Daily Inspiration: “If you keep getting the same old advice from the same old people you’ll keep getting the same old results!”

“If you keep getting the same old advice from the same old people you’ll keep getting the same old results!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

Think different to be different! If the world is changing fast and you are not, you’ve got a bit of a problem, don’t you think?

I’ll often tell the story on stage of the fact that there are two types of farmers in the world, as seen in this clip.

There are those who are the apathetic minority: they are not optimistic about the future, they tend to seek the same old advice from the same old people, they’re not willing to take on any new idea, and they have very low tolerance for risk. They’re not convinced there’s any future success in the industry, they’re skeptical of the potential! In a world in which we will be shifting to a world of farming 24 hours a day based on robotics, self-driving technology, AI, and virtual farm management, how do you think that will work out for them?

And then you meet the farmers who are future positive: they’re optimistic, they believe there is opportunity to be found by riding all kinds of future trends. They’re business minded, innovation-oriented. They’re not just young people but are a mix of ages. They aren’t doing what they have done in the past, but are staying out in front of the trends.

What type of farmer do you want to be? The old-style farmer who will keep doing the same thing until it becomes irrelevant? Or the new farmer, open to new ideas, new concepts, and new methodologies?

I will often say on stage – “change your future before the future changes you!” You really have a choice. Your industry is going to continue to change, you’re going to find that things are going to continue to speed up, and you are going to see faster change.

To quote the video above directly:

Your moment of opportunity is here right now, and what you really need to do to do this: you need to think big, you need to start small, and you need to scale fast! You need to think really big in terms of the scope of these trends, and as we see waves of disruption occur with the business models, you need to think really big in terms of where this future might take us, you need to continue to start small, take on a whole bunch of projects, not for a home run, but to learn because it is your experience that will matter as you go forward into the future. You think big, you start small, and then you’re ready for the fact that the future can happen slowly and then all at once, and you scale fast.

Your world today won’t exist tomorrow – do you want to be a part of the future, or watch the future go by?

Which type of farmer do you want to be?