The Power of Persistence

Well believe it or not, my blogs are usually inspired by something. Its usually as simple as something I hear, read, or see. This one is no different. I was speaking with my sister about her current job and how she had to work so many other jobs, some of which were very far from what she really wanted to do, but she kept at it and now she is doing something she really enjoys. So I would like to start by giving you one of my favorite quotes:

“Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

-- Calvin Coolidge

Many people would say that Thomas Edison tried and failed over 3000 times to make an incandescent light bulb. Edison would tell you that he simply found over 3000 ways not to make a light bulb. Abraham Lincoln lost 8 elections before becoming one of the most revered presidents in history. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. If any of these people would have given up and not believed in themselves things would have turned out a lot differently.

There is no doubt that a lot of variables go into success. Everyone has talents, and there is no doubt that education is valuable in increasing your chances of success. I think what President Coolidge was trying to say is that no one is successful unless they have an attitude to match.

I think every day we are faced with opportunities to give in, quit, or take the easy route. Some days there are even bigger opportunities, and the bigger it is the harder it is to resist. For me I always keep my eye on the prize. I remind myself of the things that I want to accomplish, big and small, and charge myself to keep working towards those goals. This is something that I know I would not have been able to do a couple years ago, but with the experiences I had over the last couple years I’ve been able to look at things more “big picture” and not get so bogged down in hour by hour, day by day.

I think something that is important is to make sure that the things you are doing and focusing on are indeed helping to accomplish your big picture goals. While I do realize that in some ways it is very idealistic to think this way, and I really am not usually one that is big into having a “goal sheet” or anything like that, but I definitely have an idea of some of the things that I want to accomplish. I think it is different for everyone, and everyone has to find his or her own motivation. For some it is money, for some it is fear of failure, but I think the best motivation is nothing about security, and is more about fulfillment.

Now, while the examples that I gave earlier are very extreme, it is a great way to realize that it is true. I often times hear people say “I wish I did…” or “If I had only done…” So I’ve tried to be mindful of that and take on the challenges that come. I will persist.

Dare to dream of your great success. Become intimate with those things which deeply motivate you and regularly work toward the realization of that mission.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Control the Controllables

“Turn off Fox News, turn off AM radio, stop yelling at the weather, focus on what you can control!” said Dr. Steve Johnson, extension specialist from Iowa State University, at a conference for Corn Growers put on by Wyffels Hybrids. One of his main themes was to “Control the Controllables.” He was talking about how there is so much going on in the world and with their farms that they cannot control, and they need to acknowledge that. Instead, he encouraged them all to focus on the things that they could control, and then to become masters of them.

While I do very much appreciate the root of his thoughts in relation to farming, and can certainly relate them to our farm back home, I think that everyone could apply this simple mindset to at least some parts of their lives. It really is a great piece of advice in my opinion. Although, I think that this could be interpreted to mean you should be a hermit and shut yourself off from the world, which is a little extreme. I think his point is more that you should focus and spend your time thinking about things that you can control. I think we all need to be aware of what is going on in the news, and contrary to Dr. Johnson I do think we need to pay attention to, and participate in politics, but at the same time, not get too caught up in it.

I know that I, all too many times, get very caught up in a lot of things that I literally have zero control of. I get frustrated with things that I will never understand, and in the end all it turns out to be is wasted energy. I still don’t understand, and it still doesn’t make sense. Now, if I had nothing to do, and nothing else I could focus on to improve myself then there would be no harm in any of this. That simply is not the case however. There are plenty of things that are well within my control that I can focus to improve and understand.

Bonus: There was something else said at that conference that for some reason struck my attention. One speaker was talking about forming business partnerships and being ethical and honest in business dealings. He said, “Make sure you aren’t going to end up having to hire your Paul Bearers.” It kind of sets you back at first, but it really is a simple message. It doesn’t matter what possessions, or how much money you have when all is said and done. You never see a U-Haul being pulled behind the hearse. There is no reason to sacrifice friendships and the respect of people over a stupid business deal or a few bucks here and there. As I have said before, do things the right way and to the best of your ability, and good things will happen.

