When you're starting your first seed, not killing your plant during the first two weeks of its life is a major accomplishment.

Germination is the first point of failure.

Too much moisture, it’ll die. Not enough air, it’ll die. Damaged, crushed, or faulty seed, it’ll never live.

Planting is the second.

Break the root? Dead (or severely stunted).Not enough moisture? Dead.Buried too deep? Dead. Not enough air? Dead.

Week 1 is third.

Overwatering your baby? Dead.Unstable Environment? Dead.Low humidity? Dead.

During these first few stages, you have to baby your seed.

Week 2 is when you start to see some action, but the pitfalls of Week 1 are still present.

By the first day of Week 3, you have an actual plant that is actually growing.

And this is where you make your decision.

Do I:

• Continue down this path: I made it this far, it's fun, it's exciting, and now, it's working!

• Decide this is slower than you'd hoped: Hang up your hat knowing you gave it a chance, but it’s not what you’re interested in.

If you bow out before this point, you aren't really giving it a fair shot.

For this reason, I encourage every first time hobby grower to commit to the following rule:

Rule: Make it to Week 3.

(Plus, if you can't commit to 3 weeks, 10+ from seed to harvest is probably too big of a commitment.)

7 Ways To Apply This Rule To Life Outside the Grow:

• New job/role/career

• Working with a new hire (peer, supervisor, or subordinate)

• Learning a new skill

• Approaching a new task/project

• Trying a new hobby

• Instilling a new habit (coincidentally, the old 21 day rule of thumb happens to fit nicely into 3 weeks’ time)

• Month-Long Challenges (By Week 3, you’ve already made it past halfway)

And there’s plenty more.

Adjust your “Week 3” mark based on your timeline and activity, and give yourself permission to give something new a fighting chance.

(Not every task or hobby or opportunity in life even lasts 3 weeks, but you can apply the general rule to set an attainable checkpoint for your fork in the road, and permit yourself to give it a try. For example, my good friend hired a ghostwriter and–even though it was expensive–committed to 3 months because there was no way he would see the progress in 3 weeks)