The most asked question I get lately: “How’s the silo going!!?”
Many of you have asked, so here’s the answer! :)
It’s been a big week for the silo!
With the field work sprint done (uffda!!), we’re working to get the windows and doors in the silo before it gets too cold.
Here's the mega-short short version of earlier this week:
Talk about a process! If you’ve ever built something, you know that there are 1,000 “boring” steps before you actually make progress.
It seems so simple in my head: Just build the silo, ok?
Then we spend a “full” day (between morning and evening milking that is) just getting electricity into the right place.
And then another day... breaking cement out so that we can dig a hole for a drain.
And then another day...finding the buried waterline so that we have running water.
And then another day….plumbing and gluing and figuring how to actually get the water out of the silo and into the drain that took a day to dig.
And then another day… framing and insulating the floor.
And then another day.... cutting all our wall plates on a curve (Whose idea was a round store anyway?!:)
I'm actually not complaining... My point is, I regularly forget the process. In saying “let’s build a store” I so easily forget the mammoth iceberg beneath the comment.
Isn’t it the same way with mom life?
I think that’s why moms (myself included!) get discouraged.
We have the best of intentions, but when things get bogged down in the mundane, or maybe even fail, we take on negative traits like it is our identity.
I am ___________(Fill in negative description here). (disorganized/frustrated/too emotional/overweight)
We want change, (let’s build a store!) but it feels too overwhelming (You mean plumbing will take 5 days?).
Maybe we want a problem solved (let’s lose weight!), but the iceberg under the water is just too big. (But HOW?)
Maybe we have a dream (let’s start a business!), but we let indecision cripple us.
Maybe we want to get organized (I actually do!), but we’re too buried in clutter and dirty diapers to even think.
You know what’s weird though?, “Winners and losers have the same goals.” (James Clear, Atomic Habits)
Of course we all WANT to win at the mom game - so what distinguishes a winner from a loser?
James Clear has the gall to say things like “You don’t have to be the victim of your environment. You can also be the architect of it;” which makes me want to throw a poopy diaper at him.
YOU try to architect 10,000 different family schedules, work details, meals, emotions, kid clothes, messes, homework assignments, etc, every 24 hours, James!
Then the next moment I’m all melted in a puddle of 'yes and ok' when I read things like “Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity.” (Clear, Atomic Habits)
“...No single instance will transform your beliefs...”
Ok Moms: We may RUN the world, but the truth is, we can’t change it in a single instance.
I know we KNOW that, but farm stores don’t just get built in a day and neither was Rome. (Ok… that comparison is pretty insulting to Rome, but you get the idea)
“All big things come from small beginnings. The seed of every habit is a single, tiny decision. But as that decision is repeated, a habit sprouts and grows stronger.” (Clear, Atomic Habits)
What if we were more focused on the process than the outcome?
It isn’t as fun. But I think we would experience more fulfillment if the PROCESS was the goal.
Like Clear says, “You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory than with your current results.” (Clear, Atomic Habits)
Doesn’t that feel freeing? What if we silenced the voice of our current results with a purposeful tuning in to our current trajectory? That feels nice to me. Suddenly, I’m not a failure. I’m a mom whose mind is set on where I’m going, and not all tangled up in the failings of where I currently am.
So let’s check our trajectory.
How’s yours?
I’m working on mine.
What action can you take this moment that will help you be the architect of your life?
That could be as simple as drinking a tall glass of water (I’ll wait, you can go get one) to enforce the identity that you are a water-drinking person.
That could be as simple as reading ONE Bible verse to enforce the identity that you are Bible-reading woman.
How about disorganization? What is the smallest step towards the identity of “I am an organized person? (Figure that one out and let me know :)
As for the silo -----It’s current trajectory is GREAT!
This week was:
Lot's of planning
Cutting holes for the door and windows
Framing and insulating the floors
Framing the walls
Framing the windows/door
Prepping for finishing the floor
And lots of other good stuff!
I can **almost** hear the Christmas music and smell the pine scented candle in the finished silo.
Can you?
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Ready for some fresh milk?? Yes Please!