Let us meet.

Are you a lettuce or an apple?

A lettuce will take three months to grow and you can use it in a salad. That is why it’s commonly called salad leaf. Now once the lettuce has been used, you need to replant a new one. Salad leaves are healthy and quick to grow.

An apple tree, on the other hand, takes about 6 years to produce its first apple. That is, after it has been taken care of, watered at the right times, protected from storms and disease. It takes a lot, a lot of hard, long work to get to that first apple. Still there are no guarantees.

But the apple tree has a capacity of producing fruit for well over 50 years. If taken care of, an apple tree can produce apples for a hundred years. Even more!

So, the question is, is your work, your contribution, your impact like a salad leaf, or an apple tree?

Don’t know about you, but I want to be like an apple tree.

I Can Not Do This. Can I?

Many of us think that it is OK to hate our work. So much so, that if you are enjoying your work, it is not considered work!

But what if it is possible to do something that makes you come alive!? Do things you love to do, or find ways to love what you are already doing!

Is it possible?

Imagine the puny little apple seed, talking to other apple seeds. “I want to grow big and strong, and contribute, and take in all the resources that I have, and produce awesome stuff for others to enjoy. I want to grow!”

But just look at it. It is so small. So insignificant. How can this little thing grow up to contribute and support so many?

You wouldn’t believe it either, but you know that the seed has potential. God made it that way. The seed has this natural ability to grow. You know that the seed can grow to be a tree.

Don’t seeds have potential?

Then why some seeds make it and others don’t?

My Environment Matters More Than I Think

Alone, an apple seed won’t make it. But if that apple tree is looked after, if the surroundings of that seed are supportive of its growth, then the dream will become a reality!

Your dream a reality, if you try hard enough! Will you try hard enough? Can you make it on your own, all alone?

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” African proverb.

What if you connect with people who understand and are trying to do the same thing with their lives, as you are with yours?

People who, like you, are trying to live up to their potential!

You surround yourself with people who understand the craziness, who understand that it takes guts and hard work to do something different. People who want to see you grow, to succeed!

Will you want to meet such people?

Introducing LifeETC Local Meetups

Calling all friends who want to surround themselves with people who are supportive of your ideas, your (sometimes crazy) dreams, your goals in life, your ambitions.

Let us use this blog and the amazing community of friends we have to help each other out.

I know that I found success through the help of people who were doing what I wanted to do. I see no reason why that effect can not be replicated.

I have been to Karachi, Islamabad and only recently to Peshawar, all for the work that I do. I was lucky to be invited as a panelist at the Peshawar Digital Youth Summit on blogging. And as I have suspected before, meeting creative, supportive people invigorates, refreshes and empowers!

While in Islamabad, I was able to meetup with yet another group of supportive, creative and adventurous folks. All in the name of friendship, common interests, support and respect for each other.

Last year, I went to Dubai and met up with members of the LifeETC community there too! But what if we could meet each other, minus me?

Thanks to other bloggers like Scott who have done it on a massive scale, I too want to help people connect. This blog is a platform to share the ideas of creative self employment, meaningful work and adventurous living… but meeting in person opens a whole new dimension of learning. And growing.

Even the biggest river starts off as a trickle.

This is the trickle. 🙂

Join or Host a Meetup in Your Town

Even if you and one other friend sits down to talk about learning and growth, you will be much better off than before. God willing. Community is a powerful thing.

And once you host an event, may it be being responsible for gathering 2 or 10 or 50 or 100 people, it will change your life for the better. Community is a powerful thing.

Meetup in a restaurant, a cafe, in a park, on the mountains (that one is my favorite!), in an office, invite friends over at your house… the idea is to gather people who want to grow! People who understand that encouragement as well as guidance play a large role in our success, those are the people who will show up! God willing.

You can invite a local hero, a local expert to perhaps give a small 10 minute presentation? Imagine the impact that can have on the audience in terms of guidance!? That is part of the reason that we plan to keep LifeETC Local Meetups topical: most meetups will have a theme or a topic around which one can gather and learn.

If you are interested in hosting a LifeETC Local meetup in your town/area, please fill this LifeETC Local Host form (click here). I will immediately get back to you, God willing.

We have some cool stuff cooking up. Let’s make this work. God willing.

“If you want to go far, go together.”

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I have made a special section for Hosts.

You can sign up as a host using the form below:

(Can’t see the form above? Use this link)

I am hoping that LifeETC Local meetups will help us connect, learn, grow and help us add venture to our lives 🙂

We are already organizing a small meetup in Lahore based on the topic of blogging (you will hear about it in the next few days inshAllah, stay tuned!).

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_{I first read the comparison between an apple tree and a head of lettuce in the remarkable book by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. The book is aptly titled “The Impact Equation: are you just making noise or doing work that matters”. Highly recommended.}