cubicleless

My neighbor's bamboo is flexible and resilient.

My neighbor has a bamboo forest in his backyard. I haven’t paid much attention to bamboo until moving in and watching this amazing plant.

No other plant grows faster than bamboo. I’ve watched brand new sprouts of it grow as high as 3 feet in 2 days! I have pulled a few sprouts from the ground in an attempt to create a controlled planting of it.

Here’s why I love bamboo and have made bamboo my mentor.

1. Bamboo is resilient. For two years now I have watched bamboo and how it reacts to the different seasons. Regardless of temperature or precipitation, the bamboo has remained standing. Personally, I’ve weathered many storms as a working man. I’ve managed to keep my home and keep my family fed after losing my job and transitioning into self-employment. I remain standing after my battles and have grown stronger as a result.

2. Bamboo is flexible. It’s amazing to watch this stuff when it rains or snows. As you can see in my photo above, bamboo will bend and flex, but never break. When you are self-employed, expect to be forced to bend or flex while trying to keep things moving. Being flexible is essential as you have many hats to wear. Otherwise, you may snap under the pressure.

3. Bamboo grows fast. Within a few weeks I’ve watched the bamboo rise as high as ten feet! I don’t plan on growing any taller as I already stand at 6’2” and I’m comfortable with that. My point is I have to realize that to achieve the goals that I want to achieve in life I have to grow. I have to grow spiritually, I have to grow through education, I have to grow in the habits I am trying to form.

4. Bamboo is versatile. Bamboo is used for many things. Scaffolding, flooring, decoration, fishing poles, Pandas eat it, fencemaking, bridges, walking sticks are only a few of the many things Bamboo can be used for. In my business, I have to how to do a variety of tasks. I have to be versatile. I believe in filling up your toolbox and learning as much as you possibly can.

Sometimes you have to look to nature and emulate nature to keep you going. A boss from an old job told me to examine nature when I needed a creative spark. I chose bamboo.

I was exhausted going to bed last night! I went to sleep at 9:45pm and got up at 6:05am. Getting up was a bit easier this morning. I fell asleep very quickly, even with my wife reading with the light on.

The Power of Sleep

There is definitely much power in sleep. I am alert in the morning after a good night of sleep and much more productive. Personally, I’m a complete zombie during the day if I do not get much quality sleep. Yesterday was pretty rough for me, but I knew I had to stay the course to get the habit to stick.

The Challenge of Habit

There’s always a challenge when breaking old habits and building new ones. When you mix things up and try to better yourself, you will win in the end. I’ve realized through exercising and going to the gym on a regular basis that if I do the same workout routines over and over eventually my body gets used to it and my gains or improvements slowly subside.  With sleep, I have to steadily challenge myself and try knew methods to get better quality of sleep and to ultimately rise early.

My goal is to feel more productive and to have more time to be more productive.

Time is money. Time while well rested is more money.