Sharpen the Saw This Silly Season
With the silly season upon us it is a good chance to make time to ‘sharpen the saw’. I’m not alluding to anything related to bothersome relatives or not getting what you want from Santa. With calving, making silage and hay, joining and other big jobs behind us, now is the time for some maintenance of the most important piece of machinery on the farm – you!
Dairy farming is all about being productive. The aim is to grow good pasture for productive dairy cows so that they will produce good milk. Farm businesses record and analyse production figures and strive for production targets. Farmers work hard and for long hours, striving to be productive in their endeavours. That is all great, but is it sustainable? Do you push yourself too hard only to end up exhausted and therefore working inefficiently?
To be truly productive and sustain a high level of work output you must take care of yourself
In his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey outlines some basic principles that have helped many businesses across a broad range of disciplines. Covey makes a distinction between our ‘actual production’ and our ‘production capability’. According to this we must concentrate on our production capability in order to achieve a greater actual production. In other words, we need to focus on and foster our capabilities to enable ourselves to work hard over a long period of time.
The best way you can perform all of the roles on farm – manager, agronomist, milker, accountant (just to name a few), is by looking after yourself. When you attend to your own wellbeing you boost your quality of life. In turn, your wellbeing ensures you have the energy and capacity to face any challenges coming your way.
Farmers can neglect their own health and wellbeing issues due to lack of time and putting everybody else first. Just as you can’t cut through a piece of wood with a blunt saw, you also can’t work to your full potential, or your ‘production capability’, if you don’t make time for some self-maintenance.
Take a break
Hopefully now the big jobs are out of the way, you will have some time to yourself. Make some time after breakfast to enjoy a cup of tea and read a newspaper. Take a twenty minute powernap after lunch. Perhaps you can leave the farm, do something fun and come back feeling refreshed.
If you take time to ‘sharpen the saw’, that is to say take some time to work on yourself for a change, you will be better able to do your work around the farm. Wouldn’t it be great if you took some time to do something for yourself and the result was that you were then fired up ready to tackle the next season? You might find that feeling refreshed will help you plan for the next busy period in autumn.
Find your source of energy
What is it that gets you energised and motivated? The silly season may provide a good opportunity to spend time with family and catch up with your friends. It may prompt you to get away for a break or make time to relax at home. Maybe Santa will bring you a great book to read or a new cricket set for a backyard game with the kids. It is really important to make some time, no matter how long, to do something you love and that will leave you feeling good afterward.
Beware the energy-drain
While you seek out opportunities to recharge your batteries, take care to avoid the things that can drain your energy. If there is an activity or job that is not in your top ten list of fun things to do, rather than letting it get to you try to think your way around it. Can you delegate the task or minimise the amount of time you spend on it? Is there somebody who can help you?
Are you taking good care of yourself? How can you boost your energy this silly season? Just as you would take the time to maintain and fix your farm machinery, take some time this Christmas for yourself. It’s better and much quicker to cut through a piece of wood with a well-sharpened saw than it is to toil away with a blunt edge.
