How To Survive The Slow Start And Succeed At Anything

On this video, I'm going to show you why a lack of patience kills more success than anything else. Just keep growing. I'm going to show you in this video how to survive the slow start.

Most people misinterpret the slow start. Most people think that the slow start is a sign of something not working. I remember when I got started selling and I know y'all know the story already, but I'm going to just tell it for those who are watching for the first time. I got started selling in 1985 selling insurance and investments October of 1985. I learned the presentation. I mastered the presentation. I did presentation after presentation after presentation after presentation. And I did not make my first sale for 18 months. I did not make my first sale until April of 1987.

Now, if I were were like most people, I would have concluded this isn't working. But I didn't conclude that. I just concluded I haven't quite figured it out yet. Many people quit long before they would have had success. A slow start is not a sign that you've picked the wrong thing. A slow start is a sign that you haven't learned yet what you need to know to win at this thing. And there is a massive difference between those two because I'm going to show you how to win big even though you get off to a slow start.

It's so amazing. People come to me all the time, my I've really been working on this thing. I did my first challenge. I did my second challenge. It's not working. Oh, I did my first webinar and nobody bought anything. And and and people were like, I started this business like I started this business four months ago and still haven't made any money. Four months. I was an entrepreneur for 14 years before I had my first six-fig year. What if I would have concluded in year three entrepreneurship is a scam? Or what if I would have concluded in year four that entrepreneurship is something that only works for people who are smarter than me? What if I would have concluded in year seven, well, entrepreneurship just doesn't work for black people? What if I would have concluded in year eight that entrepreneurship just doesn't work for people who have a physical challenge? I could have come to any of those conclusions because people do it all the time, right? Nobody's listening to me because and then we fill in the blank with something we made up and think it's like the gospel. But the reality is sometimes we just haven't given enough time to becoming the person.

I'm going to I'm going to tell you one of the some of the best news I ever got and I got it back in my old network marketing days. Where you are headed is far more important than how long it takes you to get there. So just keep growing. Just keep growing. And when I say keep growing, I'm not talking about keep growing your business and keep growing your sales and keep growing your lead list. I'm talking about keep yourself growing. Well, how do you do that? How do you how do you last through the learning curve? I'm going to give you five different keys to lasting through the learning curve. Surviving the slow start and not letting a lack of patience destroy your future success.

I like what if I would have quit in year 13? What if I would have said, you know, 1998, what if I had looked at my wife and said, "Babe, you know, we've been doing this a long time. It's not working. Maybe we should do something else. Maybe I should go back to school, get a degree, and just go get a good job, and then be miserable having people boss me around for the rest of my life." What if I What if I thought that like all of the impact that we've had since then would not exist? Not because it wasn't in the works, not because it wasn't in the plan, but just because I was in a hurry. Oh, made millions of dollars. I forgot to tell you that part. Made millions. Lost millions. Broke as a joke and ready to choke. You know what's worse than being broke? Being a millionaire and then being broke. [laughter] Cuz when you remember in the good old days, them good old days was good. You know what I'm saying? >> [laughter] >> And all of a sudden you're thinking, "Dude, you used to be >> one of the richest people you know, >> and now you're borrowing money from people who used to borrow money from you." >> What if I had quit then? What if I had quit in 2012 or 2013 when I lost everything and I didn't lose everything because that's that's a crazy thing to say. I just like my had to short sell my house and lost $400,000 on my house and my car got repossessed. Well, it got me possessed because I took it back. They didn't come get it. Um and um what if I had quit when I couldn't like I really couldn't figure out entrepreneurship for a couple of years. I was just stuck in my stuckness. What if I had quit then? All this impact that we're having on people's lives and all the million-dollar days that people have had and all the $100,000 days that people have had.

I got I got a I got a friend who's a 72 year old purple-haired grandmother and she was in one of our coaching programs and she did a challenge and quote, "Only four people showed up." She made a $25,000 offer and did $100,000 in sales. What if I had quit before her breakthrough? What if the single mom What if I quit before the single mom who also came through one of our coaching programs, she um had never made more than $50,000 a year in her life, ever. And four months after she joined our coaching program, got a 1.6 million government contract. See, to me, that's more important than the money that I've made. Why? I'm glad I didn't quit because the impact is farreaching.

