Action Gets Traction
I was speaking with a farmer this week, and what struck me most wasn’t the numbers on his spreadsheet; it was the shift in his demeanour. His farm has been doing it tough. Inputs have climbed, interest rates have bitten, and his commodity prices have barely moved in a decade. On paper, it looks grim. But on our call, something had changed. He sounded lighter, more engaged, more forward‑leaning.
That change didn’t come from a sudden market turnaround or a government grant. It came from action.
For months, he’d been stuck in the fog of “doom and gloom,” convinced the game was over. The weight of uncertainty had him frozen, waiting for something external to change. But when we started talking through what levers he could pull, what options were actually available, the energy shifted. He realised that while he couldn’t control the price of inputs, interest rates, etc., he could control his response.
That’s the heart of it: action gets traction.
When you’re in business, especially farming, it’s easy to feel like the world is acting on you. Weather, prices, costs, labour, regulation- it all feels outside your control. But the moment you start identifying what is within your control, you move from victim to driver. You stop waiting for conditions to improve and start creating momentum yourself.
Action doesn’t have to be big. It just has to be deliberate.
For this farmer, it started with a conversation about cash flow. We mapped out his next quarter, looked at what he could defer, renegotiate, or sell. Then we talked about his mindset, how to stay focused on what’s working rather than what’s broken. Within a few weeks, he’d researched strategic options to reduce spend but still keep growth, started listing all the questions that he needed answers to and then thought about who he could contact to get those answers. And this changed his outlook entirely. None of these things individually has solved the whole complex issue yet, but each one has chipped away at the paralysis.
That’s the thing about traction, t’s rarely dramatic. It’s incremental. It’s the small, consistent steps that start to move the wheels again.
In coaching, I often see this pattern: when people take even one small action, their confidence grows. That confidence fuels the next step, and before long, they’re back in motion. The situation hasn’t necessarily changed, but they have. And that shift changes everything.
In farming, momentum matters. When you’re bogged, you don’t wait for the ground to dry, you find a way to get traction. You might lay boards, dig out the wheels, or call for a tow. The same principle applies in business. Waiting rarely helps. Acting, thinking, planning, doing all creates movement.
It’s not about reckless decisions or blind optimism. It’s about purposeful action. The kind that says, “I may not control the market, but I control my mindset, my effort, and my next move.”
When you act, you send a signal to yourself, your team, and your business that you’re still in the game. That signal builds trust and resilience. It reminds everyone that leadership isn’t about knowing the outcome; it’s about choosing to move forward anyway.
So if you’re feeling stuck, start small.
Make one phone call.
Review one part of your business.
Ask one better question.
Each step builds traction. Each decision shifts the weight.
And here’s the paradox: action doesn’t just change your circumstances, it changes your psychology. It moves you from helplessness to agency, from frustration to focus. That’s where real progress begins.
The farmer I spoke with hasn’t solved every problem. But he’s back in motion. He’s thinking strategically again, talking to his bank, exploring new markets, and re‑engaging his team. The numbers haven’t changed yet, but his energy has. And that energy is contagious.
Because when you act, you lead. And when you lead, you create traction and that is how you accelerate achievement.
