The best way out of a problem is through it.
There was an old farmer who, year after year, had plowed around a large and expansive rock, as had his father before him. To the farmer, the rock was a source of constant irritation. He had broken several plow blades on it. He had to plant his crop rows on an angle around it—causing him to lose valuable space. Every year, he cursed the rock but did his best to work around it.
Finally, one fall day, after having broken yet another plow blade on the rock, his anger provoked him to action. He took his tractor, a large chain, and pick & shovel out to the field. He anticipated a long and difficult day’s work. However, once he had swung his pick under the rock, he was amazed to discover that it was only a few inches thick. To his astonishment, he was able to break up his old nemesis and remove the broken pieces with relative ease.
As he was hauling the broken pieces of rock away, he remembered all the trouble it had caused him and his father before him for decades. How he lamented the years of frustration because he had not chosen to confront the rock sooner.
Watch This Lesson: The Farmer and the Rock
How Do You Confront Obstacles?
Like the old farmer, do you ever “plow” around annoyances and obstacles in your path? Have you convinced yourself that the removal of a problem is impossible—saying, “It’s just too big to deal with?” We further aid our procrastination by telling ourselves we are “too busy to face it now.” We may even deceive ourselves and say, “I’ll come back to it later.” Sometimes, we rationalize, “It’s not really my problem,” and we blame someone else—excusing ourselves from being part of the solution. We may even accept having this chronic problem to the point that it actually brings a strange air of comfort due to familiarity—we are used to it. This is indeed a sad state.
When confronted with an obstacle, we are usually better off girding up our determination, committing the time to confront it and be done with it once and for all, as the farmer learned from his experience. The best way out of a problem is through it. And you are likely to discover that your cursed nemesis was actually much easier to resolve than you had imagined.
Application
- List some of your annoyances that seem to always be there, especially those that really get in your way.
- Is it time to stop “plowing” around them and confront them head-on?
- You may be surprised by your progress in “breaking” them up. They may be much easier to haul out of your life than you imagined.
