Farnam Street had this insight in its recent newsletter:
“Frustration is bargaining with reality, hoping it will change. Yelling at traffic doesn’t make it move faster. Rehearsing the same complaints about your spouse doesn’t change their behavior. Getting angry at the delayed flight doesn’t make it take off sooner. While you’re busy fighting what is, you’re blind to what could be. All the energy you put into arguing with reality comes at the expense of improving your situation. The mountain doesn’t care how much you yell at it, but you’ll find a path around it if you stop and look.”
How much time do we waste every day bargaining with reality? I would bet it’s quite a bit. I know I sometimes get hung up on some little idiosyncrasy and can’t seem to move on. It’s almost debilitating!
Some of us look for a problem for every solution. We have all kinds of reasons why something won’t work.
I recently had a neighbor that was considering building a big barn to house his tractor and feeder in the winter. He wanted the barn so his tractor would start on cold days. He was going to pay over $100K for this barn. I tried to provide alternatives such as summer calving, stockpiling winter forage, bale grazing, etc. Every possibility was met with an excuse: “It’s too muddy, too much snow… I run in common with other guys who calve in February and turn bulls out early… I don’t have the time.”
How frustrating! After a while, I figured this guy didn’t want any help. The only thing he wanted was a $100K barn! I couldn’t justify the expense in my mind with the number of cows he was running. Maybe this is why some ranchers are going out of business?
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I always enjoy doing business with Pharo Cattle Company. I think it’s been close to 20 years. You guys are the greatest thing since buttons on a shirt!
Mike Ridenour – Wyoming