Frye: Watch for 3 traps when setting 2023 goals

We’ve started into a brand-new year. At this time, many people begin to think about new plans, goals and intentions for the upcoming months.

Maybe last month you already started working on some goals and plans for your farm business for 2023.

Savvy farm leaders are taking along lessons and insights from running their operations in 2022 into the new year to help inform their planning. And they’ve also let go of any anxiety or worry that won’t serve them well in the upcoming crop year.

Setting goals for a new year is a smart idea, but there’s one thing you will want to get clear on first. That’s the “why” behind your goals.

Your “why” is what drives you and, ultimately, your operation, toward taking the right actions to fully achieve your goals.

Avoid Three Traps

It can be easy to fall into three different traps when setting 2023 goals.

1. Setting goals based on what you think you “should” do. This one is incredibly easy to fall into and for good reason.

It’s based on looking at the outside — at other farm operators and what they’re doing — before deciding that your farm needs to work toward a certain goal.

It’s not a bad thing in itself to be aware of what other top farms are doing, but it can become a trap if you start to set goals for your farm solely based on what seems to be making others successful.

The reason is because your operation is different from all other farms. It has a different history, circumstances, soil, geography, people involved, financial situation, landlords and so on.

Your farm’s goals for 2023 must be based on your operation’s current unique situation, not on perceptions about anyone else’s operation.

2. Setting goals that aren’t based in financial reality. Another trap that’s easy to step in is to set goals that aren’t necessarily realistic or achievable from a financial perspective.

When you’re thinking about goals for the upcoming year, each goal needs to be formed from a deep understanding of your own operation and your vision of where you want it to be in the future.

That means taking a good look at where you, as the leader, are at in your farming career, as well as what you want to be doing in five to 10 years. Your goals for 2023 should reflect that longer-term outlook and must account for what that means financially.

All farm leaders also need to spend additional time considering the impact that higher interest rates will have on their operation in 2023 and beyond.

You can get a deeper understanding of this by doing a financial review of your operation with your advisers this winter.

3. Setting goals that don’t have a meaningful “why.” I mentioned this above, but it’s going to be nearly impossible to continue making progress toward a major goal that doesn’t have a “why” behind it that’s deeply meaningful to you.

Your “why” will usually come from your long-term vision for the operation and what you want it to become. It can come from the big reasons why you farm, ones that go beyond making a living.

The “why” needs to be big enough that it can continue to drive you toward progress even when the going gets tough.

2023 Markets

Every single crop year in farming is different and will present new challenges. That can be exciting, but also might bring about some anxiety.

Now is the right time to be creating marketing plans for this new year and beyond. A market adviser can help with providing education, marketing tools and market planning for your unique operation and your future goals.

Farmers have found that getting some third-party perspective from our market advisers has helped ease their minds.

The advisers help farmer clients with planning and execution around marketing decisions and help keep them up to speed on the current rapidly changing grain market situation — and how it impacts their operation.

Get a free two-week trial of our marketing information service, MarketView Basic, at www.waterstreetconsulting.com. Your free trial includes regular audio and video updates, technical analysis, recommendations and more.

Or, learn more about our market adviser programs and offerings at www.waterstreetconsulting.com.