Guy Reams (00:00.942)
Today is day 202, pulling a plow. So I hope I capture this idea correctly, because it's a pretty powerful idea. So when I was about 14, my grandfather finally trusted me to pull a tractor around the field with a plow behind it to turn the earth before spring planting. So clear any rocks, clear any debris.
clean up the field, turn the soil, get it ready for the next year's. So I would pull the tracker around and plow the field up.
When I first started this, it worked pretty good because I was patient. I was very slow, meticulous. I didn't want to mess up. But, you know, I think the field was 20 or 30 acres. So after a while, I started getting impatient and wanted to go faster. So I started pulling the plow faster through the field. And as I did so, the plow would jump off the top of the soil and would no longer dig in deep. And so,
When I got done, my grandfather made me go back over it again because I didn't plow properly. I didn't turn the earth well. Basically, I pulled the plow too fast. So I didn't know what was going on at the time, but my grandfather basically told me, go slow. Just let the tractor idle. Don't put any gas on. Just let it idle through the field and let the plow do the work.
As I've gotten older, I've realized the principle behind that. And it's a pretty powerful.
Guy Reams (01:45.197)
So that principle is that the power of that principle is down to four major issues. First off, force and pressure distribution. So when the plow hits the earth, you have to let the weight of the plow sit on the earth. And it has to sit just enough so that the actual tips of the plow break the soil. And.
work their way into the depth of the soil and that can only work at a slow speed. If you're pulling too fast, the weight of the plow will not dig in deep into the earth. So you have to give it time for it to actually gain purchase in the ground. That's the first principle at play when you're pulling a plow. The second, which is the same thing, is that you need to give it time for the...
the plow to interact with the soil. So it's not good enough just to let it sit on the soil and gain purchase. Once the plow gets into the earth, you have to go slow enough so where the plow can turn the earth and dig and turn. If you're going too fast, that interaction with the soil will not occur. So that's the second principle. The third is as you're pulling the plow,
If you're going slow, you can have greater control and accuracy. You won't miss any patches. The soil will be completely evenly turned at the same depth throughout the entire field, which is what you generally want because you want your nutrients, you want your water coverage, you want your fertilizer to all reach the same depth. So you don't want to turn the soil looser in some areas.
and deeper in other areas. You want to make sure that you're turning the soil with general consistency. Finally, energy efficiency. You would think that by going faster you're using less energy, but in reality you're using more energy. You want the machine pulling the plow to, you know, if you're going way too fast and running over the field quickly,
Guy Reams (04:01.645)
You're increasing your chances of wear and tear, and you're also increasing the chances that you won't cover it, so you'll have to go back over it again. And in fact, it could take two or three times the amount of time it takes if you were to just go through it once slowly. I did not understand all of this at the age of 14, clearly. But I did start to learn that by going slower, I would be able to turn the Earth consistently the same way.
if I pulled slow. Now, the reason I bring this up is not to teach people about how to plow a field. The reason I bring it up is because this is a lesson to be learned when you're doing anything that requires growth. So if you're going to the gym, if you're learning how to run, if you're learning how to grow a business, or if you're a new manager or you're starting a team, all of these things are the same.
These principles all apply. Treat the team or the company or the gym as the plow. You cannot go so fast and so quick that you don't allow the plow, your team, your company, whatever it is you're working on, to dig deep. You've got to give it time to make a purchase. This is such a huge problem, especially with young people that are ambitious.
It happened in my life. It happens in everybody's life. You're ambitious. You want things to go well. You're impatient. So you're pulling the team and everybody around you very quickly across the proverbial field. When in reality, what you're doing is you're not giving them time to gain purchase. You have to give whatever team you're working with time to make purchase.
There has to be time for the machine to do its work. Same thing goes in weightlifting. If you go to the gym and you just really quickly go through your exercises and move on, you're not giving time for the weight, the muscles, your body to do the work. You've got to give it time under pressure in order to be successful. So when you're working a team, you've got to give them the ability to gain purchase and get going.
Guy Reams (06:26.189)
to learn how to do work before pulling them onto the next thing. If you pull too quickly, they will never gain purchase and they will never be effective. And you'll end up with the same problem I had when I was 14 when I had to redo the field again. It's important when learning to pull a plow or doing any work, it's important to pull slowly with deliberately and consistent and consistent. Eventually, you can scale.
But you don't scale by pulling the tractor faster. You scale by having more than one tractor. I think that makes sense, right? You scale by having more. You don't scale by going faster. This is a lesson that was so hard for me to get when I was younger, but it's so obvious to me now. It's just interesting. Anyway, that's all I gotta say. Thank you.