What A Ride.

Well the summer working season is drawing to a close. The time when in the past few years I would be finishing up my internship, preparing my final presentations, and then getting ready to move back to school for the fall. This year, however, is different. My job is moving into full swing and we are preparing ourselves for what looks to be an earlier than usual harvest and a busy fall. So, I figured, what better time for me to reflect on my four years at the University of Illinois.

I mentioned it in my first blog, but I really had no predisposition for where I wanted to go to school. I knew I wanted to study agriculture, and I knew I wanted to go to a land grant university. After touring the University of Illinois and Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity I made the decision to do my schooling in Champaign-Urbana and now I don’t know why I ever even thought about it. I had a truly awesome time and learned a LOT.

I had a multitude of experience both in and out of the classroom. I would say and still do, even if it is to the dismay of some of my professors, that I learned more outside of the classroom than I did in. This was not a function of bad classes as much as it was that I was involved in a lot and there is so much to be gained from those experiences. “What a ride you have had…” that is what someone that I worked with a lot told me at the end of my senior year, and it is true. I decided I would point out a few of my biggest takeaways from those four years.

Don’t sweat the small stuff, but appreciate the little things

It’s pretty easy to let things get to you, and often times they are things that are not worth your time. For the most part the best thing to do is to learn from it and move on. Admittedly, I was not always the best at this, but I would usually catch myself in the midst of it and be able to settle myself down and move on. Another thing that I came to realize is that all too many times I would get lost in all of my school work, emails, Facebook, etc. and would lose perspective of what was happening around me. You never know when or what is going to turn into one of your favorite memories of college. So, when it’s your friend’s birthday and you have a test the next day, take the time to go have a beer with them. It will mean something to them, and it will keep you sane.

People, people, people

You can’t do it alone, and it is definitely not as much fun on your own, so pay attention to the people around you, and take care of them. Everyone has something to offer, and even though respect is something that should be earned, everyone is entitled to your attention. I was on a few executive boards, and worked with a lot of different people and I learned something from all of them. I think the more experience I gained the more I started to pay attention to people’s tendencies and the way that they work, and in the end the more I was able to learn from them.

Trust yourself

Its pretty simple really, if you put your mind to it you can do it. It might not be easy but that is ok. The only way to improve on your weaknesses is to embrace them and challenge them. Obviously there are exceptions to this rule, and it is also important to know your limitations, but a healthy disregard for the impossible never hurt anyone.

Now that I have graduated, I feel like a freshman again. I am going into an industry with about as much credibility as Illinois has in budget surplus. I am just another “hot shot” college graduate that thinks he knows it all, and once again I have realized that I have so much to learn. I’ll admit, some days it is hard to know what to do, but I think I can easily relate it back to my freshman year at school. I didn’t know anyone, or anything, but I just worked at it and it eventually worked out great. I think the most important thing for me to do now is listen, learn, and work hard. I am a believer that if you do things the right way and to the best of your ability, things will work out. I know that eventually things will start to make more sense and things will start to become easier. Until then, I’m just going to have to work my way through the growing pains.

Let Me Take A Deep Breath...

Local news, national news, facebook, twitter, newspaper, tabloids, magazines, and email. These are just a few of the places that people these days can get their news and information that build their take on society. Now take a minute to think about that and what that means to you… Scary. All but two or three of those are dominated by profit seeking, corporate giants so their goal is not going to be to spread the unbiased truth, they’re going to be to give the best information that makes them money. I will admit that most news has done a better job recently of having some feel-good stories on there in order to try to put themselves in better light with the public, but it is still heavily skewed.

Ok, so why the rant about public media? When you are passionate about something and you see it portrayed in ways that do not give it the justice it deserves it hits really hard. Let me throw you some numbers: in 1870 approximately 75% of the American population was engaged in production agriculture for a living. In the early 20^th Century that number was approximately 35%. Today that number is below 2%! In short what that means is that very few people are involved in the production of the food and food products for not only the population of the US, but also many parts of the world. Today the average American farmer can feed 126 people.

