The Ultimate Investment

This is a story I heard when I was younger which has stuck with me. The message is something of which I continually remind myself, especially when things start to get hectic.

The North Forty

One day a farmer decided to plow the north forty. As he went out to the barn to get on his tractor, he noticed the barn needed a coat of paint, so he gathered up some paint and brushes and started painting. After painting for a while, he remembered the cow needed milking, so he put down the brush and went into the barn to get the rope to round up the cow from the near pasture.

On his way to round up the cow, he noticed that the chicken coop needed repair, so he set down the rope and went to the shed for some tools. On the way back to the coop, he remembered he hadn’t fed the chickens yet, so he set down the tools and went back to the barn to get the feed.

Inside the barn, he noticed the cow stall needed mucking before he could bring the cow in for milking, so he got the shovel and started to muck. As he was taking a break from mucking, he looked up and noticed sunlight peeking through a hole in the roof that needed fixing, so he set down the shovel and got a ladder to get a bunch of shingles and tar out of the loft to fix the hole.

As he was climbing up the ladder to the loft, he saw the tractor sitting there and remembered he’d set out to plow the north forty. He climbed back down the ladder and sat on the tractor ready to fire it up and happened to glance at his watch. It was noon; time for lunch. So much work made him hungry.

Plan ahead. Prioritize. Stick with something until it’s done. Don’t be distracted. Being busy isn’t the same as being productive.