We're right on the cusp of changing from winter back to spring. With that, here's one thought that always comes to my mind. I ran across this when I was reading Stephen Covey's first two books, "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" and "First Thing's First", and I believe this concept is in both of Covey's books. It is what Covey called "the law of the farm".
It's so simple yet so brilliant, that we don't think about it enough. Particularly for people in business development, his is a critical component of success for anyone that has to generate results and be accountable for them. The law of the farm, simply stated, is that it takes as long as nature says it takes for a crop to come out of the ground. So if you want to reap your corn, collect your harvest in August, the law of the farm says, you've got to have that corn in the ground so it can get warm in Germany by let's say, April 15. I'm not a farmer, so don't beat me up if I'm not accurate, but the law of the farm states, it takes as long as it takes.
What you've got to do is live by the law of the farm. If you want to grow your crops, you've got to plant them at the right time. You've got to fertilize them the right amount. You've got to create or have Mother Nature put enough moisture on those crops and those seeds to get them out of the ground when we want them.
You can't break the law of the farm and say, you know what I'm going to do? I want to harvest in August, so I think I'll wait till June 10 instead of April 10, but I'll put all of the fertilizer and all of the water, and that will go fast enough that I can still meet the timeline of August 15. I'm sorry, it won't happen.
Live by the law of the farm. Know how long your business cycle is. Know how long it takes you to typically get a deal from, "hey, I'd like to talk to you" to "thank you for buying my product, and I appreciate your payment". We should all understand, within reason, that our businesses operate the same way. It takes as long as it takes to create success. Unlike many of us did in college, you can't cram enough water and fertilizer into a plant to collect it the way we could cram studying into the last week before exams, and walk out of the university with a passing grade.
Know it, practice it, live by it, and have a more consistent harvest on the terms that you want to have. Live by the law of the farm. Thank you Steven Covey. Go make money.
