I grew up on a farm, and so I have plenty of agricultural phrases in my vernacular, but actually all of us have some of those phrases. For example: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Yep, that’s a farm phrase. And hint, I’m going to talk about it next week. But for now we’re talking about this phrase:

Make hay when the sun is shining.

Now, you may have never made hay. You may not know what that means but you’ve probably heard the phrase. Here’s the backstory. Hay is made from growing crop (grass, alfalfa and clover most frequently), and it is cut when it’s very green and very moist, a growing plant. However it must be dry before it can be bailed up to be used and stored.

So you can cut hay when it’s raining, but you can’t make hay and bale it when it’s raining. The sun’s got to be shining. The crops need to be dry. There’s a limited time window. Make hay when the sun is shining. So here’s the point for us as leaders.

Tweet it out: To make hay when the sun shines means to do the work you need to do, when you need to do it. And you don’t have to be a farmer to understand that. @KevinEikenberry

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Making Hay and Making Progress - Thoughts from Kevin