Harvesting the Future: How to Find Your Path and Fulfil Your Potential

By Adam Farmer

I invite you to follow your dreams and dont stop until you reach them. Learn as many new things as possible, make mistakes, but more importantly, learn from those mistakes. This book will be the light to shine down on your path, as well as give you guidance and support. I was supported through my tough times, so now it is time to put all that I have learnt into a book and give something back.

Follow your dreams, and become the best version of you!

Harvesting the Future will help you with many areas of your life as you grow into the person you are destined to become. Whether you need guidance on relationships, setting goals, identifying true friends, planning the trip of a lifetime, or understanding the power of positive thinking, Adam is here to share his previous experiences and stories.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Nov 15, 2017
• ISBN: 9781543404975

Book preview

Copyright © 2017 by Adam Farmer.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2017916882

ISBN:                 Hardcover                 978-1-5434-0499-9

                            Softcover                  978-1-5434-0498-2

                            eBook                        978-1-5434-0497-5

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 11/14/2017

Xlibris

1-800-455-039

www.Xlibris.com.au

768731

To those who are chasing a dream or anyone who is unsure which path to take, trust the timing of your life.

39729.png

Contents

Acknowledgements

About Adam Farmer

Prologue

Part One:   Be The Best Version Of You

1   It All Starts With You

2   I’ll Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

3   Two Imperfect People Who Refuse To Give Up On Each Other

Part Two:   Follow Your Dreams

4   Why Fit In When You Were Born To Stand Out

5   Success And Nothing Less

6   Some Birds Aren’t Meant To Be Caged

7   Some Lessons Aren’t Taught In A Classroom

Conclusion

Acknowledgements

This book didn’t just happen overnight. I did not become the person who I am without certain influences in my life.

First of all, I must thank my incredible partner and soulmate, Caroline. You have been there for me throughout every step of the making of this book with love, encouragement, and amazing ideas. Your continued support and influence make this journey through life an incredibly exciting one.

Lee and Bev Farmer – the king and queen of the family, the driving forces behind my success – I’m honoured to call you Mum and Dad. You are two people I aspire to be as good as one day, and if I get halfway there, then I’d be happy. You worked endless hours and sacrificed your time and money so I would have the skills and awareness to survive in life.

Nicola, as my sister, you are my first friend in the world. You are an example to anyone that hard work gets you to where you want to be.

Tom Monks, you introduced me to the world of motivational speakers. In July 2013, several months after my relationship collapsed, you told me to watch a video of Les Brown on YouTube. That video was the start of the rest of my life. You have sat me down at times and told me what I needed to hear even if I didn’t want to. For that, your friendship is priceless.

Marcus Barretto, you have been sensational in designing the graphics and the cover for this book. I cannot thank you enough for the time you put into helping my dream become a reality.

Alicia Cann, thank you for your help drawing the images for this book. You are not only my cousin but also a very talented person with a pencil and paper.

Elliot Costas-Walker, may I thank you for your love of improving younger lives through teaching, which has inspired me to appreciate that small changes can make a big difference.

John Massey, it was your infectious smile that inspired me to always see the positive side of life and that life is meant to be enjoyed.

Callum Beardsworth, we have been through so much together and grew up helping each other through our difficulties. You helped me stand tall at times where all I wanted to do was fall to the ground.

Also, I would like to thank every single setback, rejection, and disappointment I have faced in my life as it was those moments that gave me the wisdom, strength, and knowledge to produce this book.

About Adam Farmer

Before I get into the nitty-gritty of the book, let me introduce myself and briefly explain the journey I have been that has led me to writing this book. I was born in Preston, England, and raised by amazing parents who supported me through every stage of my life, from education to relationship advice. I have always wanted to make them proud, which drives my desire to outshine the previous day.

My working life started at the age of thirteen, delivering local newspapers to 500 houses every week. Some weeks I loved it, and some weeks I hated it. But thankfully, every week I was paid. I remember receiving my first pay cheque and feeling like an adult. I then worked in an Italian restaurant washing dishes before leaving school and heading to college.

I got a job in Iceland Supermarket during the weekends, stacking shelves and serving customers whilst at college. Through an enormous desire to win and great work ethic, I found managerial opportunities arise for me. The highest role I reached was assistant manager. My goal, however, was to become a PE teacher, so to enhance my CV and improve my experience, I volunteered at my old high school in the PE department.

