What we need to know is that from the very moment we plant the seed or cause, the process that brings the result has started; the result begins to ripen. In the same way, once we begin practicing, the result also begins to ripen. The result is not yet manifest, but we have to have some idea of what the result will be. If we practice without any thought of that, then there is the danger that the practice we are doing will not serve any purpose. 

-- His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje