Hello Dear Friend,

Of the 12 letters I've sent you so far, this might be the most important.

If you feel like your life is headed in the wrong direction, and you are constantly overwhelmed by thoughts that don't serve you, then this letter is for you!

Today, I'm thrilled to introduce you to a metaphor that can have a profound effect on your life: The Mind Garden.

Before we move forward, let me preface this…

As you read this allegory, I want you to draw your own conclusions as to the deeper meaning behind each metaphor contained within. This story is overflowing with metaphors and each metaphor is being represented by something in your life.

Ready? Okay.

Let’s go.

The Gardens of Your Mind

I’ll need you to use your imagination. Let's take a short walk through the gardens of your mind.

The Thriving Garden.

Here in this garden, there are plants of all kinds. They are overflowing with delicious looking fruit.

There are giant, powerful trees supported with deep roots.

A tall fence and big, well-tended bushes line the perimeter of this garden. This garden is well protected from any unwanted intruders.

Vines are climbing high, nearly everywhere. They are blooming with tons of tiny, colorful flowers.

Ahh.. look at all the flowers. They are everywhere!

Look at how beautiful this garden is!

Wouldn't it be nice to stay here forever? Very soon, I'll tell you exactly how you can do just that!

But first - I need to show you something very important. I need to show you a different garden...

The Withering Garden.

The fruit-bearing plants are barren and shriveled up. Of course they are - the ground is dry and hard. It hasn't been watered in months.

This garden is lined with a weak fence - barely tall enough to keep assailants from climbing in to rob the little fruit that once grew here.

Weak trees have found a way to grow but their roots are barely strong enough to support them.

The flowers don't bloom anymore. Why would they? This environment is toxic to any kind of positive growth.

The only thing that grows here is weeds. Without constant removal, they've grown out of control, suffocating everything else in the garden.

This place is really awful! We should leave.

Let's go back to the beautiful garden from before!

Ahhh... we are back.

Wow. This thriving garden looks even more beautiful than before.

Remember how I told you that you can stay in this garden as much as you want?

Okay, let me tell you how!

You can stay here ALL YOU WANT.

But there is a catch...

Because it takes an immense amount of work to cultivate a thriving garden like this, you can ONLY stay here if you tend the garden.

This garden would never happen by accident.

It came through consistent effort and cultivation. If you want a thriving garden like this, each day you must show up early and stay late. You can rest in the shade from time to time, but you don't get to take days off.

There will be days when you will be tired and the sun will be beating down on your neck. But still, the plants must be watered, the weeds must be pulled, and the bushes must be trimmed.

Do you still want to stay here?

If you want leisure and don't want to put in any effort, then The Withering Garden is for you. But as you can see, when a garden is left unattended, it isn't beautiful and it doesn't bear any fruit.

You can decide.

Stay here in The Thriving Garden, or you can go back to The Withering Garden.

The choice is yours…

The truth is, you can have any kind of garden that you want.

But it will depend on how much effort you want to put in and the types of seeds you allow to grow.

You get to stay in whichever garden you choose to cultivate.

Alright - no need to keep imagining!

Are you still there? Did I lose you somewhere in one of those gardens? 

If you are a little lost, then definitely read the next section.

If this metaphor made sense, then just skip the next section.

The Meaning Behind The Metaphors

Because I want you to really understand this allegory, I'll give you a little cheat sheet. Skim through these and then go back through the story again - it will hit you twice as hard, I promise!

The Thriving Garden - This represents a positive, growth-oriented mindset that prioritizes learning, self-care, and healthy relationships. It is characterized by gratitude, abundance, strong principles, mindfulness, goal-setting, and a celebration of achievements.

The Withering Garden - This represents a state of negativity, stagnation, and resistance to change. It embodies unhealthy habits, negative self-talk, laziness, and a lack of effort towards personal growth. This garden is devoid of meaningful relationships and support systems, leading to overwhelming stress and anxiety.

Flowers - These symbolize the beautiful and positive thoughts in your mind. These should be nourished and supported in any way possible.

Weeds - These symbolize the negative and self-destructive thoughts and behaviors that need to be uprooted and discarded to maintain a healthy mind and life.

Climbing vines with small flowers - These represent your efforts to expand your perspective and the small flowers are the fresh ideas that come as a result.

Water - This is a symbol of self-care and nurturing oneself, just like how all vegetation needs water to grow.

Tree Roots - These symbolize the healthy habits and behaviors that build the foundation for the way you show up in the world. See letter 5 and letter 6 for the deep dive into this.

Fruit-bearing plants - These symbolize your efforts to be productive in your life, whether professionally or personally.

Fruit - These are the rewards for your effort. The products of your productivity.

Fences & bushes - These boundaries are your principles and your values protecting you from bad influences and poor decisions.

Assailants - These are symbols of the countless negative influences and distractions that can harm you and destroy your progress.

Start Cultivating Your Mind Garden With A Weekly Review

If you want a thriving mind garden, then the FIRST step is to commit to a weekly review of everything important in your life.

Here's how to do your first week review:

1. Set aside at least an hour on Sunday morning (tomorrow).

2. List out these four categories:

3. Inside each of those categories, list all of the "good things" that happened over the course of the last week. These are the flowers of positivity and the fruits of your productivity.

4. Next, go through the same categories and list all of the "needs improvement" items. These are the weeds you need to pull, the assailants that are hampering your progress, and any bottlenecks to your growth.

Your weekly review should look like this before you start writing:

Do your weekly review every. single. week. After about 3 weeks, the power of this weekly habit will become very clear to you.

Because you are listing out so many "good things" each week, you start attracting more good things into your life, just by being aware of them.

And because you are listing out your "needs improvement" items, you have a clear list of things to work on in the coming week. If something keeps coming up as a "needs improvement" item, you know that it needs extra attention.

Every Sunday morning for the last 9 weeks, I’ve done a week review. It has had a continually profound effect on my life. I spend about 2.5 hours on this review but you can do your own week review in as little as 4 minutes!

You don't need to do it big like me! I spend a lot of time on my weekly review because the benefits are incredible.

I'll have a whole newsletter about my epic weekly review process, so stay tuned for that.

In the meantime - commit to doing your first weekly review TOMORROW. If setting aside an hour is too much, set aside just four minutes and spend 30 seconds on each section.

Can you do that for me?

Right now, I want you to imagine that you have a clean slate. A fresh garden ready to be cultivated.

And now you need to take ownership of this garden. Nourish it. Protect it.

There is a beautiful life waiting for you, but you must be willing to put in the effort to create it.

Commit to this endeavor and it will bear more fruit than you can imagine.

All the best to you,

- Cliff