# What Are You Good At?



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Dan Anderson poses the question.....and reflects on his skills. I have been blessed with a few talents and skills, but maybe the greatest skill the Lord gave me was the ability to be a good father for my family....or so I have been told. It just seems like Ag folks do make good parents....we know how to nurture....plants and people. Hope all of your families are healthy.

Regards, Mike

http://www.agweb.com/blog/in_the_shop/whats_your_specialty/


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

This is a another great article. Thanks, Mike. I highly recommend that every one read it.

According to Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers, it takes 20,000 hours to master something. That works out to 10 years at 40 hours/week. I strongly recommend this book!

Speaking from own experience as well, when a person is truly fascinated, almost to the point of obsession, by something, it doesn't take 10 years because they will often spend 3,000+ hours per year. I have been fascinated by computers since I was first exposed to them when I was 20. My average work week has been 60-70 hours (or more). I still average 5 hours/day studying and goofing around with computers (I'm learning the Windows Powershell scripting language at the moment.)

I have also been fascinated by horses since the first time I rode one at the age of 35. I still ride 2-3 horses per day, 5-6 days/week. When I was competing, I average 30+ hours/week conditioning myself and my horse. (I will confess I cut my work week down to about 50 hours.)

I now spend about 20+ hours/week studying hay and forage, planning, working on equipment, etc.

When I tell people I probably haven't worked 90 days in my life, they look at me pretty strange. But its never been work.

My worst shortcoming: I did not spend enough time with my kids.

Ralph


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

We are farmers.
If a person has worked the land and animals for more than a few years then they are good at a lot of things.
I do not know a farmer type who can not drive a nail as good as anyone. Most can wield, use a torch and take on mechanical jobs others would walk away from.
You can plumb, even before PVC, work a shovel and a loader.
Most of all we learn that something will not fix itself. No need sitting around thinking a Genie is going to jump out of a bottle and the hydraulic leak is going to stop.

My greatest accomplishment is that I know I was a good parent. They were not spoiled with material things. They understood where any extra money came from They were given 100% of any amount of my time they needed. Throwing a ball, school projects, learning to cast a rod and reel or ride a horse, my standard answer when asked if I had time was, "We sure can."
My son made the school basketball team and was pretty good. He had spent years after school doing his homework in the bleachers while I ran practice. He never started a game for me. He understood, did not like it, but understood that he had to earn his spots in life. He could not ride my coat tail. Any favoritism from me would have backfired on both of us. He understands it better now that he is grown.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

anything but paperwork.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Good at? I think I'm good at solving problems. Bad at? Getting around to solving them lol.


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## askinner (Nov 15, 2010)

I've been blessed with all things mechanical and electrical, which has served me very well in farming. My father is the opposite, hopless mechanically, but a master at welding and fabricating, and also carpentary and building. Neither of us has paid anyone to do anything for us hardly ever. I don't understand these days how city people just pay everyone to do everything for them, even things as simple as replacing a tap washer, or calling out an electrician because a circuit breaker has tripped. How do these guys have any money left over??
Bad? I do tend to procrastinate and think about things a little too much some times, have missed some good opportunities because of this!


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

_Evidently not fishing.Got skunked again today.







_


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

"Jack of all trades, master of none!"


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

My mastery is broad and horizontal, but not vertical or deep.
Translation: I can do about anything, but I wont be very good at it!

I'd really like to master something before I die, but I'm pulled in too many directions to concentrate on getting good at one thing.

Seriously, I'm a decent mason, a decent carpenter, a decent hay farmer and according to my wife still "decent looking".


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## ANewman (Sep 20, 2012)

I'm GREAT at killing time!


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

I'm fortunate that I had a talent for finding really smart people and helping them to get focused on common goals/objectives and accomplish some pretty neat projects around the world. I was also pretty lazy, because they did all the work. Early on, the hardest thing I had to learn was to "go home" and let them solve the problems, without me looking over their shoulders. They got smarter as a result and the capabilities of the organizations grew with them. My role was to shield them from political BS and to get them the resources they needed to excel. Pretty much all of them have done very well in their careers, I'm happy for the small part I played in their lives, and proud of all the various facilities we successfully designed and built around the world. Now that I'm sort of retired, I have a really great network, of very smart people, I can call on to help me solve problems, cause I'm still not very bright. You guys have taught me a lot about grass farming. I'm very grateful and happy that I can still find smart people to help me solve problems.

Both of my kids have seen a lot of the world, both of them are doing well, and I enjoy spoiling my grandchildren. I guess you can't ask for much more than that.......


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Man I don't even know what the hell I'm good at, dad owned a gas/repair station as a kid, spent a lot of time there, fairly strong mechanically, fairly good engineer, fairly good electrician, fairly good at solving problems, and fairly good at communication.......only thing I guess I'm better at is vision, I always have a vision of what I want the outcome to be, surround myself with the necessary people and equipment to get the job done, and get er done......use all those fairly good skill sets, in combination with others skills to reach a desired outcome. Guess it makes me what they call, Boss man......at least on Fridays.....

Funny Tim, the way some stand around, makes me think they do believe a genie is gonna pop out of a bottle!


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