Why do you farm? A farmer often has a number of different answers when I ask this question. It might seem obvious – it’s the farmer’s career and they want to build a successful farm operation.
Your answer will be unique to your own personal and professional goals and the combined goals of everyone involved in the operation. When it comes to reaching the big goals on the farm, that often means taking action.
But action can be tough. In fact, it can be one of the hardest things for people to do, especially when there’s uncertainty involved. Most people, in the face of uncertainty, tend to do nothing. It can be a real challenge to move forward when there seems to be a lot still “up in the air.”
Purposeful movement
It’s so important to not simply take action for the sake of taking action, but to move forward with purpose. What do I mean by that? I mean that it’s key to first know exactly where you want to go as an operation. Then, you can take purposeful action to move in that direction – toward your goals.
Otherwise, it’s easy to do one of two things – to either become “stuck” in uncertainty and do nothing, or to scatter your valuable time and energy attempting to do everything and anything. Moving forward with purpose is the answer for both extremes.
Ideas to try
Here are three ideas to help make your moves more purposeful as you lead your operation.
First, know where you want to go. If you don’t know where you want your farm to be in the future, you could end up...well, anywhere. Think of future business planning like planning a road trip. You need to know exactly where your destination is first, before you can start planning the route to get there, and any stops you want to make along the way. Forward-looking business and financial plans for your operation are the number one way to then be able to take purposeful action – to make every move count.
Determine the best way to get there. Sometimes, there are many different routes or actions that could be taken toward the farm’s goals – but they’re not necessarily all created equal. Some will be more efficient than others. Some will be the right choice for some farms, but maybe not for your operation. That’s okay because every farm operation is unique. Knowing your farm’s overarching purpose and mission will help you determine the right moves for your operation. It's like a compass for decision-making.
Build it into the everyday. The farm’s biggest goals can sometimes be the toughest to take action toward. Why? Because when a goal is so large, it can seem daunting to even start. The key is to break up the biggest goals into smaller chunks and then break those down even further into everyday actionable items. Working on these every day and tracking your progress is key because that helps you see how you’re getting closer and closer each day, which helps motivate you even more.
Get perspective on the market
One aspect of the farm that also requires clear definition of what success looks like is the farm’s marketing – and many farmers say that grain marketing isn’t their favorite thing to spend time on. Yet grain marketing is one of the top business drivers impacting the level of success that the farm operation can experience.
Farmers have also found that working with our market advisors has helped ease their minds. The advisors help farmer clients with planning and execution around marketing decisions and help keep them up to speed on the current rapidly-changing grain market situation – and how it impacts their operation.
Get a free two-week trial of our marketing information service (MarketView Basic). Your free trial includes regular audio and video updates, technical analysis, recommendations and more. Learn more about our market advisor programs and offerings at www.waterstreetconsulting.com.
The opinions of the author are not necessarily those of Farm Futures or Farm Progress.
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