I came across a great post on Twitter this morning that was too good not to share!
It’s regarding stressful situations on the farm. In farming and business in general, it’s easy to let stress get the best of us.
I think we all need to be a little more duck-like in stressful situations. Duck-like?! See below….
(includes some formatting done by me)
“Years ago when I was probably 17 or 18 we were pushing hard harvesting. I was getting pretty short with some of the help.
My dad who is a custom Harvester for 20 years pulled me aside and had a little talk with me. He said Son you need to be more like a duck.
And I said what the hell do you mean more like a duck? We got all this to do and we got to get it done. He said I understand that.
He said it’s okay to hurry but don’t let anybody else know you’re hurrying.
Okay what about the duck? You ever watch the Ducks swim? I said yeah lots of times, they just float across the water.
He said yes that’s all you see but don’t shit yourself he’s paddling like hell underneath.
So today as harvest is rolling hot and heavy and things are getting stressful I’m trying to be like a duck.”
- John Schlessiger (Claflin, KS) (Source)
I think this lesson can also be applied to the business side of the farm.
Commodity price and weather volatility are here to say. Those factors lead to stress, there’s no doubt about that.
In my opinion….a numbers-based, manufacturing-like focus on your farm business can help “calm” your business decisions. That’s what we are all about at Harvest Profit (learn more about our mission here: learn.harvestrofit.com
But, that’s enough from me for today. I don’t want to try to steal the attention from what’s a great message in those Twitter posts.
Nick Horob
Passionate about farm finances, software, and assets that produce cash flow (oil wells/farmland/rentals). U of MN grad.
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