Well, see this see the slow start for what it is. Procrastination is never the problem. Procrastination is a symptom of problem. And so you need to understand that a slow start is not failure. A slow start is a tunnel. You can't see the light because you're inside the tunnel, not because there is no light. And if you're inside the tunnel tunnel, as long as you keep moving, you will eventually see light at the end of the tunnel. And guess what? There's even better news than that. When you see the light at the end of the tunnel, that's a sign that you're almost out of the tunnel. [laughter] >> Ain't that exciting? >> See, you think that the problem is your situation, but the problem is not your situation. The problem is your interpretation of the situation. This must mean it's not working. This must mean I'm not smart enough. This must mean I'm not good enough. This must mean it doesn't work for people like me.

When most people experience a slow start, they say it isn't working. But what's actually happening is that they haven't developed the skills yet. They haven't developed the audience yet. They haven't developed the relationships yet. They haven't developed the ability to use the systems that will make it work at scale. And so they think it's not working. Doc, you you you you you had to go to college before you could become a doctor, right? >> Now, you you went had got an undergraduate degree. You got an undergraduate degree. And so once you got your once you got through your freshman year, they called you Dr. Sam. No. Your sophomore year, junior year, senior year. No. Oh, that's right. You had to go to medical school. How many years is medical school? And how many years is residency after medical school? That's a really slow start. Because if my math serves me right, four plus four plus three is 11 years before you get to even be called before you even get to be called doctor. Before you even get actual the design the actual designation and see see we want to make as much you as a business owner you want to make make as much money as a doctor but you don't want to have a slow start like a doctor. My slow start was more like a specialist. It took forever. [laughter] I like, "Okay, bro. You still in school, man." Okay. But but but we are so used to pushing buttons and getting instant results. I push some buttons. I can talk to my brother in Holland without having to go to Holland, right? I can push some buttons, put some food in the microwave, push some buttons, and a minute and a half later comes out, it's hot. Right? Some You know what I really love? I love my car wash membership. I don't even have to push any buttons. I just got a sticker on my car. I drive up, it opens up. You say, Mar, what are you saying? I'm saying I'm saying we've gotten so used to instant everything that we expect instant success. And instant success would destroy you if you could get it because you would have the stuff before you became the person. And so we have to understand that a slow start is not failure. It's not failure. You've been working on this thing for a year. You I'm such a failure. I've been working this. And we what happens is we see people who have a rapid who have rapid visual success. But I promise you, anybody who has rapid visual success that lasts has had invisible preparation for that success when you weren't watching.

So I get people join my coaching program and they think they're going to be able to do after a year in my coaching program what I've been able to do after decades of trial and error. And I was having a conversation with my son a while ago. He said, "Dad, these people in this coaching program, they want to have Myron success, but they don't want to do what Myron did." I said, "What are you talking about?" He said, "Let me ask you a question." He said, "When was the last week of your life when you did not do some form of public speaking, a conference call, a webinar, speaking at a church, doing a Bible study? When was the last week of your life?" And he asked me this question probably three years ago. When was the last week of your life where you can remember where you didn't do some form of public speaking? And I said, I can't remember. It's been decades. Decades of every week doing some kind of public address, public speaking, talking to a person, talking to a group of people every week for decades. and you watch me for six months and think you're gonna do what I do, >> it doesn't make any like I I I was thinking about let's just today's Monday, right? Today's Monday. So last Monday I did a live video on YouTube and then right after that live video on YouTube I Was that the coaching? No, that was the web was No, that was that was I did a master class. Right after [snorts] that, I did a master class. And then right after the master class, I went and played golf. And then Wednesday, I did an interview for my YouTube channel, I think it was Wednesday, with one of my VIPs. And then Thursday, I went live on my Bible study. And then Friday, I left for their ammy because it ain't Miami. And I spoke Saturday twice for 90 minutes the first time and 120 minutes the second time. And then that was on Friday. And then on Saturday did the I spoke for 90 minutes the first time and 90 minutes the second time. And that's just in the last week. But you want to do a webinar once a month and do do a YouTube a a a YouTube short and an Instagram reel once every two weeks. And you're like, I don't know why I don't have any followers. Maybe you just haven't put in enough time and iterations to have something that's so worth saying that people think it's worth listening to. Take more of the thing that will get you the result that you desire and do more of that thing. But what most people do is they do less of that thing because they don't like looking at the results of that thing after they did it.

