What steps are you taking to stay competitive and resilient in the face of domestic and global challenges?
Life is a constant challenge. Each day that we get up we will be faced with new challenges and decisions: what’s for breakfast? What stock need shifted and where? Do we sell these lambs now and take a sure thing, or do we hold off and see if the price goes up? Do we buy fertiliser now, or do we wait and hope that the global market doesn’t turn against us? And on and on…
I can’t always answer these questions when they arise, especially not before I have my morning coffee. But what I do know is that to stay competitive and resilient in the face of these domestic and global challenges we must focus on what we can control and not on what we can’t.
You can’t control the weather, but you can decide what clothes you put on; you can’t control the price of livestock, but you can decide who you want to sell it to; and you can’t control government regulations, but you can control who you vote for.
Each day we will face challenges. It is easy to become consumed by trying to solve these problems, but most often we can control only a very small piece or none at all. Maybe when the world is on fire it’s time to take a breath, write a list, and cross off everything you can’t change and then focus on what you can whether it relates to your family, your job, your health, the list goes on.
My wife and I often joke that everyone thinks the world would run smoother if they themselves were in charge. We might not rule the whole world, but we are in charge of our world. When we focus on running our own lives, not everyone else’s, our world gets a lot better and so do we.
So, let us heed the words of the famous prayer: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” The secret of resilience in the face of challenges is to go forth and meet each day as it comes, making change where we can and letting go where we cannot.