Now I’m sure that it would not be news to many of you that farmers today are using a lot of technologies that were not used in the past, among which is GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) seed for production. There have been a lot of questions arisen about using this for production of food and feed. There have also been attacks on the debate of whether to use tillable land for the production of fuel, and on practices of raising animals for consumption. Now for me, a person that has grown up around these things my whole life and that has an understanding of production practices, these accusations and questions are ill advised. If people would take time to think that the very people producing all of this food are people, with real families, that live in real communities. They are feeding their children the very same food that you are feeding yours. Don’t you think this would come to reason that they would take care to make sure the food supply is safe and healthy for consumption? I sure do.

Now, let me make sure I get my point across. I am not attacking the people that are questioning our practices; there is no point in me doing that because that is not going to get us past that. I am instead challenging two audiences. I am challenging the general population to listen to all sides of the story, to ask a farmer about his farm (and if you can’t find one, let me know, I have a few connections), to be understanding of the situation that the American farmer is in. Even further, I challenge anyone involved in agriculture to speak out. Tell your story to your neighbors, your friends, and your co-workers. Its not always their fault that they don’t understand or that they have questions. It is our job to educate them, and to have healthy conversations with them about the industry that we call home.

So you say, where do I start? It is very daunting, even to me who is trying to actively do this, to think about trying to spread the word to the over 98% of the population that is not brought up in production agriculture. The best answer I can give is start simple. Start with your friends, family, and community. Then beyond that, use your resources! Use the sources I talked about in the first sentence of this blog. Use facebook, tweets, blogs, emails, and even your local news. Its going to take more than a few key people speaking on behalf of the farming population, instead there must be a grassroots movement by everyone.

So, ask a farmer, and if you are within this field SPEAK OUT!

Earning Your Keep

I have heard it from several people that you have to earn your place in this world and society. I think this can be taken to mean a lot of things. One way I look at this is you can never become “rich” unless you have once been poor. This even can be thought of in two ways: when you start to think about some of the most successful people in the world, they didn’t always have some of the best beginnings. Bill Gates was a college dropout, Charles Gardner (basis of the movie Pursuit of Happyness), Dwight Eisenhower and Abraham Lincoln both came from very humble backgrounds, and billionaire Oprah Winfrey all were in a dire time and have since turned into very successful people and citizens. Having to have that attitude where you scrutinize every expense and be creative to get by along with the pure desire and determination to be successful surely helped them out later in life. I think something else that will provide you with is a grounded attitude and appreciation for everything that you have.

I was very lucky to always have everything I needed growing up (although I always thought I needed more), and I am very thankful. I know that there are some children that are not that lucky. When I think back to how all my siblings started out it was a very humbling beginning. One of my brothers, in his first house out of college, lived in a 3 bedroom house with 3 other guys. Yeah, that’s right, 4 guys in a 3-bedroom house. So they ended up building a wall in one of the bedrooms to make room. Living off ramen noodles and whatever they could hunt and put in the freezer, it was definitely a little rough. Now, he is very successful and lives with his family in a house he built. Well as ironic as it may be I find myself in a very similar situation.

This deserves a new paragraph. I am currently living in an old 3-bedroom farmhouse that we are guessing was built sometime in the 20s-30s. I am living here with 3 of my college roommates, it has appropriately been tagged “The Boar’s Nest.” Even though we didn’t build any new walls we have done a lot of work on the place. I have a couple pictures I'll try to attach to show you some of the work we did, but in short: new wiring, new plumbing, paint, paint, paint, carpet, window panes, and CLEANING. The house was a little rough when we moved in to say the least. When it rains, there is a good game you can play called “catch the rain water,” the only problem is you play it in the bedrooms upstairs. I am decent at handywork and this house has challenged me endlessly. We haven’t been hitting the ramen noodles as much, but we have definitely been doing our part to keep expenses down. Last night, my bedroom had to be pushing 80 degrees, which saves money on AC and covers, haha.