I I was thinking this morning. I was thinking this morning when I was a traveling evangelist. I mean, I've been preach the way I preach now. I've been preaching that way since I was probably 20. And I've I spoke at a lot of conferences, spoke at a lot of churches. It's like some some of my friends would invite me back, other people not so much. I remember one time I did a remember one time I did a I went to a church in West Virginia. I spoke at this church in West Virginia and the pastor raises this offering for me and my family because that's how we live. We lived off of love offerings, right? And um and um this church, the people in the he was a new pastor, but the people in the church loved me. So he takes this, hey, hey, brother's really going through it, blah blah take an offering. And so this money is like literally overflowing out of the offering plates. And then this joker wrote me a check for $100. >> It was it was it was like like that was my that was my experience. I I had a guy I went to speak at this church and he said [laughter] people are people come up with some crazy stuff. Well, he said he said he said and I I got there he's like oh when I invited you to come speak brother myin I didn't know you had facial hair. We preach against facial hair. Nobody in the Bible would have been able to speak at your church. So I shaved off my mustache because I didn't want to create a problem for him. I just said I'm never coming back here again. Haven't been back since. Like I've all I'm saying is like for me getting booked to speak at a church was more than a challenge, but I kept doing it anyway. I was an assistant pastor for 15 years and didn't take a salary because I didn't need one because my business took care of me. I was assistant pastor. I was a senior pastor for a year Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. Had to come up with something new to You say, "What are you saying?" I'm saying don't mistake the slow start. Like see it for see the slow start for what it really is. So key number one, see the slow start for what it really is. Slow start is not failure. slow starts the tunnel. Can't see the light because you're inside the mountain. But the mountain doesn't mean there's no light. It just means you can't see it yet. The slow start is not a verdict. The slow start is curriculum. Can you Can you decide right now for the rest of your life that you're going to let your slow start be your curriculum? What can I learn while the start is slow that you won't be able to learn when the pace picks up? Sometimes our pace picks up so much that it's like, man, I would love to be able to just come up for air. I was talking to my my health consultant because I have I have an accountability call with my health coach every Tuesday night and and like I get a I'm I am I am very good at getting very good sleep and usually for at least eight hours but last couple weeks it hasn't been eight hours. Six, seven, five. Like he's like and he so he asks me my numbers. How how are you going on sleep? And it's like from one to from from zero to nine. Oh yeah, sleep's been a six. He's like what? Because it's always a nine. Sleep's always a nine. Yeah, my schedule. It's just my schedule. I'm just not getting enough sleep. The sleep I'm getting is good, but I'm not getting enough of it. I said, he said, "So, when do you think your schedule will slow down?" "June." Like, I already know my schedule will slow down. I'll start be able to start getting nine, eight hours of sleep again in June. I would prefer it be May, but it is what it is. So, don't make the mistake of quitting during the slow start because that would be a problem. See, a slow start is not a stop sign. It's speed bump. And guess why speed bumps exist? To protect things that are valuable. The slow start is not the enemy of your big win. It is the path to your big win. Most people mis misread the slow start as the wrong term when it actually it's the only road to the destination.

See what happens is people come into entrepreneurship on different rungs of the success ladder. When I came in, I wasn't even on rung one, which is why it took me a year and a half to make my first sale because I knew nothing about entrepreneurship. I knew nothing about persuasion. I knew nothing about sales and pretty much was terrible at it. But guess what? Galatians 6:9 says, "And let us not be weary and welloing, for in due season we shall reap." How? If we faint not. Don't quit. Just keep growing. Just keep growing. Like literally, just keep growing and growing and growing and growing and growing and growing. And eventually the harvest will become so large that it will become indisputable. >> Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, "To everything there's a time and a season and a time to every purpose under the sun." You know what else it says in that same passage? Everything is beautiful in his time. So if what you're looking at ain't beautiful yet, it might be your time, but it ain't his time. So that's key number one. Like like make sure, excuse me, make sure um that you see the slow start for what it really is. That's key number one.

