The Gardener’s Approach

Do your thoughts turn to the hard work of cleaning when Spring has sprung and you see the greening of the plants and the emergence of floral colors? They do if you are a gardener. Gardeners frequently want to get a head start before the weeds can take over. If the garden is left to fend for itself, gardeners know that the garden will gradually lose its beauty.

To combat the trend toward chaos, gardeners invest a combination of their time, energy and creativity. They figure out what is working and what isn’t; they make plans to fix what isn’t. But there is more to it than that.

Master gardeners have inherent optimism. They experiment. They are not afraid to fail. They may say, “Let’s try putting the plant over here this time – maybe it will work better.” They know that they will have both failures and successes and that over a period of years they will upgrade their gardens.

Gardeners are frequently generous. They share their expertise, ideas and even plants with others who need the help. They enjoy watching others succeed.

Are you a gardener? Have you ever thought about using the gardener’s approach in other areas of your life? For example, what would it mean to view your marriage or other relationships as things of beauty? Here are some personal observations:

• I have noticed that marriages and other relationships can go downhill if the people do not invest time, energy and creativity.
• Optimism seems important. It may take a sustained effort to make relationships better. What is your vision for what a more beautiful relationship would be? What would it mean for you to experiment to make your relationships stronger, to upgrade them?
• What role does generosity play? How could you help or be helped by others?

There are so many other areas where you can apply the gardener’s approach. For example, what about your finances and your health – how do chaos (going downhill), optimism, experimentation and generosity affect the outcome?

One reason that we love Spring is that it is a time of new beginnings. What Spring cleaning might you do to have an even better life, one with more beauty in it?

Announcing the Renovation of Our Office

Our lease was up last month, and we had to make some decisions. We have been working at the same address for almost 10 years, with a small expansion of space 3 years ago.

Over the last 3 years our firm, Fischer on Finance, has continued to grow, even as the economy has declined. We did not cut back on our staff (or their hours or pay). In fact, we hired Amber Harder as a part-time marketing assistant earlier this year. Most importantly, we continued to provide the same high level of service to clients.

Times do feel different now – people are making do with less. They are trying to be more efficient and effective. Within that spirit we have decided to stay in the same space. We have moved some internal walls to give our staff more room.

How will this affect you? Our new arrangement will streamline our work here for you. We have more room for our secured file cabinets and a kitchenette to provide refreshments.

We also bought a better telephone system to improve the ease of communication, particularly on conference calls when we need to work together to make the changes that are important for you.

So you will continue to be able to find us at the same address. See you soon – here.