When it comes to our life and business, for us to live fully into the things that we have been created to do, we have to understand the concept of “bearing fruit.”

It’s kind of like a grape vine…

Did you know that, as a grape vine grows, the majority of its grapes grow close to the main trunk, which has the greatest source of nutrients and structural strength for the grapes to grow?

If the branches of the vine are left unpruned, the branch will continue to grow a single vine shoot, even if there are no grapes.

This means that the vine will spend all of its time, energy and resources to grow a looonnnnngggggg stick.

With no grapes.

No fruit.

No harvest.

No purpose.

Yep…you read that right…Just a lot of wasted time, energy and resources with nothing to show for it.

That’s why the vine-grower prunes the branches.

And pruning is a process that involves cutting away the things that either are non-fruit bearing, or that are taking away time, energy and resources from the things that DO bear fruit.

Buuuuuut let’s face it…when things are being “pruned” in our own lives, it can kind of suck…

Pruning hurts.

Uprooting things hurts.

But if we understand the concept, we can actually invite the pruning process (and even be proactive about it).

Taking a good hard look at things that aren’t working and revamping stuff (that can sometimes mean starting all the way over) can feel like a waste.

But we all know that, in the end, after the pruning, it’s so that MORE fruit can grow.

So that MORE abundance can be harvested.

It’s so that GREATER relationships can flourish.

So that better health can be experienced.

It’s so that true and fruitful GROWTH can occur.

How many times in our life or business are we spending time, energy, and resources on things that are not bearing fruit?

Throughout my journey of growth, there have been plenty of things in my life that didn’t bear fruit and needed to be pruned (and there will continue to be).

I know for me, as we near the end of the year, I am intentionally taking a good hard look at the things that are not bearing fruit in my life (or maybe that the fruit isn’t what I wanted), and doing some pruning (even though it kind of sucks).

I’m uprooting things that are not the fruit that I want to have a harvest of, moving forward, and I’m pruning vines of things that are taking up time, energy and resources but are not bearing fruit.

After having a coaching program that had 111 people in it, I quickly realized that the lack of outsourcing some things caused me to spend a lot of time, energy and effort on things that I DID NOT want to be doing.

Since a copy of my book (Meant For More; Igniting Your Purpose in a World That Tries to Dim Your Light) was sent to each of the program participants, because this was a task that I hadn’t outsourced yet, I ended up personally packing, labeling and shipping 111 of my books - (which the post office was not happy about) and it took a LOT of time.

Although I WANT my book to reach women all over the world, the result of me not outsourcing the drop-shipping process created “fruit” that I didn’t want. So it’s time to revamp (prune this part of my coaching and see how I can make it more efficient and profitable).

There was also a program I was involved in, that, due to a lack and fear based mentality from others that were involved, fruit wasn’t even able to grow, so that program got pruned out.

I’m assessing where my time is spent and getting rid of things (and apps) that I find are either wasting time, or have not shown a return on investment of the time I have put into it.

There are even friendships that are being pruned because it isn’t a reciprocal life-giving relationship and they seem to “take” more than they give, which leaves me empty (and for a recovering people-pleaser like myself, I have to remind myself that it’s ok to honor my true authentic self, not have to pretend, and to surround myself with other’s who mutually lift each other up instead of one person doing the lifting and the other person doing the dragging down).

Is this making sense?

My encouragement to you is to take some time and truly assess the things in your life that are and are not bearing fruit.

Are there parts of your business that you just need to prune and let go of (or is there an assistant that you need to hire) so that you are not the one wasting time and energy on that part of your business?

Are there relationships that the fruit that has grown is not what you truly have a desire for (i.e. gossip, competition, lack, scarcity, negativity, etc) and you need to plant seeds for a new friendship?

Are there resources that are being wasted (whether it’s time or money) on things that have not brought positive growth and results and maybe it’s time to either prune that part or hire a coach that can give you actual growth strategies?

Are there mindsets that are no longer serving the “garden of your mind” that you need to uproot because the “fruit” of that limiting belief continues to cause you emotional or mental limitations?

As we move into a new season, I’d love to know what type of things you are “pruning” so that you can flourish like never before in the next season…

What is something that you have a desire to see “fruit” in, in your life, and how can you “prune” other areas that are taking up time, energy and resources that could go towards where the fruit should be?