As the New Year approaches, many people will once again write down their yearly goals. Alongside goals, people will set milestones that will allow them to track if they are accomplishing their goals or not. My heart wishes to reach out to all smallholder farmers. I am writing this blog to encourage and inspire smallholder farmers so that they to join in and set their farming goals for the 2015 year.
Just like parents send their children to school, with a huge expectation that their children must perform, and that their performance will be judged at the end of the semester, I believe smallholder farmers can treat farming just the same way school going students treat semesters. At the end of the semester (which may be a farming season) farmers can learn to evaluate their performance as well as evaluate if they achieved the goal they set to achieve.
Goal setting is a powerful process that allows you to think of your ideal future, while motivating you to turn your vision of this future into reality. Goals help you to focus and allocate your time and resources efficiently.
“If you can imagine it, you can achieve it. If you can dream it, you can become it.”-William Arthur
Setting goals is crucial to accomplishing great things in life. I therefore believe that smallholder farmers can embrace the concept of setting goals.
But Why Set Goals?
Successful people and achievers in all fields have one thing in common-they set goals.
Setting goals allows you to:
1. See your long term vision while giving you short-term motivation.
2. Organize your time & resources so that you can make the most of what you have.
3. Track progress.
As you set goals remember to set SMART Goals.
· S-Specific
· M-Measurable
· A-Attainable
· R-Relevant
· T-Time bound (trackable)
As a small child, I grew up farming. I do not remember us setting any farming goals for the year. Neither do I remember us sitting down at the end of the year to assess how our fields had performed. I do not remember asking ourselves the hard questions; questions like: Why did our farms fail to produce the harvest we expected? Was it lack of consistent rainfall? Was it because certain pests had infested our crops? And if we had identified the problems and setbacks that hindered us from achieving our set goals, what are the solutions we would take to avoid falling in the same problem next year? How can we better prepare for next year so that we accomplish most of the goals we set? I firmly believe that setting goals will allow you to perform at your best while giving you an opportunity to keep track of what is attainable, what works and what can be improved.
After setting goals, set clear milestones. Milestones allow you to know if you are/are not achieving your goals. Milestones serve to motivate you and to give you the momentum you need to accomplish the set goals.
Finally, as you work towards achieving your 2015 yearly goals, be flexible. Make it a routine to assess your progress. Give yourself an honest feedback and learn to adjust along the way. Many a times the path to success is not easy. There are many road blocks along the way. Instead of giving up when you hit a roadblock, try to alter things.
Just like parents send their children to school, with a huge expectation that their children must perform, and that their performance will be judged at the end of the semester, I believe smallholder farmers can treat farming just the same way school going students treat semesters. At the end of the semester (which may be a farming season) farmers can learn to evaluate their performance as well as evaluate if they achieved the goal they set to achieve.
Goal setting is a powerful process that allows you to think of your ideal future, while motivating you to turn your vision of this future into reality. Goals help you to focus and allocate your time and resources efficiently.
“If you can imagine it, you can achieve it. If you can dream it, you can become it.”-William Arthur
Setting goals is crucial to accomplishing great things in life. I therefore believe that smallholder farmers can embrace the concept of setting goals.
But Why Set Goals?
Successful people and achievers in all fields have one thing in common-they set goals.
Setting goals allows you to:
1. See your long term vision while giving you short-term motivation.
2. Organize your time & resources so that you can make the most of what you have.
3. Track progress.
As you set goals remember to set SMART Goals.
· S-Specific
· M-Measurable
· A-Attainable
· R-Relevant
· T-Time bound (trackable)
As a small child, I grew up farming. I do not remember us setting any farming goals for the year. Neither do I remember us sitting down at the end of the year to assess how our fields had performed. I do not remember asking ourselves the hard questions; questions like: Why did our farms fail to produce the harvest we expected? Was it lack of consistent rainfall? Was it because certain pests had infested our crops? And if we had identified the problems and setbacks that hindered us from achieving our set goals, what are the solutions we would take to avoid falling in the same problem next year? How can we better prepare for next year so that we accomplish most of the goals we set? I firmly believe that setting goals will allow you to perform at your best while giving you an opportunity to keep track of what is attainable, what works and what can be improved.
After setting goals, set clear milestones. Milestones allow you to know if you are/are not achieving your goals. Milestones serve to motivate you and to give you the momentum you need to accomplish the set goals.
Finally, as you work towards achieving your 2015 yearly goals, be flexible. Make it a routine to assess your progress. Give yourself an honest feedback and learn to adjust along the way. Many a times the path to success is not easy. There are many road blocks along the way. Instead of giving up when you hit a roadblock, try to alter things.
