Failure or obstacles. It might seem a little strange to begin with the word “failure,” which is basically the opposite of success. But if you’re setting your goals high enough and striving to get better as a world-class, professional farm operation, then it’s very likely that there will be some failures, or at least some obstacles to your goals along the way. The key is to be prepared for this to happen at some point and choose to take the mindset that when a challenge or obstacle does show up, you’re going to use it to help make you and your operation stronger and more effective in the long run. Plan to use challenges to ultimately help you reach your goals through what you learn.

Hard work. Farmers are no strangers to the concept of hard work. Many of us grew up watching our parents put in long hours of physical labor and have likely done that ourselves as well. Most farm leaders enter their farming careers with a clear idea of the level of work it takes, especially during busy seasons. As the farm owner moves further into business and people management, rather than doing all the labor themselves, though, a mindset shift about the concept of what “hard work” involves also needs to happen. When you’re the farm’s CEO, the hard work you must do to move the farm closer to success now more often involves sitting at your desk or meeting with landlords or lenders rather than doing lots of manual labor. The hard work is still there – it’s just turned into more of the work of running the business.

Small victories. Just as we expect to encounter challenges along the road to success, we should also plan to find the small “wins” along the way. It’s important to recognize and celebrate when the operation makes progress toward the bigger goals. Doing this can motivate everyone on the team when they realize the progress that’s being made and how they can directly contribute. When the goal is large and will take time to achieve, it’s key to plan smaller milestones to recognize the progress that’s happening.