Are You Prepared For Rain? A story about mindset and success.
I’m going to tell you a story about two farmers struggling during a drought. The theme of this story is “Always Prepare for Rain.”
I featured this story last month in my monthly sales newsletter, and it got the most engagement and feedback out of any other story I’ve ever written about.
I hope you enjoy this story as much as I do. I also hope you start to prepare for rain after you read this.
One of the worst things farmers can experience is a very hot and dry drought. Lack of rain followed up with daily heat makes for a bad farming season, and more so, makes for bad business.
Once upon a time there were two farmers. Both of their crops grew right next to each other. They were in the middle of the worst drought their area had seen in the last 100 years. Both farmers’ crops were slowly dying. It was safe to say both farmers were desperate for rain. They needed their crops to grow. After-all, it’s their livelihood. Both farmers would run into each other and say “Hey neighbor, keep praying for the rain to come!”. This went on for weeks. Both farmers prayed for rain. Anything to save their business.
Then one day it rained. It rained for three days straight and the temperature dropped to where each farmer knew their crops would survive. It was a joyous day! It happened, the rain actually came, it was going to save both farmers’ crops! Or would it?
Fast forward a few weeks and only ONE farmer’s crop grew and survived. How was that possible? Both farmers experienced the same drought, lived in the same place, cropped in the same soil and each crop got the exact same amount of rain? What was the difference? Why did one farmer’s crop grow and the others died?
The answer was simple — Although both farmers prayed and hoped for rain, only ONE farmer prepared his crops for the actual rain to come. He knew he had to prepare for the rain before it actually ever came. He knew he had to get his crops ready to grow, even in the middle of a fucking drought when it felt like his livelihood was going to crumble.
The moral of this story is simple and amazing. Prepare for success even when times are tough. As entrepreneurs and sales pros it’s easy to get lost in the grind, get bogged down with busy work and feel overwhelmed. Don’t let that distract you from your end goal.
This story is a fitting one for 2020. It’s been a challenging year for all of us. Even through the toughest times of 2020 our business was (and still is) preparing for the long-term success we know we’re going to achieve.
Trust the process and prepare for your growth. Like we mentioned above, prepare to end the year better than you’ve ever ended one in the past.
