Over the years as I observe trends and events in the business, productivity and development landscape, I see that many seek and speak of exponential growth. While this is good, I often wonder how many know how important it is to understand the nature and character of phenomenal growth and how prodigious growth happens. We talk about scaling but we do not seem to know that such growth does not happen without sacrificing time and other currencies going extinct.
In a podcast transcript, Jeff Bezos states that every overnight success takes ten years. I cannot agree more with this statement because of my understanding of the concept of growth. Bezos continues: I raised $1 million from 20 investors, $50,000 each, they got 20% of the company for $1 million. 40 told me no. So I had to take 60 meetings to get 20 “Yes”. First question was always, “What is the internet?” It was 1994, and early 1995. It has been one foot in front another, I think that is true for most businesses. You proceed adaptively, step by step, you figure it out, you have a success, then you double down on that success, you figure out what customers want.
Nature is our greatest teacher yet. A person who learns from nature would hardly miss the way. Regardless of how much we have tried to influence nature with artificiality, nature yet supercedes the cosmetic, which is actually the misuse, the perversion or the misapplication of the natural for all the wrong reasons. It is human intelligence.
Today, we are inundated by loads of information in different formats-video, audio, photos, and print-of induced enlargement of body parts by the use of chemicals. These processes lead to cancers because of the carcinogenic artificial agents inherent in the chemicals. Growth, according to nature, is not so structured and formed. It is pure and undefiled in development.
Gestational period for every creature depends on the pattern that the creator, who is the Infinite Intelligence, has set. For the human, it is nine [9] months. Where there is complication of any kind to obstruct the process from growing to maturity, the fetus has to be put through some conditions to make sure the baby is fit to live a normal life.
There is no miracle or magic that can make the nine [9] months gestational period to be any less than the creator has made it. With the genetically modified plants that science has recorded as breakthrough inventions, we know the harm they cause to mankind because of their inorganic properties. Life [Nature] is a fixed concept and so is everything in life. When man seeks to alter nature in any way, the consequences are catastrophic and hugely damaging because of the impairment that comes with it.
According to an article published by the duo of A. S. Bawa and K. R. Anilakumar, titled "Genetically Modified Foods: Safety, Risks and Public Concerns—a Review", The biggest threat caused by GM foods is that they can have harmful effects on the human body. It is believed that consumption of these genetically engineered foods can cause the development of diseases which are immune to antibiotics.
When I observe what it takes to nurture a child or any young one for that matter, I begin to see the combination of skills, care, duration, and other diligent and discipline models invested. It is a lifelong thing and not the quick fixes that we are adopting today. And the key to doing a great job at nurturance is the consistency of our delivery on a minute by minute basis, and not just on a daily basis. It is nothing compared with the intensity that we deploy today as we seek to achieve phenomenal value through unnatural means. True growth is consistency; and not intensity. And it takes total commitment over a period of time.
Growth happens every moment and daily but we are not able to track it momentarily and daily because we cannot see it. In the same way, something is always happening in the landscape, but we may not see it. It takes time to be able to measure it. At best, we may track daily and then get a weekly or fortnight average. Patience is the essential key to both measure and attain growth. Waiting is always the name of the game.
As a fully mature adult, can you stand nude before a mirror and observe your full-blown features? Tell me if you noticed how or when you became what you see. If you cannot, which I am sure you cannot, then you can begin to think differently about growth. It must have cost unnoticed decades to get you to grow those features to the maturity that you can now see.
If you watch trees, if you notice how steep their roots go into the earth, if you notice how established they become and observe their massive trunk, you wonder how they became that massive such that mankind is able to harvest the trunk for logs and other benefits. The generation of people that sowed those trees are not the same people who enjoy the harvest. Unfortunately, we have lost this productive thinking. Do you know the dangers we live with presently because of this ignorance or denial?
The Imperata Cylindrica, also known as Blady Grass or Cogon is one amazing plant in nature. When it is cut, it quickly grows again but this instant growth is highly injurious because it pierces the skin as sharp as blade does, causing harm. The natural lesson is that when things grow instantly, it comes with consequences if it is not handled with discretion. Before an Anthill is seen outside, it has built a foundation deep down beneath the earth, with the queen hidden far away from what we see physically. Depending on the age of the hill, what is buried in the ground is often multiplied at least twice, if not more than what is seen outside.
Everything in nature and life has its time and season. There is a sowing time and there is a reaping time. Between sowing and reaping, there is nurturing time. This comes with a lot of work and activities, which include, waiting, watching, warding off pests, rodents and encumbrances that may harm productivity. Such is the physical, mental and otherwise investment that comes with nurturing. We cannot induce anything and not suffer the adverse consequences.
I saw a documentary on National Geographic titled: One Man’s Mission to Revive the Last Redwood Forests. David Milarch's near-death experience inspired a personal quest: to archive the genetics of the world's largest trees before they're gone. The short film documents his effort to save the redwood champions of Northern California from the effects of climate change.
This man has observed nature so closely that he knows that if something is not done deliberately to save a portion of it through conserving its genetic order, it would be extinct forever and time will come that there would be no remembrance of them again. And the reason this will be so is our quest for false growth which makes us feed recklessly on the wealth of nature that has been conserved for millenneums by generations before us. We are indeed a greedy generation paying the price of what we refer to as civilisation.
Progressive and humble thinking should be for us to seek ways to cooperate with Mother Nature instead of competing with it and progressively exploiting and destroying it based on our unbridled greed. Mankind, in the name of growth, has raped the very earth he was created to take care of. Mankind has destroyed nature almost beyond repair. This is not growth according to nature. It is antipodal and regressive.
Our idea of growth today is now-now and so we are hasty to do everything that we do. Depending on the kind of growth that we envisage in a specific area of life, in whatever area we seek to make impact in, we must put structures in place and work deliberately towards it. It can be 3, 5, 7, 10 or more years ahead of the promise that we make for ourselves. That becomes our own gestational period for the endeavour. We can be that creatively detailed and pragmatic as the Infinite Wisdom who made us in His image and likeness. Bezos is quoted as saying that the 2018 financial Q3 of Amazon's success was fully baked three years before [2015] to be specific.
Ponder on the idea of one man [Napoleon Hill] writing a book [Law of Success] for 25 years; another [Jordan Peterson] wrote [Maps of Meaning] for 15 years writing 3 hours every day; and a third [Robert Greene] doing a book every 3 years and each one is a bestseller. What a gestational period to manifest value and grow thereby!
The reason that growth is slow but progressive is not because of the creative object benefitting from its own growth, it is for the benefit of those who will use the product. This is why it is not done in haste but according to its time. This is exactly what the nature of the Maker is. Though He made everything for His pleasure, He released all to the benefit of all creatures. Think about that a little bit.
Growth is a slow but sure process. It is not what we see today through the manipulation of nature for selfish gains. For growth to manifest and endure, it has to be sought in alignment with the natural order of things. However, civilised we become, nothing can change the Laws of Nature and development. The earlier we seek and align with this reality, the better it is for all of us and our world.
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