{"id":37,"date":"2021-08-18T14:01:49","date_gmt":"2021-08-18T14:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.reasonings.net\/?p=37"},"modified":"2021-08-18T14:01:49","modified_gmt":"2021-08-18T14:01:49","slug":"an-overnight-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reasonings.net\/?p=37","title":{"rendered":"An Overnight Success!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I’ve spent my life in and around agriculture and I’ve learned that getting ahead on a farm can be an overwhelming goal. For example, if you are a part-time farmer with a few cows, feeding the animals through the winter might take a couple of hours a day. Imagine you are consumed with your regular day job for 9 hours a day, then get home to spend 2 hours a day “feeding the cows,” the math is not in your favor. This adds to 11 hours before you get started on those get ahead things like replacing the barn door that’s been hanging loose for 2 years or shining up the farm tractor so the neighbors will think you have it all together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was reminded of this concept when a friend of mine described the whirlwind in his life.\u00a0 He works a couple of low paying jobs selling his time to companies.\u00a0\u00a0 He has a two nice kids and his wife works part-time to supplement their income.\u00a0 To go back to school or start a side business that would turn into something big is a hard sell because the cows have to be fed everyday.\u00a0 They also admit that besides the need for the extra income the farm lifestyle is very important to their family.\u00a0 So how does he or she become better trained or put the time into a “side hustle” so as to replace those hourly jobs with something more rewarding and profitable?\u00a0 Here’s the rub- adding another 3 hours to his effort day seems futile.\u00a0 It feels like he is selling out his family time for yet a few more dollars to toss in the sea of expenses<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the title of this article these is no overnight transition in the box of solutions.\u00a0 The answer lies in a consistent goal-tracking approach that allows you to establish focus<\/em>.\u00a0 Here are some suggestions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Create a benchmark<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0 Setting goals to change a complex situation always requires us to know from where we started, so invest the time to write these down in a form that can be revisited regularly. For instance, if you decided to lose 20 pounds, you have to know your starting weight.\u00a0 It is critical to be transparent with yourself and specific, so feel free to keep this locked away in a private place at first as the practice may make you feel vulnerable.\u00a0\u00a0 Once you see some traction, you naturally are more likely to share your starting place and your progress.\u00a0 For example, my wife and I have a comfortable income, but I wasn’t comfortable with our cash flow.\u00a0 For a couple of years, we were having to reach into the savings far too often for my taste.\u00a0 I sat down several months ago and jotted down as many details about the situation as I knew, including my honest feelings about how it made me feel out of control.\u00a0 I didn’t really share all this (until now), but I did write down some “small bites” (see #4), that I knew I could execute and those led to measurable progress.\u00a0<\/li>
  2. Daydream about the future<\/strong>.\u00a0 Don’t just daydream about getting the debts paid, or about the free time you’ll have for fishing, but include the feelings of accomplishment you will experience. Vision and optimism are powerful tools.\u00a0 I should pause here for a word of caution.\u00a0\u00a0 Don’t become so optimistic that you spend the money before you get it.\u00a0 Suddenly having a plan is very energizing but time after time I have seen people ride those good emotions till they are tired and then never implement the plan.\u00a0<\/li>
  3. Choose a direction God wants you to go<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0 If you always wanted to be a king pin drug dealer you may very well make money but don’t think God is going to bless your efforts.\u00a0 The psalmist in Ps. 37:4 says “delight yourself in the ways of the Lord and you shall have your heart’s desires.”<\/li>
  4. Take small bites<\/strong>.\u00a0 “How do you eat an elephant?… ”\u00a0 Regular evaluation of where you were, where you are and where you plan to go allows you to focus on the particular day and keep the whirlwind out of the way.\u00a0 Short, specific, actionable changes that are tied to the overall goal are the key to progress.\u00a0<\/li>
  5. Do not hope for nor expect a windfall<\/strong>.\u00a0 There are far too many people who joke that if they could win the lottery they could live on easy street.\u00a0 When a new truck costs $100K, it’s pretty obvious cash is not the solution for success.\u00a0 Others have a more earnest expectation that if the could get that inheritance or sell that extra property, it would set their path in a better direction.\u00a0 Here’s a biblical truth- an infusion of cash will do nothing unless you know how to manage it, but if you practice being a good steward with what you have more blessings will flow.\u00a0<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Sustainable<\/em> success isn’t a quick process but by evoking the power of incremental progress, we can overcome the discouragement and resistance that always comes with progress and move forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I’ve spent my life in and around agriculture and I’ve learned that getting ahead on a farm can be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[5,3,2,4],"class_list":["post-37","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-goals","tag-progress","tag-success","tag-whirlwind"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc1GL1-B","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reasonings.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reasonings.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reasonings.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reasonings.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reasonings.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.reasonings.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38,"href":"https:\/\/www.reasonings.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions\/38"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reasonings.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reasonings.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reasonings.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}