When you consider the future, how secure are you with the direction your cow-calf program is headed? Based on what I have been reading and hearing, many (perhaps most) cow-calf producers lack security. They have reason to believe their program is not where it should be – and that it will not fare well in the future. I discussed this in last week’s PCC Update.
Unfortunately, most of these producers act and talk as though they would rather fail than change anything. Why is that? I can understand how one can be afraid to try something that has never been tried before – but that is seldom the case. All of the changes that need to be made have already been well-proven by thousands of very successful and profitable cow-calf producers.
In last week’s The First Step article, we shared 10 Steps that can double your profits – as well as secure your future success in the cow-calf business. Cow-calf producers who have taken these steps are two to four times more profitable than the average cow-calf producer. You can do it too! The sooner you take the first step, the sooner you will reach your destination.
Some of you will appreciate the article below. Others won’t appreciate it at all. That’s okay… we all have the freedom to seek our own level. This article was written by Rod Osthus. I think it supports what I have been trying to say about security and the future.
Don’t Let Fear Destroy Your Future –
By Rod Osthus
My mother passed away of cancer in 1988. Back then, they didn’t know as much about treatments for her type of illness, so the doctors used every technique they knew. Every day they would come into her room with a new treatment plan, a new test to perform, another experimental strategy. And every time they told her about their ideas, she got excited and became happy and more energetic, and her fear of dying rapidly subsided.
I watched as those actions temporarily “healed” my mother because they made her focus on the present instead of the future that she couldn’t control. The minute she felt the present was more in her control, her fears went away and her motivation to succeed increased. Throughout my mother’s fight, I learned that action equals healing because the fear that interferes with the ability to heal goes away.
Fear controls many people in the ag industry. Wherever I go, I’m asked the same questions. Where is this marketplace going? What’s the future of our industry? Everyone is asking those questions because they think more about the future than they think about the present. They don’t have a plan for the present and thinking about the future, with no plan for the present, creates a lot of fear.
The problem with fear is that it’s about the future, not the present. Fear is a total waste of time and energy. As you’ve heard many times, fear is “false evidence appearing real.” Most fears are never realized. The best way to ensure fears never arise is to bring them into the present and act on them. Fear goes away once that fear is brought into the present and addressed.
Stop worrying about the future and start doing the things that put you in control of your business. Live and work in the present and the future will take care of itself. Take action, because action equals healing, and that takes away all your fears.
Quote Worth Re-Quoting –
“Our only security is our ability to change.” ~ John Lilly