Someone sent me an email last week with some sayings and expressions that supposedly came from a farmer. The life experiences of tilling the ground, raising livestock and the manual interaction of nature and man appear to have given this farmer great life experience. The observations of life from the perspective of the farmer struck a chord with me and also gave me a chance to laugh. A couple of the jewels were “A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor” and “Always drink upstream of the herd.” Those are pretty self explanatory, but I thought I would expound on some of my favorites from the list.
“Life is simpler then you plow around the stump.”
How many times do we see a problem or obstacle that appears to be in our path and instead of trying to figure a way around it, we plow straight ahead, taking the most difficult path? How many times do we see it as an obstacle and not just something that is a necessary part of our workplace? We have many stumps in our way that can either throw us from our main objectives or stop us completely in our path to progress. Some of the stumps that come to mind are overly restrictive regulations that have to be followed, employees who might be better avoided than confronted and even that partner who refuses to conform to the group’s objectives. Most likely, these things will remain in your path and our goal should be to leave them where they are and cultivate around them, allowing our jobs to continue without being deterred by their entrenched positions. You might not like them, they may be in the way, but they should not prevent you or be an excuse for you not getting your assigned tasks accomplished. Learn to plow around those things that you cannot change.
“It don’t take a very big person to carry a grudge”
I have seen many quotes on this subject through the years, but this one really strikes me as a valuable one. Every time we hold a grudge against someone else, we lower our worth, our standing, our very being. When we are wronged, we can allow it to consume us or we can live through it and beyond it. What are we saying when we carry a grudge? “I am too important for you to hurt me, lie to me, etc.” Are we really stating that we are perfect and never hurt anyone, so how dare someone hurt us? Forgive, forget and live past the hurt. If the person is just mean, unbearable, hateful, see quote #1. If they are dear to you, speak to them and try to resolve the situation. If nothing else, realize that life is too short and people are worth the effort to invest understanding and forgiveness into them. One person stated it well – they likened holding a grudge as allowing someone to live rent free in our minds. Don’t consume your day by filling it with past hurts or by holding ill will toward another.
“The biggest troublemaker you’ll probably ever have to deal with watches you from your mirror every morning.”
“Guilty” as charged! How many times do I end up having a bad, hectic or unmanageable day because of my own doing or undoing? Look in your mirror and realize that improvement can only occur if you are willing to change. Enter each situation realizing that you have the choice to make it beneficial or disastrous. I consider myself “A.D.D. boy”, often undone during my days from my mind wandering, not handling what I should be handling and becoming counterproductive in my work. Keeping on task often is hard in our positions anyway because of numerous interruptions and distractions during our work day. Seek to enter each challenge or need of your help as an opportunity to change someone’s day, a way to expand your knowledge, or a way to empower an employee to make appropriate decisions under your direction. Keep it in mind that we can cause more trouble than many people put together due to our positions of leadership in our office. Our moods and mannerisms often flow downhill and can positively or negatively affect an office. Let our moods and mannerisms be those that we want to see and that our patients want to see displayed.
The farmer, although probably not formally educated possibly gets the best education of all. The education of dealing with people and situations where his resources are not abundant, but his life experience and life journey have filled his toolbox with many useful tools. As we deal with our owners and co-workers each day, we need to realize that all of our learning can be our undoing if we fail to understand some basics of life and human interaction.
(If anyone would like the full list of quotes, please email me at bhughes@whsfl.com and I will gladly forward them to you.)