Key number two, stay consistent when it's not comfortable. See, slow starts very uncomfortable. You know why slow starts are uncomfortable? Because slow starts are often public because we tell people about our dream. And so how's that thing going? [laughter] You still doing that thing, >> right? Isn't that what they say? >> Oh man, you're so you're you're so obsessed. You're so obsessed with money. Why don't you you just need more balance in your life? And then everybody's got an opinion, but opinions are like armpits. Everybody usually has more than one. And oftentimes they stink. >> Okay. So stay comfortable when it's not I mean stay consistent when it's not comfortable. I decided in April of 2022 that I'm going to do at least keyword at least one video a week on YouTube. And I'm going to do that for 10 years. And I'm not going to do it for views. And I'm not going to do it for subscribers. And I'm not going to do it for revenue. And I'm not going to do it for watch time. And I'm not going to do it to get famous. I'm going to do it for one reason. I want to see if I can get good at YouTube. I'm going to do a video every week to see if I can get good. And see, if that's my reason, I can stay consistent even with a slow start. Now, fortunately, it wasn't a slow start. But the real reason it wasn't a slow start is because of all of the iterations that I had in public speaking before I ever decided to be consistent on YouTube. I was consistently I my my Bible study that we do on Thursday morning that has 170,000 subscribers on YouTube now that we launched that channel in July of 2024. I started that Bible study at IHOP on Bears Avenue in 275 in March of 2013 and did it every week when nobody was watching. We'd have six people show up, two people show up, five people show up, 20 people show up. It's the consistency that makes the difference. It's it's it's mind-blowing. And so, we have to decide that we're going to be consistent regardless of consequence. We have to decide we're going to be consistent regardless of compensation.

So, I'm going to ask you a question. I'm gonna do an illustration on my trusty digital blackboard. I'm going to ask you a question. If somebody, and I know you've seen the illustration before, but if somebody said to you, "Hey, you [snorts and laughter] I'm going to give you I'm going to give you got to get back down to There it is. Okay. Somebody says to you, I'm going to give you um choice number one. Three." I I don't know why I drew drew that extra line. Okay. Somebody says, "I'm going to give you $3 million or I'm going to give you one penny doubled daily for 30 days. Which one would you pick? Which one would you pick?" That's a great question, right? Like who would pick the penny? Who would pick the $3 million? Okay, let's see how it turns out. Who's not going to raise your hand no matter what I say? Come on now. You can't just sit there and be in limbo. Who's going to take the penny? Okay, who's going to take the $3 million? Okay, everybody wins, right? But watch this. Um, day five, [snorts] your penny is worth 16 cents. Anybody want to change? Okay, let's go to day 10. Day 10, your penny is worth $512. Woo! This person over here, this person is having a an absolute field day, laughing at you like, "Haha, haha." Right? They're having an absolute field day. They're calling their friends on the phone. They're making fun of you. This person's got five. I got my $3 million. He's got $512. Okay. Uh, day 15. $163.84. Anybody want to change? Like, this is not looking good for the 30 days. Okay. Yeah. Y'all, we about to have some chip jumpers here in a minute. Okay. Who Who wants to switch now? This. So, you don't want the penny anymore? >> No, I want the penny now. >> Oh, you want the penny? >> Oh, I don't know if we're letting people come over to our penny side. Okay. No, it's it's okay. You can have the penny. Okay. So So, watch this. So So day 20. Day 20, we're at $5,242.88. Day 25. I don't know, man. Maybe y'all should get this $3 million while it's still on the table. It's $167,77216. Anybody want to change now? Anybody want to go from the penny? Who wants to go from the penny to the 3 million now? Anybody? Nobody. Oh, okay. So, let's look at day 29. We're not going to look at day 30. We're going to look at day 29. Day 29 you have 5 million3 5 million368,79 and 12 which means day 30 you have two times that much which is 10 million700,000 700,000 700 and change. I'm just going to write 700,000. 10,700,000. I I wrote that every way you could write it wrong. I wrote it wrong. I every like you can't mess up a number any better than that. Okay. 10,7007 3737,437,4 $1824. The people who said, "I would rather have the penny doubled every day," they got off to a really slow start. In the beginning, this person was winning all the way up to day 28. And by the way, that's exactly how success really happens. >> It looks like nothing's happening. Nothing's happening. Nothing's happening. Nothing's happening. Nothing's happening. Nothing's happening. A little more's happening, but not much. Uh, still not much. Oh my goodness. What's happening? What's happening? What's happening? What's happening? million way. >> So >> on on day 10, people are like mocking you >> for taking the penny. On day 20, the same crowd still wrong, but they still believe they're right. It's not until day 28 >> that you know I'm about to win this thing and there's nothing they can do about it.

