Persistence and Determination

Do you have a favorite quote? I have many, and I hear new ones all the time that motivate and inspire me. I even chose one word for 2018 to remind me of my goals and to stay on course. (More about that in a later post.)

For now, I want to focus on the Persistence quote from Calvin Coolidge. It hangs on the wall in our office and has become a family quote, our mantra.

It helps me to read it now and again, just to remind myself that I’ve reached earlier goals through hard work, persistence, and determination. I really believe that to live a fulfilling life, you’ve got to be willing to push forward even when things feel hard or flat-out impossible. In those moments, I’ll just repeat to myself: “Persistence and determination. Persistence and determination.” And somehow, it gets me back on track.

That quote feels especially relevant in production agriculture. I’m sure plenty of other industries can relate, but ag is what I know. Farming is more than a career. It’s a way of life. And anyone who’s married into it knows that firsthand. Honestly, I think it’s harder to marry into farming than to be born into it. The working hours are ridiculous, completely unthinkable if you grew up in a family with 9-to-5, five-day-a-week jobs.

In production ag, the work happens when the calendar and the weather allow it, or it doesn’t happen at all. For most farm families, you don’t schedule around events. You schedule events around the farm. And I get it, that sounds foreign to a lot of folks. But the truth is, it’s seven days a week, daylight to dark, until the job is done or it rains. Those are the hours.

Farm kids understand this. But they also know the sweet part. When it rains, they get a whole day of fun. I remember my dad taking me swimming in the middle of the week, not another dad in sight at the pool. I remember him standing in the back of the school auditorium, covered in dust or hydraulic oil or whatever else the day had thrown on him. I’d always know to look to the back. He’d wave, and he’d be out the door before the crowd. It’s not that the farm is more important than the family. It’s that the family is the farm.

A good analogy for persistence and determination is in the seeds we plant and care for. One tiny rice seed, just 5.5 to 7.5 millimeters long, gets tucked into the soil under what we hope are the best conditions. It has to root and shoot fast, or it risks rotting in the ground. But it’s got this powerful little spark of vigor, designed to do exactly what it was made to do.

That seed’s first goal? Push out of the soil and see the sun. And that’s just the beginning.

Look around your own life. I bet you’ll find quiet examples of persistence that led to something good. Be mindful of them. Be grateful. These little wins are your proof of strength. Maybe there’s no plaque on the wall. Maybe you just got through the day as a mom without losing your cool. Maybe you crossed off a few of those nagging tasks at work. Maybe the planter ran all day without a single hiccup.

Be present in those accomplishments. That’s where you’ll find the energy to stay, or become, persistent and determined enough to keep going.

You might just be like that tiny rice seed, pushing through the layers, one goal at a time, until you bloom.

—Jennifer