5 ways farmers get stuck - You’re putting out fires

The tractor is literally on fire. The irrigation system failed catastrophically. The pigs are out (again). And some disease you've never seen before is ravaging the prop house.

Welcome to Tuesday.

You are constantly on the go, with no time to stand still. The to-do list is a mile long and it will take you longer to explain how to do something than if you just did it yourself.

You can't even think of scheduling anything in advance because there's always some disaster that comes up.

Quickbooks hasn't been updated in months and office tasks are limited to payroll and frantically trying to find all your paperwork for a certification inspection next week.

You are overwhelmed and disorganized — drowning in the day-to-day chaos.

Is this all there is?

You collapse into bed each night asking yourself, "Is this all there is?"

You're exhausted from working dawn til dusk (and more) but you lack any sense of accomplishment because you're not even close to crossing everything off the to-do list.

You barely get a chance to eat — and scoff at the garbage you feed yourself while tending such nourishing food for others. There's so much to do. Your brain is full.

You so desperately need a break. After all, you should be spending time with your kids. But when you finally allow yourself a moment to sit, you shame yourself for not working.

How long has it been like this? Can you even remember back when this dream of owning a farm was fun?

The time problem that isn't actually a time problem

Here's what's really happening: you're spending all your time in the business and no time on the business.

You're reacting. Constantly. One fire after another.

There's no space for the proactive work. The planning. The systems building. The delegating. The strategic thinking.

You can't keep up because you're running on reactivity instead of running your business intentionally.

And the cruel irony? The lack of systems and planning is what's creating most of the fires.

The season never actually slows down

You keep telling yourself you'll catch up when things slow down. After this busy week. After harvest. After the season ends.

But things don't slow down. The busy season just shifts. There's always something.

So you never catch up. You just stay behind. Perpetually.

And that's not sustainable. You can't spend your whole life trying to catch up.

What it's actually costing you

Beyond the exhaustion (which is real), living in constant fire-fighting mode is costing you:

Your health. You're not eating well. You're not sleeping enough. You're running on adrenaline and caffeine. Your body is keeping score.

Your relationships. When was the last time you were fully present with your family? Not thinking about the to-do list? Not checking your phone for the next emergency?

Your business growth. You can't grow what you can't manage. And right now, you're not managing — you're surviving. The strategic work that would actually move your business forward never gets done.

Your joy. Remember when farming was something you wanted to do? When it felt like purpose, not punishment? That got lost somewhere in the chaos.

You need to make hard choices

You don't need more hours. You need to make choices.

Choose less. What can you cut? What can you let go of? What can you say no to? You can't keep up with everything, so stop trying. Choose the things that matter and let the rest go.

Delegate more. What doesn't need your specific expertise? What could someone else do? Hire help. Train someone. Let go of control. You can't do it all alone. Yes, it takes longer to explain than to just do it yourself — but only the first time. After that, it's off your plate forever.

Build systems. For the recurring tasks, create a system. Write down the process. Make it repeatable. So it gets easier every time instead of starting from scratch.

Get intentional. Stop reacting. Start deciding what matters and doing that first. Protect time for the important work. Let some of the urgent stuff wait.

Accept good enough. It doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to be done. Good enough is good enough. Stop redoing things that are already fine.

How coaching helps

Sometimes just acknowledging you're Putting Out Fires is enough to get you unstuck. When you finally have clarity about how you're standing in the way of your own progress, it reveals new solutions.

But you already know you're overwhelmed, don't you?

What you need is help to organize and tame the chaos.

Coaching provides a calm space where you can empty your brain of the mental clutter. Once it's out in the open, we can see all the moving parts and prioritize the triage.

When you focus and constrain your energy to fighting just one fire at a time, you'll start actually making meaningful progress on that to-do list.

And you'll free up time and space in your days you can devote to:

• Personal time (making sure your cup is full so you can meet the day head-on)

• Finally getting to those backburnered tasks (ignoring them hasn't made them less important)

• And yes, dealing with new fires that crop up — because the very nature of farming and ranching is "predictably unpredictable." You never know what or when, but you can be certain it's coming. And you get to choose how you want to show up in that situation.

The goal is to help you reclaim agency and control over your thoughts about your farm so you can lead as a cool, calm CEO instead of a chicken with its head cut off.

The invitation

This week, try this:

Make a list of everything you're trying to keep up with. All the tasks, all the commitments, all the things on your plate.

Ask yourself: what if I only did half of this? What would you keep? What would you cut?

Then actually cut it. Say no. Let it go. Stop doing it.

Protect one hour for systems building. Pick one recurring task and create a system for it. Write down the process. Make it repeatable.

Delegate one thing. Just one. What could someone else do? Hire help. Train someone. Let it go.

You can't keep up with everything. So stop trying.

Choose less. Do it well. Let the rest go.

That's how you stop drowning. Not by working more hours. By doing less things.

If this resonated, you might also want to read:

• You're in the weeds: When farm work becomes avoidance - The pattern of using busy work to avoid the real work

• The energy drain of unmade decisions - How mental clutter is exhausting you

• The mindset that separates thriving farms from struggling ones - Shifting from survival mode to intentional leadership

You’ve got this!

If you need support getting out of reactive mode and into intentional leadership, I'm here. You can schedule a free chat with me anytime at FarmCoachKatia.com/work-with-me.