See, the single biggest mistake people make during the slow start is making consistency conditional. This is putting the cart before the horse. I'll keep going if I see results. I'll keep working on it if I start making some money. If not, I'll change gears. I'm going to go do something else. I'm going to pivot. [laughter] But here's the truth. Results come because of consistency. Which means we have to have the consistency before we have the results. Are you willing to be consistent in the face of no apparent results for long enough to get results that are undeniable? Consistency is the most boring superpower until it's not. until it's not. You don't get to choose the when the breakthrough comes. You only get to choose whether or not you'll still be standing when it does. Let me ask you a question. On the path that you are on that you've decided on, are you still going to be standing when breakthrough time comes? I know one thing, by the grace of God, I plan to still be standing. Don't make consistency conditional to your results. Your results are conditional to your consistency. Showing up every day when nothing is happening is the price of admission for being there, for being allowed in the room when everything starts happening. It's it's so mind-blowing. It's mind-blowing to me like what we have the ability to do. Like it's like my life feels like a fairy tale. And not just because of the money, but the money definitely feels like a fairy tale. It doesn't even like it doesn't even feel like it. Like this doesn't make any sense based on how I was programmed growing up. It doesn't make any sense. But I was just doing it even though it didn't make sense. And here's the good news. If you'll do it consistently, even when it don't make no sense, eventually start making so many dollars it don't need to make no sense. [laughter] Sorry, I do think I'm funny. Pray for me. Okay, don't judge me. All right, so [laughter] be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. The person who stayed and the person who quit one day will have two very different stories about the same slow start. >> I'm going to have the I'm going to have the one the story that says I stayed in there. People ask me, "So my when when you didn't make six figures for 14 years, why didn't you quit?" "I didn't have a plan B." >> If you only have plan A. >> Plan A going to work. Eventually, plan A GOT TO WORK. IT'S THE ONLY PLAN YOU GOT. >> You know, I like to say I'm quite athletic, but because I had polio as an infant, it's not likely that I'm going to become a professional athlete. You know, I don't know. I look okay. I'm no Denzel Washington, I guess, but I look okay. But not one Hollywood filmmaker has bang my door down saying, "We want you to be the star in our next blockbuster film." So that's why y'all catch all my antics. [laughter] This Hey, this is the closest I'm gonna get to Denzel. Well, I could go. I could go. I could go. [laughter] >> Are you Are you sure you want to make that move? [laughter] Okay. All right. Sorry. I don't know. Okay. Anyway, um [laughter] it was close. It was close, but it was no Denzel. Okay. So, that was point number three.

Point number two, stay consistent. Stay consistent during the slow start. You got to be consistent.

