Ever wonder what an onion plant and an olive tree have in common? Well, when you read The Greatest Salesman by Og Mandino, you find out!
Re-engaging with the Master Key Experience and re-reading The Greatest Salesman is kind of like visiting with an old friend. I didn’t really go away or ignore my friend, but when we got back together, it was a good feeling. I read this scroll for over a month last fall, now am back to it.
This scroll is a solid foundation for the other nine scrolls, and in fact the whole Master Key Experience. Some of my favourite passages are found in this chapter:
Time teaches all things to him who lives forever but I have not the luxury of eternity. Yet, within my allotted time I must practice the art of patience for nature acts never in haste. To create the olive, king of all trees, a hundred years is required. An onion plant is old in nine weeks. I have lived as an onion plant. It has not pleased me. Now I wouldst become the greatest of olive trees, and, in truth, the greatest of salesmen. Og Mandino
Yes, sometimes I am an onion plant. And it stinks (haha, pun intended). I might take a few shortcuts, goof off a bit, let my focus wander (facebook, netflix, etc). But to become an olive tree, I need staying power, I need focus, I need a strong foundation, or root system. And I get that with good habits!
I form good habits and become their slave… Each scroll contains a principle which drives a bad habit from my life and replaces it with one which will bring me closer to success. For it is another of nature’s laws that only a habit can subdue another habit. Og
When I look back on the last year, I have created some truly powerful habits. I love my morning routine – I get up early to read, meditate/sit, study and have quiet time to myself. What a great way to start the day.
Do my habits remain powerful throughout the day? Not always, but I’m working on it. Any act with practice becomes easy. I am learning how these habits set me up for success, through the power of my subconscious mind (the mysterious source that never sleeps). I will become an olive tree yet!
Today my old skin has become as dust. I walk tall among men (and women) and they know me not, for today I am a new woman, with a new life. Og