We have this sense in this country that if we just work harder, we will get ahead. It’s the essence of the American Dream. What nobody tells you is that sometimes working harder is just not enough. You have to work harder doing the right things! You have to work smarter.
See, there are only so many hours in the day. You can say that you’ll work 16 of those, but eventually, you’re going to break down. I don’t care how much you get paid to work those long hours, you can’t do that forever. Extra dollars do not make you extra human.
We feel this intensely as farmers, but I’m sure all small business owners do. It’s a constant dance of ingenuity of necessity and triage. Your mind always considering potential better/more efficient ways of doing things, and figuring out what you can leave undone.
You might notice if you visit the farm that right now it doesn’t exactly look like a country club. That’s because we’re in triage mode and mowing almost never makes a triage list. There’s no satisfaction in things left undone but there is a sort of an art.
And we practiced that art on the fourth of July—leaving things undone in order to take a half a hot day off and float the river.
