Moment of Silence: What you can learn from a farmer

Farming and agriculture play a huge role in our world. It’s an industry that provides our food and livestock. What can we learn from a farmer?

Keep reading to find out…

Have you ever stopped and wondered with frustration:

When will I ever achieve my goal?

When will my podcast rank higher and get more downloads?

When will I get more views on my blog?

When will I finally get a break in my career?

When will my business start taking off?

When is my opportunity going to come?

When is it my turn?

The haunting question of “WHEN?”

Farmers understand that there is a time period between when the seed is planted and the crop is harvested. They realize that the seeds they plant now won’t render a return on their investment until later.

There’s a quote that says it takes 10 years to become an overnight success…or to put it a different way—GREAT THINGS TAKE TIME.

We can sometimes forget this. The anticipation of what our lives could be excites us, and at times our enthusiasm will work against us. When your reality and what you envision for your life don’t match…impatience and frustration can develop.

Why is it taking this long? I thought by now I’d be further along than this.

We find ourselves trying to pull up a crop that isn’t ready yet.

Discouragement is something that we all have dealt with, but what sets the high achievers apart from the rest is one common trait—endurance—or in other words, they continue to work on their craft and build their dreams no matter how long it takes.

In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell popularized the 10,000-hour rule. Which describes how in order to become world-class in any field you need 10,000 hours of deliberate practice.

10,000 hours? That’s a lot of time invested. Let’s say that you were to commit 3 hours a day towards your dream, it would take you a little over 9 years to reach that mark.

That may seem like a lot of time, but we have to be committed to our dreams for the long haul to see worthwhile results. It may not happen overnight, but the rewards are worth the time invested.

Now of course, 10 years and 10,000 hours are both relative and not necessarily the rule, but let’s grasp the concept—GREAT THINGS TAKE TIME AND EFFORT.

Farmers don’t just plant the seeds in the soil and wait for the crops to yield. They nurture their investment in order to get the best out of it. They have to fertilize the soil, cultivate the seed, develop and work on the crop while waiting for its time to harvest. They don’t see the results while they’re putting forth the effort, but during harvest season they see their hard work pay off.

At times it will often feel like you're failing. There will be times when you question yourself and your capabilities, but remember—what feels like struggle and frustration is often skill development and growth. What looks like little pay and no recognition is often the price you have to pay to discover your true potential and to create your best work.

What looks like failure is often the foundation of success.

It may take longer than what you initially expected. There’s going to be moments when the opportunities seem silent and like there is nothing coming out of what you’re working on, but to be a high achiever we must endure the tough times to make it to the great times. Your worst moments are what prepare you for your best moments. People are celebrated in public for what they practice and develop in private.

When you get frustrated…remember that your time is coming.

When you get discouraged…remember that it will get better.

When you feel like giving up…remember why you started.

GREAT THINGS TAKE TIME AND EFFORT—be like the farmer who plants the seed and nurtures the crop. Your harvest is coming, keep putting in the work.