Old school is cool. Write it down. Summer quickly reminded me how important it is to make a list. Between camps, practice, fair projects, activities, outdoor chores, and typical demands on time, it is not only hard to keep up, but to keep track. I need a visual. Something tangible to help provide focus and priority. A good list will keep us in line, on track and marching forward. And a good list manager recognizes the need to never stop, especially for farmers and ranchers.
For cattle producers there are some items that have been checked and currently are not on their summer list. It is no longer time to break ice, fight mud, or deliver feed, but instead mend fences. The hope is to rest pastures for haying and move the herd to grass. Providing mineral remains, but despite the heat, your mental list stays focused on winter preparation, equipment maintenance, and how to reduce stress on fertility. For growers, it is time to hammer down. Right now, your list demands you be in two places at once and constantly juggling. Neither of which you have time for. You may be pumping fertilizer, checking irrigation, planting, making harvest preparations, tending equipment, controlling weeds and pests, putting up hay, and somehow keeping the grass groomed around the farmyard. Whew that certainly is a list, but not even the half of it.
Lists have extreme value to me. It goes beyond a scorecard of what we have accomplished today or even this week. For businesses like High Plains Journal, the start of summer marks the halfway point for our fiscal year. It signals to hit pause. Take time to reexamine the list of objectives set in January and analyze tracking toward 2022 goals. Are there wins to celebrate, adjustments to make or newly discovered paths to consider. This list is different than the priorities we penciled for today. More tactical and comprehensive. It is a long-term plan that requires commitment to patience and diligence. For our organization it involves items like product and audience development or reinvestment in employees and creating high value content for farmers and ranchers. These bullets on my page cannot happen without a series of additional lists that help continuously drive these crucial key initiatives forward. Much like common long-term projects on your operation. Whether it is adding grain storage, new technology, a new marketing plan for production or advancing cropping system with soil health practices, it takes time and a healthy dose of breaking down the list on how to get there.
I encourage you to relish the summer sunset and use this time as your halfway point. What is on your short list? What is a big item that keeps perpetuating from an old list to every new list you make? It is old school, but the tradition of writing it down will help you march toward your goal. It is not flashy, but it is productive. Together let’s bring back the post-it.
Zac Stuckey can be reached at 620-227-1833 or [email protected].
