It can take years to bear fruit.

My brother-in-law recently offered my husband and me some blackberry plants. Soon after sending a picture and instructions on where they would need to go, he said “they will bear fruit in 1-2 years”. And this both struck me and stuck with me. We are a generation that expects immediate results, thanks to one-day shipping, rapid results, online results and the advancement and sophistication of many systems. But nature, our purest and truest resource, reminds us that it takes years to bear fruit.

This was a good reminder for me and for any author in the book business, caught up in what feels like the constant hustle and promotion of it all. And this could be the same for you, with a project, product or endeavor you are working on at home or in work. Even if a current labor, be it an advertisement, an outreach, a new partnership, a new physical exercise (or any effort really), doesn’t produce immediate sales or immediate results, the exposure is not lost. It’s still another time someone has heard your name, read the title or seen your book and that effort might bear fruit years from now. You truly don’t know right now. Just like we don’t know when the blackberry plant is taking root, or exactly how long it will take to be nourished and eventually flourish.

But keep putting in the effort, keep putting down roots and remind yourself that this thing you are working on might just be something that takes years to bear fruit.