The Importance of Mindset

This time last year, having just returned from a week on the beautiful Sunshine Coast conducting our “Deep Dive’ event with our Platinum Mastermind members, my fellow FOA team members Sam Johnsson (CEO), David Westbrook (Senior Coach and Community Manager) and Sam Pincott (Head Coach) reflected with me on the inspiring farming families we work with and their total willingness to throw themselves into our program with open minds. We delved into this in our Podcast Episode 90: Success Starts from Within! 
 

We currently have 150 farming families working through our 3-year Platinum Mastermind program – basically an MBA on steroids – and we get together for two days, three times a year, at conferences called ‘Deep Dives’. This particular deep dive was focussed on mindset, and the need to get your head right in order to move into thinking like a true leader and business owner, rather than a technician. We explored deeply what holds us back, what we want in life and how we can get it, and the realisation that a positive, open mindset is essential to all personal and professional success.
 

As always, our own FOA team learns something new every single event, despite being leaders, coaches and program alumni ourselves. There’s always something new to take back home, both from the event itself and from the incredible farming families in attendance. The takeaways from our Deep Dives are an important reminder that a business will never outgrow its leader.
 

With a fresh year upon us and already full speed ahead, I thought it the perfect time to revisit these lessons and the incredible insights we collectively learn from our FOA farming families when we’re all together in one room, sharing and learning from one another. We hope these can help and inspire you, too!
 

Why do we focus on mindset FIRST, before any other skills or development?

The first place to start with any business is yourself; what are you doing that is holding your business back, and how can you make the necessary shifts in order to move forward? Our businesses do not exist to control us! They are here to get us what we want in life, so gaining clarity on what we want for our families and our lives, and then structuring our business to deliver it is not only possible, but absolutely necessary.
 

The vast majority of us in agriculture have exceptional technical training and expertise, but very few of us have done the personal development that’s essential to being a good leader and business owner.  This is one of the unique differences of our programs like Platinum Mastermind and the TOP Producers Workshop, compared to technical conferences and training; we really dive deep into mindset, because it’s the absolute foundation of our programs and it’s only through this shift that we can then start adding skills in finance, strategic planning, team building etc. 
 

Why is personal development training not just important but absolutely necessary?

Training helps you to think bigger and outside the constraints of your previous life experiences and beliefs, which is where our mindset naturally originates. Diving deep into our mindset helps us to put the self doubts and limiting beliefs about ourselves and therefore our businesses aside, so that we can imagine and then realise new goals for ourselves, our families and our businesses.
 

The value of a positive and open mindset cannot be underestimated, but it’s not something we usually talk about down at the pub on a Friday afternoon! It can be a difficult and sometimes uncomfortable topic to think about, let alone actively discuss and share with others. But, if you can overcome the awkwardness or discomfort, you’ll be surprised with what you can really achieve once you get started.
 

Consider what holds you back

Part of working on mindset is genuinely considering what holds you back. We often subconsciously view ourselves in a similar vein to our 10 year old selves, where the opinions and input of others forms our perception of our strengths and weaknesses and without realising it, can form a lifelong story in our heads that we accept as fact. We rarely consider that this story may no longer, or have ever, been the truth, and that we are more than capable of breaking away from it and changing our inner monologue. 
 

For example, if you constantly tell yourself that you can’t recruit good people or have a good team, that will become your reality. It is hard to break out of a long term, fixed mindset, and be able to confidently say to yourself “I am a great leader”, “I can have everything I want”, or “I can work less and make more money”, but it is possible and our programs helps you to achieve that. 
 

Throughout our work at our Deep Dives and TOP Producers workshops, it’s interesting to see that many of our farming families often have many limiting beliefs about themselves and their businesses, with recruitment being a common theme. The typical attitude in farming is that you have to be the hardest worker out there to make the most money. Our programs help to demonstrate that this simply doesn’t have to be the case if you choose to shift your mindset.
 

How to set priorities and stick with them

One of the biggest challenges that we see from our farming families looking to implement real change in their business is deciding what to focus on and sticking with it. It is very easy to focus on too many goals at once, and then inevitably become overwhelmed and stuck in the daily cycle of busyness and distraction. Part of our mindset Deep Dive is helping people to really gain clarity over what they want and then what 2-3 steps per quarter should be focussed on to achieve this.
  

Believing that you are capable of achieving your goals and taking responsibility for your daily actions and decisions in order to achieve these is absolutely paramount, and this self belief only comes from giving yourself permission to change, to be a better person, and to have an open positive mindset.
 

All of this is fundamental to our Programs and we continue to be absolutely blown away by the vulnerability and positivity demonstrated by our farming families as they truly commit to better understanding themselves.
 

Is a good morning routine really that important?

The importance of a positive, healthy morning routine is something that the team and I really value and focus on ourselves, in order to set our positive mindset for the day and have clarity over our goals. 
 

Often a change in mindset involves ‘unlearning’ behaviours and beliefs that have not served you, and consciously making and sticking to a morning routine that allows you to focus, feel gratitude and appreciation for your environment. Setting down your intention for the day helps this ‘unlearning’ to happen. 
 

Moving away from being ‘busy’ from sun up to sun down and instead on really considering what you are doing, why you are doing it and whether it is an efficient use of your time is important for clever planning and business success. 
 

This will then often involve building a good team around you that can take control of the everyday busy tasks and allow you to focus on the higher order strategy. However, a change in mindset is vital in order to move towards these important steps. As you can see, mindset really is the foundation of everything!
 

Surround yourself with like-minded farming families you can learn from 

We continue to be so impressed by how open minded our farming community is to these learnings. At our recent Deep Dive, to see 300 farmers being vulnerable, sharing with each other and really doing the work was mind blowing and inspiring for all of us. 
 

We had 260 farmers turn up for a yoga session on the first day, most of whom had never done yoga in their lives – what an amazing way to be so open minded and try something new, right from the outset! These people are creating their ‘freedom farm’, and it all starts with your mindset. Being able to begin this transformation in a room surrounded by like-minded farming families who have left their egos at the door and demonstrated real open-mindedness was so impressive. 
 

As leaders, coaches and FOA alumni, we obviously still gain so much from doing our programs and truly believe that it is this essential focus on mindset that sets FOA apart in agricultural and farming success. We know that for things to change in our lives, that change must first occur between our own ears. We all have access to infinite wisdom and wealth, if we are willing to do the work on ourselves enough to tap into it and commit to getting started. 
 

What can you do next?

We warmly invite you to attend our TOP Producers Workshop – a 2 day event held on the 26th and 27th June 2023 on the Sunshine Coast (or attend virtually online) – to learn more about transforming, optimising and propelling (scaling up) your business. It all starts with you, and we guarantee you that these will be two of the most productive days of your entire year! 
 

Our businesses are here to give us the life we desire; so what kind of life do you truly want?
 

You can read more about our next TOP Producers Workshop here, or, if you would like to discuss your own farming operation, needs, or to simply have a chat, please get in touch with us on 0447 184 167, or email [email protected] at any time. 
 

By Jeremy “Hutch” Hutchings, Managing Director of Farm Owners Academy. You can listen to Hutch discuss creating value in business on Episode 90 of The Profitable Farmer podcast.