Key number three, sharpen your skills during the silence. >> The time when it feels like it's not working, that's the time to get better. That's the time you have time to work on you. The more you learn, the more you earn. And you have way more time to learn when the start is slow than you do once you get off to that big bang. Cuz once that thing blows up, oh, you going to have so much stuff to do. Yeah, it's going to be a thing. And what you learn is more important than what you earn. And who you become while you're learning is much like who you become is more important than your income. So if you place become above income, you going to be all right. If I had if I had to chop down a tree, I'm telling you right now, I'd spend at least 40 minutes sharpening the saw or the axe, depending on how I was going to chop down a tree. When the audience is small, the pressure is low and low pressure is a perfect environment for skill development. Now, even though the pressure is low, the pressure feels high in the beginning. Do you know why? Because of your self-imposed expectations. You put so many expectations on yourself and then what you do is you take your expectations. You superimpose them over what you think other people expect from you and then you put even more pressure on yourself when the pressure is low. Why would you add all that pressure to yourself? Like just do the work and let the work work because all works. But work is a two-sided coin. You flip the coin of work and it lands on tails. The work is working on you but it's not working for you. But you flip the coin again, eventually it's going to land on heads where it's worked on you so long that now it will work for you. I remember when I learned cycle three on my guitar and I learned all of the triads on the um strings one, two, and three. And I'm I'm learning the triads in the key of C and I'm I'm going from C to E minor and from E minor to G and from G to B diminished and from B diminished to F and from F to D minor and from D and I and I'm learning all these triads and it felt impossible. I'm like, "How does anybody do this?" Then all of a sudden one day it just clicked. >> I remember when I learned I remember when I learned cycle four, you know, B flat E um um uh C C B flat E flat D flat C F B flat E flat A flat D flat F# B E A D G and then you do it again and again. Then you do it on each string. And then it's on and you you're doing it on each string on the guitar. C, F, B flat, E flat, A flat, D flat. I mean, sorry. C, F, B, E, C, F, B flat, E flat, A flat, D flat, F sharp, B, E, A, D, G, C, F, B flat, E flat, A flat, D. And now you just keep doing that over and over on each string. It's like, this is impossible. How does anybody know this stuff? This is way too much. There's like 22 frets, six strings. 6* 22 is a very large number, and I'm supposed to know what all of these notes are. And then all of a sudden, one day it clicks. Anything that worthwhile that you've ever learned to do had a slow start. >> Anything worthwhile that you've ever learned to do. Driving a car. I remember when I learned how to drive a stick shift. [snorts] >> Anything. Anything worth I remember I So, I played I played two rounds of golf yesterday. So, I played and shot 91 in my first round, which is terrible. At least for me, it's terrible. Terrible. Then I played again in the afternoon. Shot 77. Much better on a very, very, very, very tough golf course. Matter of fact, it's the toughest golf course ever. Shot 77. And I remember the first time I ever played golf. The very first time I ever played golf, I think I shot like a 160 on nine holes. That's a slow start. But guess what I did? I kept going. Iteration. I'm going to learn how to hit this one club, one club, one club, one club, one club. I'm gonna master one club at a time, and eventually I'm gonna be able to do this thing. Okay. So, wow, my my outline keeps moving on me. Okay. Okay. So, a slow start is your sharpening season. Don't waste it complaining about how dull the blade is. We can all get better. We don't like I'm I would recommend you always be sharpening your saw. Your income will never consistently exceed your skill level. We got to level up on our skills. It's so funny because right now like as I'm building out my AI agents, my arena of AI agents like to do AI work for me, the stuff that I that helps me save time. Like one of the things every time I find myself telling an agent to go do something, if I have to tell it more than once, make this a skill for you and make it a skill for every other agent. And so what we do every at least the ones that it's appropriate for. So I take a repetitive thing and I turn it into a skill. It's even important for AI to develop skills. >> It's much more important for you. Okay? If you get better during the silence, the noise will come later. No one is wa wa wa wa wa wa wa wa wa wa wa when no one is watching is the best time to become someone worth watching. I wish I had a slow start is not the waiting room, it's the training room. The scripture says in Ecclesiastes uh chapter 10 verse 10, "If the iron be blunt, and he do not wet or sharpen the edge, then he must put to more strength, but wisdom is profitable to direct." Proverbs 22:29 says, "Seeest thou a man diligent in his business. He shall stand before kings, and he shall not stand before mean men." 2 Timothy 2:15 says, "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." So like sharpen your skills in the silence. That's key number three.

