I realize that most of us will generally fall into 2 buckets after reading that headline.
Bucket #1. Ewww. farm? no, thank you. sounds sweaty and dirty and there’s poop on everything.
Bucket #2. Hells yes! the dirtier, the better. ain’t nothing better than scrubbing dirt out from under your fingernails after a long day's work.
I will say that, generally, I fell into bucket #2. I love the outdoors and getting dirty. hell I love a good day of manual labor from time to time.
What’s a few days of manual labor put together? (famous last words)
Recently I signed up for manually (aka by hand) digging up 1 acre of hop plants (rhizomes to be technically accurate) in northern Idaho. For the record, this was for a very close family friend and on a 100-acre property that I have been consistently going to for the last 15 years. I have worked on this farm many times before, but this time was incredibly different.
In a word, I was humbled. It took me nearly 2 weeks to get the job done when I thought it’d take less than 1. I worked my full-time sales consulting job (remotely) during the day and did this during the evening and on the weekends. I worked between 2–4hrs per day in the fields.
One day I worked 7 hours and according to my apple watch nearly burned over 2,000 calories, and only got 2 rows or approx. just over 17% of the job done.
I had sweat through every hat and pair of jeans and work gloves I put on. My backached like I’d never felt before, and I run marathons for the record, but this was different. This truly was truly humbling to work so hard every day and only see small pieces get done. Then to look at all of the other rows that still needed to get done..and time was not on my side. They needed to get moved because something else needed to take its place.
At times, working behind a computer and even being a distance running, sometimes I feel like I know what “hard work” is. It's not to say the work people do behind computers isn't valuable, important, or even challenging and demanding, but what I will say is that this was one of those reminders of how good we have it and how much of a toll it takes on your body to do that kind of work.
sure you might be thinking, that what they made backhoes and trenches, and a whole host of other heavy machinery for, and you’d be right, but at the same time, sitting on a machine that does all the work, is not that far from working on a computer if you ask me.
If I can share a few pieces of insight that I gained from this experience:
#1. Do more quicker. the longer you let something take, the harder and more exhausting it will ultimately be. If there is a big ass tasks ahead of you, get it over with as quickly as possible. The mental pain of anticipation will be a fraction of what it is if you drag it out.
#2. Dont take your body for granted. It's a gift that we can choose to treat well or neglect all the same.
#3. It's important to be humbled from time to time and be reminded that you can give something all you’ve got every day…and barely make a dent. You are less powerful than you think.
#4. Persistence is everything. In a world of instant gratification, we rarely are forced to persevere through incredible hardship and for longer than we are comfortable with.
Alex Kaye is a veteran revenue operations expert with more than a decade of experience. Alex has helped a dozen companies, and counting, achieve sustainable growth by crafting winning go-to-market strategies, design scalable business processes, and provide data insights to guide strategic decision making at each step along the way. After helping companies raise more than $40M in venture funding, navigating 2 acquisitions, and an IPO, Alex is now sharing his expertise by coaching founders and sales leaders through the unique challenges of success at scale.
