Get More Dirt

Sometimes we create a choice that doesn't actually have to exist.

I learned that while looking at something growing in my garden.

I had one plant that was doing well and another thing I wanted to grow that needed more soil.

For a moment, my solution was simple:

Use the dirt from the plant I already had.

Except there was one problem.

That plant was growing too.

I was preparing to sacrifice something with potential in order to give something else with potential a chance.

And then the obvious answer hit me:

Get more dirt.

It sounds simple.

But I started thinking about how often we do this in life and business.

We assume our current resources are the only resources available.

So we start making decisions from scarcity.

Which project do I abandon?

Which opportunity do I turn down?

Which person do I remove?

Which goal do I stop pursuing?

Which thing that is already growing do I sacrifice so I can make room for something else?

Sometimes one of those decisions really is necessary.

Everything isn't meant to continue.

We've already talked about giving things room to grow and knowing our assignment.

But sometimes the problem isn't that we have too much potential.

The problem is that we haven't increased our capacity to support it.

Maybe we need more money.

Maybe we need another person.

Maybe we need training.

Maybe we need a partnership.

Maybe we need better technology.

Maybe we need to delegate.

Maybe we need another hour.

Maybe we need to ask a question we've been trying to answer alone.

Maybe we simply need more dirt.

Expanding consistency isn't only about becoming better at working with what we have.

Sometimes it's recognizing when what we have is no longer enough for what we're trying to grow.

That's an important distinction.

Resourcefulness is valuable.

I've learned how to stretch things.

Make things work.

Figure things out.

Use what I have.

Many of us have.

But resourcefulness can become a limitation when we become so accustomed to making do that we stop looking for more resources.

We can become proud of surviving with less while something we're building desperately needs more.

More structure.

More expertise.

More support.

More funding.

More hands.

More room.

The next grade level may require resources the previous one didn't.

That doesn't mean we're incapable.

It means the assignment changed.

A bigger assignment may require a bigger backpack.

A more advanced class may require a different textbook.

A growing business may require systems that weren't necessary when it was smaller.

Growth changes requirements.

The question becomes:

Am I trying to solve a new-level problem with old-level resources?

Before sacrificing something with potential, look again.

Maybe something does need to be pruned.

Maybe an opportunity no longer belongs.

Maybe priorities need to change.

But don't automatically assume something valuable has to lose because something else needs help.

There may be another option.

Look for the resource.

Ask for the help.

Find the partner.

Apply for the funding.

Learn the skill.

Build the system.

Take another trip if you need to.

Get more dirt.

Sometimes expanding consistency means expanding capacity too.