The Sprocket in the Barnyard

The other day I was reading #3 Habitudes by Tim Elmore, which is a little book all about the images of leadership. I have one personal favorite, and one personal challenge.

My personal favorite was the image of a barn. Elmore says that "A farmer builds the barn on his property first. Why? Because the barn will pay for all of the other structures. Leaders determine the critical transaction that enables else to happen."

I don't know if it's because I'm a "Harvest Moon" child, or if it's because of where I grew up, but I'm captivated by the thought of barns. In fact, I'd marry a farmer just to have the barn. But the idea of a barn is beyond that of nostalgia, and I can speak from video gaming experience of it's indispensableness. Without the barn, there are no cows; no cows, no milk; no milk, no money; no money, no living. In addition to housing the cows, the barn is also the place you store tools. So without the barn, there's not much hope for a successful crop.

There are those "critical transactions" in life, too. They're the things you have to make your first priority, even when your heart might be set on the immediacy of another area. After all, it's reasonable to want to build the house before the barn, but, as the book states, "The barn will build the house." As a college student, I might want to jump into life right now, but earning a degree is my barn. My education will build my dreams. I have to be where I am now in order to do what I want to do later.

This barn image is also practical for event planning. As I'm planning the event, there are those "little things" that are easier to get done and check off my list, but there's often that essential marker I fail to see if I don't tackle it first. Even though it seems like it takes all of my energy and resources, it's the thing that really NEEDS to get done. Period.

Switching gears now, to the personally challenging habitude: The Small Sprocket.

"Leaders are the small sprockets in effective change. [They] must spin dozens of times before the big gear makes one revolution" (page 43 of Book 3).

This image really doesn't need much explaining. It's rooted in the fact that a lot of effort and energy must be put into a project long before the first shred of progress emerges. The leader, or even the common man (or woman), has to develop a certain amount of diligence to reach their goals. This is only exasperated when it seems like your the only one doing all the work, and you can't see any change in the near future. The animal kingdom is a good place to look for inspiration when it comes to diligence. The ant, for example, readily comes to my mind when I think of "worker." The Bible even recognizes this creatures work ethic: "

"Go to the ant, O sluggard, observe her ways and be wise, which having no chief, officer or ruler, prepares her food in the summer and gathers her provision in the harvest" (Proverbs 6:6-8).

The main characteristics we can take from the ant, according to the Habitudes book, are integrity, initiative, and industry.

For integrity, the ant follows the proposed plan of action. It upholds the standards of it's work and doesn't take any shortcuts in accomplishing it's goal.

For initiative, the ant begins its storage procedure long before harsh conditions would signal it to. It's proactive in preparing and doesn't wait for the changing seasons to necessitate its action.

For industry, the ant just keeps working. No one's really given it a pep talk, and what does it really get for a reward of it's labor aside from survival? The ant maintains its drive and continues the work faithfully.

While you can't compare an ant to a human on a one-to-one ratio (I mean, do ant's really have "motivation" anyway?), there are some good points to be taken from the analogy. For one, hard work doesn't always bring about consistent results, but diligence is necessary for sustained growth. For another, it's important that we nurture a discerning initiative. There are some situations in which are "want to" should honestly be realigned by waiting. At other times, though, we need to seize the opportunity to "work ahead" and prepare for what we know (or at least believe) is coming. I think preparation is sadly lacking in my daily life. Except in academics, in which working ahead is merely an coping mechanism for anxiety, preparation takes a back seat to experiencing. Probably because preparation isn't immediately gratifying. It's the whole "big rocks, little rocks" lesson all over again: you have to put the big rocks in first. I forget that a lot. I put all the little rocks in because they're easier to lift and because they're more numerous than the big ones (which, in my mind, makes them seem more pressing). By the time I'm ready to lift a big rock, my jar's pretty darn full with little rocks taking precedence.

I don't really know how to end this post, except with the realization that I'm tired all-of-a-sudden. I think trying to change too many things makes me put too much responsibility on myself. It's good to change, but it's not good to change on my own.

Spring Break is in 9 days, and only 4 tests stand in my way: Statistics, Abnormal Psychology, Counseling Theory, and Biology. Here. I. Go.