The future is yours for the taking.
If you are like me, you have heard this statement before, but what does it really mean? Everyone has a different definition or interpretation of this statement and most definitions are probably correct for their situation.
Even when things seem the bleakest and you can’t seem to find a way to get out of your current situation, there are always opportunities. You just have to look in the right places and be ready to seize on those opportunities.
Several years ago, I found myself a bit over my head in a job, but I was determined to make it work. I kept my head down and plowed through. I never really looked up to see where I was going.
I thought to myself, “I’m going to get a paid education.”
What I didn’t know at that time, was that you can’t get ahead until you can look above the field you are plowing. Much like the saying, “They can’t see the forest for the trees;” you have to look past your current challenges to see what’s coming down the road.
A mentor once told me, “You always want to be on the leading edge of a new movement, and by the time the pack sees what you are doing, you should already be onto the next big thing.”
1) What is the next big thing to hit agriculture?
2) What can you do to be an agricultural producer at the head of the pack?
3)What can you do to be ahead of your neighbor?
If you are buying from the same suppliers and selling to the same markets, there isn’t much to set you apart. You need to think beyond “the way it’s always been done” to find a better way.
Do you ever think about the first producers who went no-till before everyone else?
What about the first producers to use artificial insemination?
I bet they both had a leg up on the competition for quite some time before using these methods.
I’m not promoting leaping from one thing to another without thinking it through. With all change comes risk, as well as opportunity, but the future will always belong to the few who see opportunity before the average person.
Kathy Daily is the Senior Vice President of First Financial Bank’s Farm and Ranch Division. She has been an agricultural lender for more than 25 years.
