You cannot change the seasons

I want to share with you one of the most important things I've ever learned. It took me years to figure this out, but once I did, it changed the way I looked at everything.

Here it is:

"You cannot change the seasons, but you can change yourself."

Now that sounds simple, doesn't it? But simple and easy are not the same thing. Let me explain what I mean.

Life has seasons. Not just the weather outside your window—I'm talking about the seasons of your life. And here's what six thousand years of recorded history will tell you: after every fall comes winter. Every time, without fail. It isn't going to change.

Now, some people spend their whole lives angry at the winter. They say, "Why is this happening to me? Why is it so cold? Why is everything so hard?" And I say: that's like getting mad at January. What good does that do? The winter doesn't care about your opinion of it.

Here's the key. You can't get rid of January by simply tearing it off the calendar. But here's what you CAN do: you can get stronger. You can get wiser. You can get better. While the weather does what the weather does, you can prepare, you can read, you can plan, you can develop yourself so that when spring comes—and it always comes—you're ready to plant.

And that's the part most people miss. They wait through the winter doing nothing, and then when spring finally arrives they say, "Well, I'm not quite ready yet. Maybe next year." Let me tell you, my friend—spring does not wait. Spring says, "I'm here. What have you got?" And if the answer is nothing, you've just wasted the opportunity of the season.

Where Are You Right Now?

We're in February. For many of us, it feels like winter—maybe in the weather, maybe in life. Things might be difficult right now. The economy. A relationship. Your health. A project that isn't working the way you thought it would.

But here's what I want you to know: spring is coming. It always does. The question is not whether spring will arrive. The question is: will you be ready when it gets here?

Use this winter wisely. Read the books. Make the plans. Have the conversations you've been putting off. Learn the skills. Because when the opportunity season arrives, you don't want to be scrambling—you want to be planting.

A Story

A man once asked me, "Jim, when is the best time to start?" He'd been through a rough couple of years—lost a business, went through a divorce, was starting over at fifty. He said, "I feel like I missed my season."

I told him something Mr. Shoaff told me years ago. I said, "You didn't miss your season. You're IN a season. This right here—this difficulty, this starting over—this is your winter. And winter is not the end. Winter is where you get ready for what's next."

He looked at me and said, "But what do I do in the winter?"

I said, "Everything you can. Read everything. Study successful people. Write down what you want your spring to look like. Get around people who believe in spring even when it's cold outside."

That man called me two years later. His business was thriving. He said, "Jim, you were right. That winter was the best thing that ever happened to me—because I finally used it."

"The greatest form of maturity is at harvest time. That is when we must learn how to reap without complaint if the amounts are small and how to reap without apology if the amounts are big."

Here's your challenge this week, my friend. Ask yourself honestly: what season am I in right now? Don't judge it. Don't wish it were different. Just name it. And then ask the better question: what should I be doing IN this season to prepare for the next one?

Because the seasons will change. They always do. The only question is whether you'll be ready.