Why farmers choose busy work over important business tasks (and how to stop)

You know what you should be doing today.

You should be working on your marketing. You should be following up with that wholesale lead. You should be looking at your numbers. You should be planning next season.

But instead you're thinning carrots.

Or deadheading flowers. Or organizing photos. Or cleaning the barn. Again. Or fixing that fence that could honestly wait another week.

You're filling your entire day with tasks that technically need to be done. Things that feel productive. Things that give you a sense of accomplishment.

But they're not the most important things. And you know it.

You're choosing the easier wrong thing over the harder right thing.

And it's costing you more than you realize.

What the easier wrong thing looks like

Let me paint a picture you probably recognize.

You sit down at your desk in the morning with good intentions. Today's the day you're going to write that email to your list. Or reach out to potential wholesale accounts. Or finally update your pricing.

But first, the desk is kinda messy. And you just need to organize these photos from last season. And while you're at it, maybe you should clean out your inbox.

So you do those things. All of them. You spend hours doing them.

And at the end of the day, you're exhausted. You've been working all day. Your hands are busy, your body is tired, you can point to things you accomplished.

But the thing you said you were going to do? The important thing? You didn't do it.

And you tell yourself: I was just so busy today. I didn't have time.

But here's the truth: you made time for everything except the thing that actually matters.

Why we choose the easier wrong thing

Let's be honest about what's happening here.

The easier wrong thing feels safe. It's familiar. You know how to thin carrots. You know how to clean the barn. You know how to organize photos.

The harder right thing? That feels vulnerable.

Writing that email means putting yourself out there. Reaching out to wholesale accounts means risking rejection. Looking at your numbers means facing what might be uncomfortable truth.

So your brain offers you the easier wrong thing. And you take it. Because it still feels productive. It still counts as work.

Your brain wants to fill your entire day to prove to you that you're SO busy. That you don't have time for the hard thing.

Look at everything you did today! You thinned an entire bed of carrots! You organized three years of photos! You cleaned out the entire barn!

See? You're busy. You're productive. You're working hard.

And the hard thing you're avoiding? Well, you just don't have time for it. Maybe tomorrow.

The mental tax you're paying

Here's what you might not realize: every day you don't do the thing, you're paying a mental tax.

That thing you're avoiding? It's taking up space in your brain. Every single day.

You wake up and it's there. "I really need to work on my marketing." You go through your day and it's there, nagging at you. You go to bed and it's there. "I still didn't do it."

That open loop in your brain is exhausting. It's creating chaos. It's making your mental space busy and cluttered.

And all that mental energy you're spending thinking about the thing, avoiding the thing, feeling guilty about not doing the thing? That's energy you could be using to just do the thing.

Most of the time, the thing you're avoiding takes way less time to actually do than you spend avoiding it.

You spend three hours thinning carrots to avoid spending thirty minutes writing an email.

You spend all week doing busy work to avoid one hard conversation that would take twenty minutes.

The avoidance is costing you more than the thing itself would cost.

How much time you're actually wasting

Let's do some math.

You avoid the thing on Monday. You fill your day with easier wrong things. The thing is still there.

You avoid it on Tuesday. More easier wrong things. The thing is still there.

You avoid it on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. You've now spent five full days doing everything except the one thing that would actually move your business forward.

And all week, that thing has been taking up mental space. You've been thinking about it. Feeling guilty about it. Telling yourself you'll do it tomorrow.

That's not just five days of not doing the thing. That's five days of mental clutter. Five days of stress. Five days of keeping that loop open.

And here's the kicker: when you finally do the thing, it usually takes way less time than you thought. And you feel immediate relief.

So all that time you spent avoiding it? All that mental energy you spent on guilt and stress? It was wasted.

The thing itself wasn't the problem. The avoidance was the problem.

What you're actually avoiding

You're not avoiding the task itself. You're avoiding how you think it's going to feel.

You're avoiding the vulnerability of putting yourself out there.

You're avoiding the discomfort of not knowing if it will work.