Key number four, sew generously before you see the harvest. I love that Ecclesiastes says, "Cast thy bread upon the waters for it will it will return after many days. Everything you do during the slow start is a seed. I don't I don't think people understand the concept of seed. Like like there's a reason that God put man in a garden [laughter] because the garden is the microcosm of life. It's God's perfect ideal environment for human beings. It's a place where seed goes in the ground and then it starts growing in two directions at the same time. and starts growing down in the deep, dark, damp, dirty, dense dirt where nobody can see it. [snorts] That's called the root system. And if there is no root system, there can be no fruit system. And see, too many people want the fruit but don't want the root >> because the root is hard. >> The root system has pressure. The root system has resistance. The root system is uncomfortable. And then finally it breaks through. Just a little shoot breaks up through the dirt. Now you got the chute system and then the sunlight hits it. Then it starts growing even more and more and more and more and more. And then it starts growing branches and it starts branching out. Oh, trees don't grow in an afternoon. They didn't tell you. You can't sew the seed this morning, had a tree this afternoon. That ain't how trees work. Hang in there with me, y'all. So the root system the root system is gravitropic which means it grows towards gravity and away from light towards gravity and away from light. The root system has no desire to be seen. It just has a desire to be saturated, to be substantive, to be stable. The root system doesn't want to be seen. It ain't here to be seen. It's here to pro provide stability and sustenance to the tree. And then you got the chute system is photoropic. It grows towards light and away from gravity. But the only way the photoropic shoot system can exist is if the root system pushes against the resistance of the dense, damp, dark, dirty dirt. [snorts] It does the the root system does all the dirty work, >> but the shootute system gets to feel all the light and all the sunshine and all the love. And then finally start having some fruit pop up. Now you got the fruit system. And the fruit system is also photoropic. But the fruit is always, whether it likes it or not, whether we're excited about it or not, the fruit is always a representation of the root and the chute. Here's what we know. We will never see an orange growing on an apple tree if you live to be 900. You will never see an orange growing on an apple tree. Isn't it interesting that one of the main like principles everybody know it's known as the law of the farm. [snorts and clears throat] It's known as the law of sewing and reaping sewing and reaping. It's known as the law of the garden, right? You reap what you sow. But you know that's only part of the that's only part of the law, right? You reap what you sow. The other part of the law is you don't reap when you sow, but you reap later than you sow. Now, you know, that ain't even all of it. There's more. But wait, there's more. Not only do you reap what you sow, and you don't reap when you sow, but you reap later than you sow, but you also reap more than you sow. Because you can plant a seed in the ground. You plant apple seed in the ground, you are not going to grow an apple. That ain't how this works. So you sew a seed in the ground, an apple seed in the ground, you don't get to grow an apple. You get to grow an apple tree that grows maybe 100, 200, 300 apples a year. All those apples have five or six seeds in them. Where'd all that come from? It came from the law. [laughter] It came from the law. You Hey, hey, you know what I found out? You cannot out sew the farm. You can't sew so much seed that the farm says, "I CAN'T HANDLE IT ANYMORE." [applause] I I I love the whole idea of the garden. And I love the whole idea of planting a seed. I love the fact that the seed doesn't just have enough stuff in it to grow a tree, but it's got enough stuff in it to grow a tree filled with apples that are filled with seeds that can grow orchards more of apple trees. And all of it was in the first the potential for all of that was in the first was in the first seed. Maybe that's why it says over in Hebrews that Levi paid tithes to Mechisedc while he was still in Abraham's loins. What? That's why I'm gonna say something's not going to be popular, but it is what it is. We go through life thinking we know who's innocent and who's guilty. Thinking we know thinking we understand justice because we have this perverted view of fairness. >> You say, "But all these innocent people, well, you don't know if they're innocent or not." >> I'm not saying they're not. I'm just saying. And I don't care which innocent people you're talking about. You don't How do you know? Here's what the scripture says. God visits the iniquities of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. Were you here three or four generations ago? Then how do you know who's innocent? Oh snap. But it also says that the blessings on the righteous are for a thousand generations. I'm I'm talking about so generously before you see the harvest. Everything you do during a slow start, every video, every sales call, every conversation, every piece of content, every relationship you build is a seed. You don't harvest the same season you sew. We already talked about that. I'm not I'm not going to beat a dead horse. [sighs] Every day you show up during the slow start when you don't feel like it. Because I promise you, you don't feel like it. Like I ain't even in a slow start no more and I don't always feel like showing up. I'm just keeping it real. But every day you show up during the slow start, you're making a deposit into an account that pays compound interest. So anyway, the ground doesn't look different after you plant, but it is. God doesn't let the harvest die because you can't see the seed, but you got to leave it in the ground. >> [snorts] >> Isn't it interesting that Jesus tells the story about I don't have office hours today, do I, Michael? >> Okay. Okay, cool. Okay. Um the the um Jesus tells the parable about the farmer who went to sew good seed in his field. He went to sew a seed and some fell by the wayside. Some fell on stony ground. Some fell on thorny ground. Huh? Some fell on good ground. Now, I want you to notice that when the stone when the seed fell on the the ground by the wayside, he kept sewing. And then it the scripture says the birds of the air came and ate the seed. Man, this is a this seed sewing thing is a waste of time. All these birds, you know who the birds are? You know who the I mean the birds in the birds in the scripture are the demonic spirits that come and snatch the word of God out of people's minds before they have before it has time to but but I'm I'm going to give you a different analogy as as a parallel. You know who the seeds are when you're creating content? All your haters. who come by and start calling you names. He's like, "Oh man, am I really a scam artist? Am I really a prosperity gospel preacher? Oh my goodness. Am I really scam claus? Am I really the am I am I really the antichrist?" And and and you and you take all this hate to heart because you think that they're hating you because of you. >> They're not hating you because of you. They're hating you because that's what's in them and that's what they do. >> Has nothing to do with you. Your signal is noise to them and it hurts their ears. >> So they have to call you something and discredit you so they can feel better about who they are. >> So he kepts on sewing. He keeps on sewing. Some fell um on by the wayside. Some fell on shallow ground. Didn't have much depth of earth. And so um sprung up first hot day withered and died. But he kept on sewing. Keep sewing, keep growing, keep going, keep sewing, keep growing, keep going. And so then then some falls thorny ground gets gets distracted by the cares of the world. He's like, "Man, I've sewn 75% of my seed. This is clearly a waste of time." And seed sewing is a scam. But he kept on sewing. He didn't say that. He kept on sewing. And then he said, "And some fell on good ground." Now, here's what's interesting. It says, "The seed that fell on good ground, it brought forth some 30fold. Some 60fold, some 100fold. Now, people mistakenly interpret that as 30%, 60% 100%. No, no, no, no, no, no, baby. This ain't that. 30fold is 30 times. 60fold is 60 times. 100fold is 100 times. So the 25% of the seed, assuming that he swed an equal amount of seed on each ground, 25% of the seed or at least 25% of the ground produced enough more than enough harvest to sew again next season. I I don't I don't know if it can get any more better than the Bible. [snorts] A slow start is not failure. We already talked about that.

