Most knowledge in any area resembles a mosaic of facts, principles and applications, with each expert building upon and enhancing the ideas of others in that field. In the same way, the ideas and principles of self-help authors often overlap and intersect in remarkable ways. One recent connection I discovered is that between Steven Covey’s “Law of the Farm” and the late Earl Nightingale’s concept of considering each day as the basic “building block” of a successful life.

The Law of the Farm

The concept behind the Law of the Farm is simple: As in farming, success in life comes from regular disciplined, daily effort. Jesus expressed this life principle in the Bible, when he told us that as we sow, so shall we reap.

A farmer cannot expect to reap a bumper crop by being lazy for three months and then “cramming” to catch up. Similarly, the greatest successes in life are built slowly and deliberately through focused, consistent, high-quality efforts on a daily basis.