Lessons from the Farm: Overlap

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I started driving a tractor at a young age. Most kids of farmers do.

I cannot tell you how many hours I’ve spent on a tractor plowing a field. I’ve used chisels, sweeps, duck bills, and discs. I’ve started at sunrise and finished after dark, even spending some time running under the lights of the tractor.

Would you care to know the hardest part? Not overlapping too much.

There’s a balance to be had when you’re pulling a plow through a field. The goal is to turn the dirt over. Just how much or for what purpose varies, but the end goal is breaking the top layer and allowing soft, hopefully moist, dirt to come to the top.

If you don’t overlap where you were before, you leave dirt unturned. And it shows later.

If you overlap too much, you waste time. I mean, think about it. When you’re working in a field that is 1 mile by 1 mile, doubling up on 2 feet every 40 feet adds up.

Overlap is a delicate balance to have.

The same is true in leadership. There are some things worth doubling over: key concepts, values, strategies, motivation. Each of these can get lost in the hustle of everyday. Diligence, however, demands vigilance.

Excessive repetition, however, does the opposite. It means you’re spending more time, energy, fuel, and resources than necessary.

Not overlapping has a similar result: you skip the things that keep you centered as you lead, and later on those “skips” are noticeable. You may cover more ground, but the price is too high. 

Proper consistent overlap doesn’t happen on accident. It takes diligence. It takes intentionality. It takes focus. But in the end, the efficiency is remarkable.

What falls into your overlap? What do you need to continue covering? What do you need to avoid repeating? What do you need to make certain you don’t skip?

Lessons from the Farm: Fill the Water Jug

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Do you remember the old school Tupperware? When I was growing up, we had some pieces of Tupperware that were (not-so) beautiful shades of orange, green, and brown. Ironically, they kind of matched our shag carpet.

One of the best uses I remember for the Tupperware was to fill it with water and put it in the freezer, which would create a rather large ice cube. Then, at the beginning of a day, or if we were lucky enough to go to the house for lunch, we would take the giant ice cube, dump it into a water jug, and have iced water for the rest of the day.

Why was that important? There aren’t a lot of convenience stores in the middle of the field. In fact, there are no Allsup’s in the field. It’s only dirt.

If we were trying to plow a field, time was money. That meant stops which could be avoided, should be avoided. One of the best ways was to be prepared at the beginning of the day, so you could make the most of the time you have.

There are some things in the field we could not plan for–a flat tire on the plow, a busted hydraulic hose, or a broken implement. But thirst? That was a given.

Leadership is the same. For us, it could be a conversation to ease concerns, an unexpected phone call, or the missing piece to your plan.

But some things that capture your time are akin to starting the day without a water jug. It happens regularly. It’s a weak spot in your approach, and you know.

Let me challenge you today to spend a little time asking yourself what’s the biggest time waster you deal with on a regular basis. Now, make a plan to fight it. Grab the Tupperware, fill it with water, and put your plan into action. Your effectiveness will grow because of it.

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