You're avoiding the risk of rejection or failure or judgment.

You're avoiding the possibility of looking at your numbers and seeing that things aren't where you want them to be.

So you choose the easier wrong thing. Because thinning carrots doesn't make you feel vulnerable. Cleaning the barn doesn't risk rejection.

The easier wrong thing feels safe. It feels productive. It lets you avoid the discomfort.

But it also keeps you stuck.

The cost of staying stuck

Every day you choose the easier wrong thing, your business stays exactly where it is.

You don't get new customers because you're not marketing. You don't grow your revenue because you're not reaching out to wholesale accounts. You don't improve your profitability because you're not looking at your numbers.

You stay stuck. Not because you're lazy. Not because you don't know what to do.

But because you keep choosing comfort over growth. You keep choosing the familiar over the important. You keep choosing the easier wrong thing.

And your business pays the price.

The thing you need to understand

The hard thing isn't actually as hard as you think it is.

Your brain is making it seem massive and overwhelming and impossible. But it's not.

Writing that email might feel scary. But it will take you thirty minutes. Maybe an hour if you really take your time.

Looking at your numbers might feel uncomfortable. But it will take you twenty minutes. And then you'll know. And knowing is always better than not knowing.

The thing itself isn't the problem. The story you're telling yourself about the thing is the problem.

And while you're telling yourself that story and avoiding the thing, you're wasting hours and days and weeks doing easier wrong things that keep you busy but don't move you forward.

How to stop choosing the easier wrong thing

Here's the practice: do the hard thing first.

Before you thin the carrots. Before you clean the barn. Before you organize the photos.

Do the thing you're avoiding. Even if it's just for thirty minutes. Even if you do it badly. Even if it feels uncomfortable.

Just do it. Get it out of your brain. Close the loop.

And then, if you want to thin carrots after that? Go for it. But at least you'll have done the thing that actually matters.

Here's what will happen when you do this: you'll feel immediate relief.

The mental clutter will clear. The guilt will lift. The thing that's been nagging at you will be done.

And you'll realize it wasn't actually that hard. It didn't take that long. And you feel so much better now that it's done.

That's the feedback your brain needs. That's how you start building the habit of doing the hard thing instead of avoiding it.

What would this look like if it was easy?

What if you just decided: every day, I'm going to do one hard thing before I do any easier wrong things?

Not ten hard things. Just one.

One email. One phone call. One hour looking at numbers. One conversation. One decision.

Just one hard thing. And then the rest of your day can be whatever it needs to be.

What would change if you did that?

You'd actually move your business forward. You'd close loops instead of keeping them open. You'd stop paying the mental tax. You'd build momentum.

And the easier wrong things? They'd still be there if you need them. But they wouldn't be running your day. They wouldn't be the excuse for why you can't do what matters.

The invitation

This week, I want you to notice when you're choosing the easier wrong thing.

When you sit down to do the important work and immediately think of seventeen other things that need to be done first - pause.

Ask yourself: am I avoiding something? What am I actually afraid of here?

And then, even if you're scared, even if it feels uncomfortable, do the hard thing first.

Just thirty minutes. Just to close the loop. Just to prove to yourself that you can.

And notice how much lighter you feel when it's done.

That relief? That clarity? That's what's available when you stop choosing the easier wrong thing.

You don't have to be perfect at this. You're going to avoid sometimes. That's human.

But you can start practicing. One hard thing first. Before all the easier wrong things.

That's how you build a business that moves forward instead of staying stuck.

You know what you need to do. You've always known.

Stop filling your day with everything except that. Do the hard thing first.

If this resonated, you might also want to read:

The energy drain of unmade decisions - What avoiding the hard thing is actually costing you

The mindset that separates thriving farms from struggling ones - How to show up sweaty and do the thing anyway

You're worried about the wrong thing - Where your attention is leaking away

If you need support actually doing the work instead of avoiding it, if you need someone to help you see your patterns and stay accountable, I'm here. Schedule a chat with me at FarmCoachKatia.com/work-with-me.