A couple of people I work with have pointed out to me that I’m not working pro-bono and that I could probably afford a nicer place. While they are right, what is the fun in that? It really has been fun to fix up this house and try to be creative in order to save a little money, plus it is something to talk about. I think everyone I work with looks at it and remembers what it was like for them when they first graduated and a smile comes to their face. Now maybe they’re just laughing at me, but I think they are really remembering some great times they had from a time when they were younger. There is no doubt that I will have plenty of stories from this experience to share with my kids someday.

One thing I have not forgotten or taken a back seat on is getting involved in the community. I don’t really know any other way to be, its how I grew up. I have become involved in the local Farm Bureau, attending the local church, and would like to continue to become involved in more things that interest me. I’m putting down some temporary roots with no clue of how long they will last, but that is really how I like it. I believe that the opportunity that is right for me is going to present itself as long as I continue to work hard and do things the way I always have.

The Pursuit of Happiness

Well, with all of the celebration this weekend I was reminded of something out of a movie that refers to the words of the Declaration of Independence, most specifically the unalienable rights that include Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Now if you are like me you had to memorize a paragraph of the Declaration for history class (and you could even get extra credit for memorizing 2 paragraphs!) but after that you never really thought about it too much. Really when you start to think about what is in that document and put yourself in Thomas Jefferson’s shoes trying to write that knowing that it meant you were committing treason, punishable by death, I think you will have a newfound respect and appreciation for what it says.

One thing does stand out, he says the PURSUIT of happiness. How did he have the depth of thought to know that we are not guaranteed happiness? Happiness is something you have to go out and get. It is not tied to how much money you make, how many friends you have on facebook, or what car you drive. It is about loving what you do and striving to do things to the best of your ability. It is about surrounding yourself with people that make you happy. It is about taking every challenge as a gift to become a better person. It is about that feeling you get when you are able to give back to all of those that have helped you along the way and planting trees that you will never sit in the shade of.

There are some things that we will pursue and will never get. Sometimes it will be things that we think we need in order to be happy, when in fact we have all we need, now it is just about attitude and outlook. I am so lucky to live in a country where we have these rights and everyone has the ability to pursue the “American Dream.” I thank every soldier who ever served, every Rosie the Riveter who stood beside my Grandma to produce airplanes for the war effort, every uniformed officer that works to preserve our peace and protect our neighborhoods, and every working person in this country that is fighting to provide for their family so that they can have their own “pursuit.”

I think it is important for all of us to not get lost in the fireworks, barbeques, and adult beverages and remember what it is that we are celebrating on the 4^th day of July every year. We celebrate the courage of our founding fathers that took a stance for what they believed was right. We celebrate all of our ancestors that have served our country in some form or another, as well as all of those that serve us now today. Together they have helped to shape a country that provides all of its citizens with the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

God Bless America.

A Shot in the Dark...

I have always been an avid reader of blogs. I think that they provide a real take on things. I am a curious learner, and I always like to hear about other people’s experiences, trials, and triumphs. I do believe that we have to make the most of our own experiences, and that seeing Rome through pictures or someone else’s eyes is nowhere near the same, but I’m also not one to turn down their advice of the best places to go see.

I suppose it would be best that I take a little time to introduce myself to anyone that stumbled upon this that doesn’t know me. I grew up on a farm in Western Illinois in the middle of the Corn Belt. I graduated from the University of Illinois in May 2010 and now have a job in the ag industry. There are a few things that have had a great influence on me, and they, in turn, our some of my passions to this day.

First and foremost is family and friends. I think one of the most essential parts of life is having people to live it with. Next is agriculture. Anyone that knows me know that my roots are grounded in agriculture and it is one thing that I am most proud of. Some of my closer friends probably get annoyed sometimes at how much I talk about it, but I suppose that is how it is going to have to be, haha. The last one I will mention is the University of Illinois. I had no real reason to attend the University of Illinois over any other land grant school, but it was truly one of the best decisions I ever made.

I should be honest and say that English wasn’t my favorite subject in school, nor was I my English teacher’s favorite student, so you might have to lower your expectations of catchy phrases and focus more on content. If this becomes no more than a personal journal for me, than it will still accomplish its purpose, but if you do stumble upon this blog from time to time and read something worth your while, feel free to come back.