Anton Guinea
Entrepreneur, Speaker, bestselling author, and founder of The Guinea Group of Companies. For over 15 years, Anton has helped leaders move their teams to become psychologically safe, physically safe and overall better versions of themselves.
There is one plant on earth that doesn’t have a stem, that doesn’t have any roots, that doesn’t have any flowers. And that only opens for six whole days, at the end of its 13-month gestation period. Is a plant that we can learn a lot from.
I did a video on this same topic this week, but I felt like I needed to further explain what we can learn from the Rafflesia plant in this newsletter. Why, because I got to see the Rafflesia plant, in full bloom. Which is extremely lucky, and rare. Because of its short blooming period. It was such an amazing experience, that I couldn’t stop thinking about.
Here is what I worked out.
1. This plant starts with nothing
The Rafflesia plant starts from basically nothing. It’s pod. 13 months before it blooms, it starts nothing, and starts growing. It continues growing, until it is ready to bloom. And bloom it does. It blooms with the biggest leaves on planet earth.
Then, it dies.
It is a truly amazing plant. Amazing to see. I consider it a privilege to have been lucky enough to see it.
If you ever need inspiration to achieve something great in your life, think of the Rafflesia plant, that starts with nothing, but becomes the biggest flowering plant on the planet. If you need confidence. Start where you are now. Start, even if you are just a pod. Start, even if you don’t have enough resources. Even if you don’t have everything you think you need.
Just start. And see what you can achieve in the next 13 months.
2. Do what it takes
Question – is 13 months a long time? It is the whole life of a Rafflesia. The Rafflesia works hard to get ready to bloom. it will do what it takes to open its massive leaves, at least six feet across (in my estimation).
Here is the thing, in the life of a business owner, 13 months is not really a long time. Or is it. Here is my experience…
I grossly underestimated what I could achieve in 20 years in business. And I grossly overestimated what I could achieve in 13 months. 13 months is over a year. A year. You can achieve so much in a year.
And you know what. I have never gone hard for 13 months. As hard as I should have. I have never gone as hard as the Rafflesia and committed everything to a cause and to a mission. Until now. Watch this space.
3. Be the biggest and the best
This was the amazing thing about the Rafflesia. You have to be lucky to actually see it in bloom. It is the biggest plant on earth, and it has the most vivid flower colour – red, with white spots. Not only does it grow, but it also grows into something everyone wants to see.
And a fun fact is that the Malaysian family that own the land that contains the Rafflesia plants charges an admission fee for every person to go in and see it. For the six days that the plant is in bloom there. They put a sign up out the front, and people stop.
People fall over themselves to get to see this plant in bloom.
And I would have paid twice as much as they charged.
The message is to be the person that everyone else wants to see. The business that everyone else wants to work with. The content creator that people want to read or watch. And yes, you can become that. In 13 months.
So, that is what we can learn from the Rafflesia plant.
Please reach out to work out how you can implement any of the above actions.
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