Hey Friend!

I'm back! Did you miss me? ;-)

You may or may not know that I've been traveling for the last couple weeks.

We had a truly special vacation trip over to Rome and the Greek Isles. The history and the beauty my wife and I experienced was truly overwhelming and a bit hard to take in. I'm still processing it all and may be writing and sharing some of what I learned and saw over the next few weeks.

Over the last couple days so many people have told me how much they loved the pictures and the story posts with lessons and history I shared on social media.

I'm a bit surprised as I had no idea so many people were following me there. If you wanna see some of that feel free to click any one of my social media buttons at the bottom of this email.

That's not the point of today's email though.

I wanted to share with you a little experience that happened when we got back from our trip late Saturday night.

We have 4 boys and had to figure out what to do with the kids while we were gone. Our 2 youngest were happy to stay with grandpa and grandma but our 2 oldest rebelled and flat out refused. My oldest son is 18 and his younger brother is 16.

We were a little nervous about leaving them home alone while we were gone but also didn't want a big fight so we struck a bargain with them.

We said, "Ok boys, we will allow you to stay home IF you promise us to follow some rules and take care of the place while we're gone."

We made a list of things they were to do and one of those things was to mow the lawn once a week and keep the weeds trimmed.

For the last 2 months I've been working hard on making our yard beautiful, fertilized and weed free and it was looking great and I wanted it to be taken care of.

Well 2 nights before we came home, my wife Corene was on a face time with one of my boys, and she noticed the yard in the video with a bunch of yellow spots.

She asked what was happening and come to find out that the sprinkler system had been turned off and the lawn had not been watered for the entire 2 weeks we've been gone.

Furthermore, they didn't mow the lawn even one time. 

To my horror I got home to discover that they had killed my precious little green paradise.

Well, not totally killed but it looked horrible and will take some doing to bring back to life.

If you know me well you probably know that one of my favorite quotes is "In every apparent setback lies the seed of an equal or greater advantage."

How was I to turn my murdered lawn into a benefit?

As I thought about it, I realized I could use this as a lesson for my sons.

One by one I had them look at the lawn and I'd ask them, "You see that lawn? How does it look?"

I'd wait for their response.

I then explained to them that this is what happens to your life when things are not attended to.

Anything good in life is going to take some time, attention and care if you want it to be beautiful.

It doesn't matter if it's your health, your wealth, your lawn or the relationships that matter most to you.

You have to tend, water and cultivate if you want the garden of your life to be fruitful and pleasing.

In this little experience with the lawn, I realized that my sons had dropped the ball, because they didn't want to "Pay the price" of work.

This is a common thing people do. They think they are avoiding paying the price by being lazy or slacking on things they know they need to do because - gee, isn't it easier to just kick back, relax and have fun?

I've learned over my years in business that this is an illusion.

I told my 2 oldest sons that in life, a price must be paid no matter what.

If you're lazy, you think you're avoiding paying the price of work, but guess what... The price of being lazy is poverty, low self esteem and struggle.

Because that price comes later, often times the illusion tricks you into thinking that you're avoiding having to pay.

But you're not.

The price will come.

So the question never is... "Can I just not pay the price?"

The true question that's in alignnment with how life actually works is...

"Which price do I want to pay?"

Jim Rohn once said something like...

The price of not planting in the spring, is suffering in the winter.

If there's one lesson I'd love for my kids, and all the people I care bout to learn, it's this.

"Learn to pay the price now, instead of paying it later."  

The now price is always far less than the price in the future.

It's a good reminder for me, and I hope it's beena good reminder for you too Friend.

Thanks for reading and I hope you make it an awesome day and week.

All the best,

Paul