Applying the Four Season analogy to your personal life.
I would like to share with you my “Four Season Analogy.”
It is a scenario we all run into whether we realize it or not. As we are all familiar with The Four Seasons, in the analogy, winter is the intuitive season. It can be cold and usually not much physically gets accomplished then, but it is a time of thinking and planning. Take the farmer who is getting ready for their next planting. They may get the seeds and the fertilizer ready and plan where the crops will go. In our winter season we also do our planning getting our thoughts in order, maybe set some goals, and make some decisions.
Spring is the get started season. This is where we are out of the gate with great enthusiasm and energy. The farmer prepares the soil, plants the seeds, makes the rows straight, fertilizes and waters the early crop. Great amounts of energy are being expended with excitement while initial challenges are handled with relative ease.
Summer is the meet-your-wall season. This is the season where the challenges start to happen and may even increase. We don’t see a lot of results yet and begin to wonder if what we are doing is really working. The farmer may see a drought or too much rain. The crop may be poor or may be overtaken by pests and animals. Your own summer may find you ultra-busy, struggling with financial strain. The farmer doesn’t give up the crop. Should you give up on what you are trying to achieve? Unfortunately, this is commonly the reason, the season where most people quit. They let the weeds of their lives overtake the harvest that is just around the corner. They don’t have the drive or reserve or confidence to dig deep down, to continue plodding along to get to the fall season, the harvest. Those who quit never know how close they were to their harvest.
Yes, fall is the harvest season, and this is when, if you’ve made it through summer, you begin to reap the rewards. For the farmer, the crop comes in and it goes to market and makes a nice sum of money. For you, your goals are reached. You have successfully weathered some of the toughest challenges and are beginning to be where you want to be. This is not the end though.
Unfortunately, you cannot stay here: you will either go forward or slide backward because the four seasons start again. What will you do when you meet your wall?
Programming note: Listen to Dr. John Zelem every Tuesday on Talk Ten Tuesdays with Dr. Erica Remer and Chuck Buck, 10 Eastern.
Hotly anticipated performance targets and payment amounts for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Advancing Chronic Care with Effective, Scalable Solutions (ACCESS) Model
I often begin my day with an environmental scan. Last week, an article from Becker’s Clinical Leadership caught my eye, “Hospital mortality, infectionrates improve despite
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