Yield--to produce or provide, especially by cultivationYielding--giving way under pressure. Not hard or rigid.
Yield is one of those weird words.
In business, product yield is crucial to company survival. You don't yield, you don't make money. You have to be yielding.
But, yielding can be a bad thing. Yielding to temptation. Like, I'm tempted to yield and not do my housework--ok, I've already yielded to this!
On the job we can be yielding an excellent product or yielding to the temptation of laziness and mediocrity.
I've heard the best way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it. But that's not really getting rid of it. By acting on it we're internalizing it, making it a part of ourselves. What are you tempted to yield to?
Yielding might not be bad when you're listening to others and learning a new and better way of doing things. Like a yield sign when driving, we should take the time to slow down and check our surroundings then move in the desired direction.
So, yielding can be good or bad, depending on the outcome.
Think about your job. Look at your life.
What are you yielding?
What are you yielding to?
I pity those who have to learn English as a second language, don't you? It's so complicated with one word having such diverse meanings and usage. I've yielded to the temptation to ignore houseword, yardwork, and tackling the basement mess and my inner perfectionist is screaming.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine any language harder than English, especially American English since it's such a mix of English and other cultures.
DeleteWhat a great post! So glad you stopped by.
ReplyDeleteI've never compared the different meanings of the word "yield." Very interesting. I am trying to yield to God's will...which I suppose means yielding my own ideas of what I want to do...hmmmm. Again, thought provoking!
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