How NOT to be a Part-time Farmer.
I was called as a part-time farmer. I am not from a farmer’s background. So when someone called me a farmer – I felt happy. But the part-time word felt like an insult. Part time means not being consistent. Praise + Insult = Sarcam. And I totally undersand it. The person who called me that did not mean to hurt me. He said it in a light sense.
But it got me thinking. Why did he call me part-time farmer? And he wasn’t wrong. I love gardening. But I did not do it always. My enthusiasm spiked only when I got a new plant or when the plants were fruiting. When the enthusiasm spiked, I put all my energy into tending to the garden, removed weeds, sprayed fertilizer, and did everything I knew to keep it good. Then again left it unattended for months.
Let’s face it: being a full-time gardener is not easy. No matter the size of the garden, it’s hard labour trying to maintain it. The happiness that you get when you see the vegetables and flowers is real. But that comes much later. Similarly personal growth takes work, and the results don’t show immediately. Our personal commitments take most of our energy during the day. Now, along with that, tending to a garden isn’t a walk in the park (pun intended).
This analogy applies to everything in our life. Be it skill mastery or personal growth habits, we all have the part-time farmer mindset. We only put in work when we are motivated. And motivation for me comes when either of the following happens. The first scenario is that I am stuck in life, and the second scenario is that I see someone performing better than myself. Either of which motivates me to perform greatly. I begin to make a to-do list. I watch motivational videos. Everything that would go useless within a week. I am sure that many of you who are reading this also face the same.
These broken processes of skill cultivation took me nowhere. I name it broken process because it happened in the gaps of motivation. It happened the same with gardening. I put in fertilizer when the plant is sown. And after my motivation has emptied itself and after I have stopped tending to my garden, the bugs come in, the malnutrition comes in, water management comes in, mineral deficiency comes in. All these need constant care. The garden needs daily consistency in tending to it. Every day a little bit of time to take care of it. One day I take care of weeds, the next day I took care of soil health, the third day pest control, the fourth day fertilizers, the fifth day pruning, the sixth day checking for fungus and root health, and again the cycle repeats.
When we perform the tasks for self-development every day, it actually takes less time. It doesn’t tax us mentally and physically. I can break my work into many doable or performable bits and pieces. This way the mountain that I want to climb doesn’t look big. All I have to worry about is taking the next step in the right direction.
Another reason that we are not able to develop personal growth habits is because we do not set a system. What is a system? A system has the following components:
- The task to be performed.
- At what time it has to be performed.
- And how long it needs to be performed for.
Once you set up a system for each goal in your personal growth habits, it becomes non-negotiable. I have to perform the task whether I like it or not. I do not bring my emotional state while deciding the work. I perform it because the system demands it. All three steps inside the system guide me to get going. Honestly, waking up from bed isn’t something that I have mastered yet. And I know it because I have set a time. For morning 6 a.m. to 7 a.m., I haven’t defined the task I need to perform and how long it needs to be performed. That’s the reason I always falter.
The first step to correction is to recognise the mistake. I am on my path to become a full-time gardener. The one with daily consistency, who continuously performs the duty without taking a break. I do it because I want to grow. And growth doesn’t happen in a day. Every day a little bit, like the tectonic plates under our feet. Slowly moving, relentlessly making mountains. The output shows, but the work never shows up. That’s because it’s small but consistent.
