#32 | The Law of the Sower: Why You Must Keep Sowing Seeds in Life
In life, success is rarely a matter of a single, perfect effort. Instead, it is a game of numbers, persistence, and resilience. Every idea you pitch, every relationship you invest in, and every new skill you try to learn is a seed you are casting out into the world.
The reality of life is that not every seed you plant will grow.
The creator of this ancient parable illustrated this concept perfectly with a powerful story about growth and environment:
“Look, a sower went out, took a handful of seeds, and scattered them. Some fell on the roadside; the birds came and gathered them. Others fell on the rock; they didn’t take root in the soil and ears of grain didn’t rise toward heaven. Yet others fell on thorns; they choked the seeds and worms ate them. Finally, others fell on good soil; it produced fruit up toward heaven, some sixty times as much and some a hundred and twenty.”
The Sower Who Was Cast Out: The Steve Jobs Story
We see this law play out in modern history, most famously with Steve Jobs.
In 1985, Jobs was publicly and brutally fired from Apple—the very company he co-founded. His initial "seed" had hit a patch of thorns. Corporate politics, conflicting visions, and internal friction choked his position, stripping him of his power and his identity.
To many, this would be a final defeat. But Jobs understood that the solution to a bad harvest isn't to stop farming; it is to find new ground. He kept sowing.
He immediately started a new computer company called NeXT, and he invested heavily in a small digital animation studio called Pixar. He continued to scatter his seeds, refusing to let the rocky ground of his past stop his creative output.
Eventually, those seeds found incredibly fertile soil. Pixar revolutionized the film industry with Toy Story. Years later, Apple bought NeXT for its software, bringing Jobs back to the company he was once kicked out of. Upon his return, he planted the seeds for the iMac, the iPod, and the iPhone. His reward was exponential, completely reshaping global technology.
Keep Scattering the Seeds
If you only carry one or two seeds in your hand, you will live in constant fear of the birds, the rocks, and the thorns. You will become paralyzed, waiting for the "perfect" moment or the "perfect" piece of land.
But the breakthrough doesn't come from finding a single perfect spot; it comes from your willingness to keep reaching into your bag and throwing another handful. You cannot always predict which soil is fertile until you test it.
When you finally hit fertile soil, the return is never just 1-to-1. The reward is exponential—producing sixty, or even a hundred and twenty times what you put into it. One single success in good soil can completely wipe out the losses of every seed that failed before it.
Don't let the birds discourage you. Don't let the rocks harden your heart. Don't let the thorns choke your ambition. Keep your head down, keep your hand in the bag, and keep sowing. Your fertile soil is waiting.
What Seed Are You Sowing Today?
Every massive breakthrough starts as a small, hidden effort. If your recent projects have hit a rock or been choked by thorns, remember that it is just part of the process. Your only job is to keep reaching back into the bag.
Join the conversation below:
What is one new "seed" you are committing to plant this week?
How do you protect your ambition when your efforts hit rocky soil?