Okay. So the last point is this. Stand on the promises when you can't see the progress. Just trust that it's going to work because God said all work works. [snorts] The vision is not for the vision is for an appointed time. It it will though it terry wait for it. That's what the scripture says. You've got to you've got to stay consistent. You've got to stand on the promise when you can't. Man, I'm so glad. I was I was so tempted to quit in 2013 and 2014. I was tempted to quit, but I didn't want to quit because to quit and do what? What? Now, if I quit, then what am I going to do? >> Like, and and and by the way, a can can you can you imagine having um a little under a decade of like monumental success, like well more than a decade of six figure success, but a half a decade of seven figure success. And then all of a sudden you're broke and nothing feels like it's working. Wow. So glad I didn't quit in that season. So glad my wife believed in me when I didn't believe in myself. And so we have to we have to keep standing. [snorts] Don't measure your progress by what you can see. Measure your progress by what God said. I think that's may that may be the most important thing I can say to you all day. God has already told me how it's going to turn out. Here's how how's it turn out. We won. Even the battles we haven't entered yet, we've already won. We are more than conquerors to them that loved us. The promise is more reliable than the progress report. Faith is believing despite the evidence or lack thereof. Faith is standing on evidence that hasn't even appeared yet. God doesn't break his promises. He just doesn't always deliver on your timeline. The slow start will come to an end. The slow start will end, but the promise won't end. Can I read you a poem? [snorts] Goes like this. They said nothing was growing. They said I was wasting my time. They said if it was working, there'd already be some kind of sign. But I'd read about seed in the winter. I'd read about faith in the fall, in the fog. Sorry. I knew that the harvest was coming, even when the field looked wrong. So I stayed when the numbers were silent. I swed when the ground looked bare. I sharpened the blade in the quiet and stood on the promise right there. And now when they ask me the secret, "How'd you win when you started so slow?" I tell them the slow start was sacred. And it's the only way I'd ever know that the win wasn't luck or a shortcut. It wasn't timing or a break. It was staying when staying was costly. That's the slow start you have to survive to make. Let us not be weary and welloing. For we will reap in due season if we faint not. Just keep growing. [snorts] Just keep sewing. Just keep going. Don't make the mistake of thinking that you're off to a slow start means that you're never going to arrive. Because like I said when I first got started, where you're headed is far more important than how long it takes you to get there. Stay blessed by the best and we'll see you in the next video. Bye for now. >> [applause]