Thinning Seedlings

Have you ever planted beets?

I have, several times. They rarely thrive. Why? Because I can’t bear to thin out the seedlings as dramatically as the seed package says I should. I’m supposed to pull out more than half of my perfectly healthy sweet little plants and just toss them aside??! Too painful. So, I usually pull out a few, and hope for the best. The result? Crowded beets. Delicious, but tiny. Quantity over quality.

(Think I’m kidding? It is harvest season where I live. I just picked these beets from my garden 5 minutes ago. I am not.)

Such a fitting metaphor for how I often make decisions in my life! If I were more ruthless in thinning things out, what’s left would be far more luscious.

I’m just back from the Converge 2023 conference of the International Coaching Federation. Two memorable things happened there:

1. The opening keynote speaker, Diana Kander, reminded us of the need to hunt down the “zombies” in our life that are representing more effort than impact and to be far more selective about what we say yes to. If opportunities sit on a bell curve from 1-10, most of them are a 4-7/10 — what if I were more diligent in only saying yes to the 8+ ones?
   
2. I shared my beet metaphor with fellow attendee Jennifer Griggs who was sitting at my table during a workshop, and later in the conference, in line for lunch, she handed me this:

I was blown away. Apparently, Jennifer has been painting beets lately, happened to have this with her, and gifted it to me. Such a gift! It is now sitting on my desk as a reminder to say yes only to the 8+ opportunities, and to make an extra effort to connect in meaningful, thoughtful ways even with people I’ve just met.

I was blown away. Apparently, Jennifer has been painting beets lately, happened to have this with her, and gifted it to me. Such a gift! It is now sitting on my desk as a reminder to say yes only to the 8+ opportunities, and to make an extra effort to connect in meaningful, thoughtful ways even with people I’ve just met.

(Another tidbit from the conference came from James Garrett, who referred to research on the power of human connection. See here for example. Having a conversation daily with another human — any other human! —  is one of the most effective things we can do to boost our longevity and health.)

Are you saying yes to too much, and producing baby beets that should be all grown up by now? I’m right there with you.