipment but the process is the same.

This process begins by tilling the soil, removing the rocks and digging rows, preparing for seed. Sometimes the soil need nutrients. This is a LONG part of the process. It is back breaking work and haven’t even planted anything yet.

Next you begin the work of planting the seeds in those little rows you hoed. You cover them with dirt and gently pack the dirt over the seeds. Next you water the soil so the seeds can grow. Now do you have food, nope. You have dirty hands and a back ache.

For the next several weeks you visit your dirt patch daily to weed, water and tend the dirt. You will check the rows in the hot sun and look for signs of moles and voles. Finally after weeks of due diligence, tiny shoots start to break the surface towards the sun. It is so exciting but … you still don’t have anything to eat.

This continues for months… weed, water, feed, tend. You scare off the birds and protect your growing garden from the bunnies and the deer. Finally, your plants begin to bear fruit! They still are not ready to eat but you continue to work for the harvest.

Finally, finally the harvest comes. Everything is ripe and ready. You go out and pick your crop. The bunnies have gotten some and the bugs have gotten others. Still you have a beautiful basket of fruits and vegetables. NOW you eat.

This is the natural order of things. A farmer understands the process. Would a farmer plant the seed, walk out there the next day and quit in frustration because there were no tomatoes? Of course not. His expectations are aligned with the process.

I was reminded of this process while walking in the yard today. We planted fruit trees on our property 3 years ago. We began by selecting trees that grow well in our area. We had to determine how to pair them for cross pollination. My Husband got up early one Saturday and headed to Lowes to pick up our trees. We spent the day planning their spacing for growth, digging the holes (mostly my Husband), gently setting the trees, firmly packing the dirt back around them and watering them to ease the transition.

We go out almost every day to check on them. We water them and protect them from bugs. We make sure the leaves look healthy and that they are growing well in their new home. We didn’t get fruit again this season. We may not have fruit for several more years. We aren’t frustrated, we understand the natural order of things. As much as I want to bake beautiful fruit pies, I know that fruit will not come from my trees anytime soon. We will tend these trees for years with nothing to show for it. We know they will grow strong, provide shade and one day … we will eat peaches from our own back yard.

This natural order applies to success in your business. Commit yourself to the process, see the season through. Measure your progress against where you started not where you want to be.