Happy New Year! With the New Year comes resolutions for many. Losing weight, reducing stress, getting organized, saving more money (or spending less) and spending more time with family are traditionally among the top of the list.

If you look at the heart of most New Year’s resolutions, the resolution usually requires developing a whole lot of self-control and discipline in order to create a new habit and ultimately long-term success.

Discipline

I’ve already heard from some clients that in addition to the “traditional” New Year’s resolutions, they are adding discipline with grain marketing to the top of their list. Discipline is essential to any short-or long- term goal. Discipline is also an essential component to farm marketing, especially when it comes to pulling the trigger on those cash sales. When working with farmers and their marketing, we’ve found that no matter how much time and knowledge about markets a person has, everything falls apart if there is no discipline. Discipline is required in two main areas:

When you feel tempted to abandon your previously planned goals and strategies for whatever excuse or reason, stop and ask yourself if it's really worth it. Take out your written reminders of your long-term goals and revisit them again. If the goals are still vitally important to you and the strategies still make sense, you should have no trouble choosing the right action.

Reach Naomi Blohm: 800-334-9779 Twitter: @naomiblohm   and [email protected]

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The opinions of the author are not necessarily those of Farm Futures or Farm Progress.