
“The seed you water will become your heaven or hell.”
Og Mandino, the great motivational master, warned us: “There are seeds of self-destruction in all of us that will bear only unhappiness if allowed to grow.”
Many of us water those seeds daily without knowing. We water them with procrastination, excuses, and comparison. Then we wonder why our harvest is a nightmare.
We cannot escape our thoughts. What we sow, we reap.
The greatest enemy is not in Manyoro, not in Accra, not in your family. The enemy is the seed you water daily in your heart.
THE FARMER OF HIS OWN DESTRUCTION
A farmer in Manyoro planted maize. He allowed weeds to choke his farm. At harvest, he complained of poor yield.
Who should he blame? The soil? The rain? No.
He must take full responsibility. He allowed weeds to take over.
For years I said, “I am from Manyoro, I cannot write.” Manyoro wasn’t the problem, my mindset was. A negative mind disempowers you before the world even touches you.
Do not wait for your hands to be warm to write. Writing is what turns cold hands into warm hands.
As Og Mandino said, we all carry seeds of self-destruction. They are the stumbling blocks we build on our own path.
THE 5 DEADLY SEEDS WE WATER DAILY
The Seed of Procrastination:
Procrastination kills dreams. It buries greatness in the cemetery of tomorrow.
Discipline is doing what is necessary even when you don’t feel like it. Tomorrow kills.
Og Mandino thundered: “I will act now. I will act now. I will act now.”
My cure for procrastination: Do it now. Tomorrow is not promised.
The Seed of Comparison:
You may be age-mates with someone, but you are not in the same class of life. Fingers are not equal. Stop comparing your chapter 1 to another person’s chapter 20.
Theodore Roosevelt said, “Comparison is the thief of joy.” The moment you compare, you feel inadequate, and inadequacy paralyses construction.
The Seed of Excuses:
A man determined to succeed will never make excuses. Your family background or place of birth must never be a license to fail.
Hear Og Mandino: “I will no longer allow my failures to be an excuse.” My counsel: No one carrying stumbling blocks has ever become great.
The Seed of Self-Pity:
“No applause from Manyoro”- so I stopped writing? That was self-pity. Waiting for claps instead of carving.
Og Mandino put this way: “I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness.”
As I always say: When you clap for others, life will clap for you.
The Seed of A Small Mind:
Your mindset determines your altitude. Og Mandino wrote, “I am here for a purpose and that purpose is to grow into a mountain, not to shrink to a grain of sand.”
And King Solomon sealed it: “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” – Proverbs 23:7
UPROOTING THE SEEDS OF DESTRUCTION
You don’t pray for weeds to die. You uproot them.
First, recognize what is holding you back. Name the seed.
Once you identify it, refuse to water it. Starve it with action.
Then, replant. Your stumbling blocks could become your stepping stones.
Nazareth rejected Jesus. He did not stop ministry; He went to Capernaum and built there.
Leave Nazareth. Go to Capernaum and build your ministry.
Og Mandino declares: “I will plant my own seeds of success and happiness.”
Manyoro can be your light or darkness, but not both. You choose.
Make your cold hands warm through action. Keep carving, whether Manyoro claps or not.
CONCLUSION
We all have seeds of self-destruction. If allowed to grow, they perpetuate unhappiness.
To stop them from killing your future, deny them water. Starve the old seeds. Plant new ones.
QUOTES
- “Your only limitations are those you set up in your mind, or permit others to set up for you.”- Og Mandino
- “The seeds of self-destruction are nothing but the limitations we plant in our own minds.” – Abundant Robert AWOLUGUTU
- “No one becomes great while carrying stumbling blocks as luggage.” – Abundant Robert AWOLUGUTU
- “When you learn to clap for others, life will learn to clap for you.” – Abundant Robert AWOLUGUTU
- “You don’t pray weeds to death. You uproot them. So it is with bad habits.”- Abundant Robert K. AWOLUGUTU
Yours in inspiration,
Abundant Robert K. AWOLUGUTU
Writer and Author



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