I continued these two jobs whilst studying sports and exercise physiology at the University of Central Lancashire. Halfway through university, I came across a period in my life that made me seriously question my next steps. The plan I created for my life was simple: become a PE teacher, marry the love of my life, buy a nice house, have kids, maybe buy a dog, and live happily ever after. Sounds simple, doesn’t it?

In the space of seven days, I discovered life doesn’t work that way. I no longer wanted to become a PE teacher, I wasn’t enjoying university, my four-and-a-half-year relationship ended, and I was suspended temporarily from work. I arrived at a crossroads in my life, not knowing which path to take next.

I strongly believe that every path starts with an inspiration, and the path I chose to walk was inspired after a conversation with a close friend who recommended to focus on doing something I enjoyed or something I was good at. I have always thrived off helping people, and I have always been confident speaking in front of people. I came to know from that conversation, combined with watching motivational speakers on YouTube, I wanted to become a public speaker.

Within twelve months of this discovery, I had started my own online blog, carried out endless hours of research, and spoke at schools across Lancashire, England. Things were going well, but I knew I could take it even further, although for that to happen, I needed to do something I had always wanted to do. I needed to travel the world. It took me twelve months to build the courage to leave England and put my life in a backpack. I left everything I knew behind and headed off on an adventure of a lifetime. Whilst I was on the road, I collected all my findings about life, added them to what I had previously learnt in England, and put them into this book.

After two years on the road, I have executed my plans. Some may call it a business, others a project. I call it Seed for Success, and I intend to continuously grow it day after day. This is the platform I use to inspire teenagers and young adults to follow their dreams and be the best version of themselves.

0.1.jpg

Prologue

Welcome, all!

First of all, allow me to explain my intentions with this book. This book shares with you the knowledge I gained through my experiences as I progressed from childhood into adulthood. With this book, I invite you to follow your dreams and not stop until you reach them. Learn as many new things as possible, making mistakes along the way, but more importantly, learn from these mistakes. Always push yourself to be the best version of you.

Let’s start at the beginning, where I stood at those crossroads. First of all, my relationship that I thought would last a lifetime ended after four and a half years. We made so many memories and even more plans for the future. I spent weeks crying and further months feeling sorry for myself. Even when people told me things will get better, I couldn’t see it. My parents were right most of the time when it came to giving advice and words of wisdom, but none more so than when they said things would get better over time. Before things could get better though, they got worse.

A week later, I was suspended from my job at Iceland, and this was how it happened. I was a duty manager at the time when I was about to start the afternoon shift. It was a busy day in the shop, and to make it worse, we were two staff short. I worked through my break to maintain the shop standards. Seven o’clock in the evening came, and the shop closed. All that was left to do was take the tills off and cash the office up. Once I had done this, I locked the doors and headed home like any other night.

The following morning, I arrived at work to be greeted by a request to wait in the office. Curious of the reason, I sat patiently for a short while. The assistant manager and store manager of another store entered the room and shut the door behind them. They sat down and opened the pad of yellow paper. Immediately after that, I knew something was wrong. The pad with the yellow paper was only used for investigations. The store manager informed me that I was being investigated because the safe was left unalarmed the previous night.

Immediately, I denied it was me. As far as I was aware, I locked the safe like I had done so many times. I did not do anything different from other nights. I could not explain why the safe was unlocked. After intense questioning, I was asked to temporarily leave the room whilst they discussed my answers. Whilst I stood on the other side of the door, I could not come up with any solutions on why the safe was not locked. Thoughts came to my mind that someone was attempting to ‘stitch me up’ and opened it earlier in the morning. I remember laughing to myself whilst thinking, ‘Imagine if they suspended me.’

This thought was interrupted by the opening of the door. I was asked to enter the room and sit down. ‘After considering everything that you have said, we have decided to suspend you on full pay pending further enquiries.’ I was asked to hand over my keys and not enter this or any other store until my disciplinary date. I felt like a criminal as I was escorted out of the building. I was still in shock several hours later when my parents got home and I broke the news to them.

I can’t remember exactly what they said or what happened after that date. I just remember receiving the letter to confirm my disciplinary date, which arrived several days later. I had two weeks to wait until that day arrived, which gave me time