 It's my pleasure to reintroduce Nathan to conclude our morning of speakers on the importance of being motivated. So yes apologies if you didn't like me the first time you've got me again so but we are heading down a completely different track this time so this isn't so much about cheap and cattle this is about people so I think it's really important for us to understand how we operate as humans when you go to run your business when you're going to work with staff family members all all those sorts of things we need to understand how we're wired how we work one of the first things that I just want to touch on very briefly is this whole concept of control and influence so we have in your everyday lives and in everything you do in your business we have this range of factors we have things that we can only ever be concerned about but we can't control or influence we have things that we can influence we can't control them and we have things that we can have absolute control over now the problem is if I just pick one example the problem is we often get caught with things that we can be really concerned about and they steal a lot of energy of us so what's something that we can only ever be concerned about but we can't actually control or influence simple one weather pootin that's not a bad one pootin but yes weather is our classic example now it's really easy for me to stand up the front here and say to you don't worry about the weather of course we do that that next rainfall event has such a huge impact on our business we are always going to be concerned about it but it can steal our energy it can steal our focus so if we're at least conscious of that fact then we can influence the way we're reacting to it in your farm business you have all of these different factors happening at any one time our aim is to try and get as many of those back within it our control or at the very least our influence so something that we can't control but we can influence his price we can influence it by the product that we're producing the quality of the product that we produce our point of difference with someone else we can influence the price but we can't control it if you look at the rest of the list though so much of it we can control I do have politics up there so we'll put pootin under that one we can wear our aim so this is no different to any netball or football coach talking about we need to control the things we can control it's exactly the same in your farm business and one of the things is to understand in that process how motivation works how we are hardwired as human beings what's a good motivator what motivates people money it's usually a standard answer could be yep I want to go back to the money one when we talk about money most often we talk about profit is profit a good motivator my answer is it depends depends who you are debt is an exceptionally good motivator profit not so much so there is a small proportion of the of the population that are really motivated by money they just want more of it they want more profit more and more profit all the time but there's a lot of us that are really motivated by debt because we know that we need to make this work we need to service that debt we need to be able to pay down that debt and that keeps us really heavily motivated the thing that happens though is as you get to that point where that debt gets paid down where all of a sudden we are into into the profit zone rather than the debt zone and we see it all the time the people just start to relax a bit we get to hit this level of comfort now the best example I can give you is if we were just profit motivated I wouldn't still be talking to clients about fertilizer I wouldn't still be talking about the relationship between fertilizer pasture production stocking rate and profit if it was as simple as if you do this you'll make this much more money my job would be pretty simple now I'll give you another little example so the things that we we actually use or the things that actually do motivate humans there's three major factors the first one is autonomy that's the ability for you to be the master of your own destiny now we're really lucky in agriculture that we can do that so much of every day is about doing things the way we want to do it the next one is mastery that is being the best you can possibly be now if I go back to our profit example if I go and sit down with a client and I say if we do this this and this you are going to make $10,000 more profit okay $10,000 in the scheme of our business the amount of our turnover yeah if I go to them though and I say if we do this this and this that's going to put you in the top 10% of sheep producers for lamb survival and they say yeah that's what I want to be I want to be the best I want to want to be running the best possible operation that I can the outcome is exactly the same the profit outcome is exactly the same the motivation is different and the third one is purpose and that's being a part of something that's bigger than ourselves so if we use that lamb survival example that is this whole idea of being part of the industry I want Australia to have the best lamb survival that we can possibly get the best lamb survival in the world I want us to be leaders in that space that's part of being something bigger than ourselves that's not that as a motivator can be brilliant with all of you it's not profit that's driving that it's that this desire to be the best so it goes back to one of Chris's points earlier in the day people say to me what sort of enterprise should I be running my answer is this the one that puts the fire in your belly the one that you love the one that makes you want to get out of bed in the morning and the example I can give you there is if I go and take a really nice little fine wool merino flock and I put it under the control of someone who's spent the last 20 years running self replacing composites how well do you reckon they're going to run those merinoes we know they're not going to like them we know they're going to hate probably almost every point in that production cycle because they're just not that's not where their love is they won't do a great job of it so you do what you love and you do it well and that will give you a bigger impact than chasing rainbows commodity chasing the thing is change doesn't happen I talked to you earlier about how we need to implement change and that's why you're here change doesn't happen because you ask for it so if you think about your own staff your own family the people that are involved in your business even some of the external people that are in your team stock agents those sort of things change doesn't happen because you ask for it change happens because you inspire that's your role as a leader within your business so just a touch on how motivation actually works one of the things that happens you come to a day like this you'll go out with a great to-do list doesn't matter what ends up on that to-do list but you can end up with a to-do list with a whole lot of stuff written down there that you're going to go home and try and change now the reason that we love to-do lists as human beings is because we get to cross things off we get to cross things off that to-do list and the reason that that works for us the reason that our brain responds to that is every time we cross something off that list you get a hit of dopamine dopamine is the neurochemical that makes us feel good it's involved in love it's involved in almost every form of addiction so whether it's gambling drinking smoking every time we do it we get a hit of dopamine every time you cross something off your to-do list you get a hit of dopamine makes us feel good the reason and you will know because you will have done this there are times when we've got our to-do list you've got a whole lot of jobs on there and you'll do something else it doesn't really matter what that something else is might be clean the ute you write it on to the bottom of your to-do list so that you can cross it out and the reason is you still get that hit of dopamine you still get that reaction you still get that feeling so that's why we do to-do lists it's why as an industry or sorry as a as a society social media has been so popular is because every time someone sends you a text message everyone sends you an email every time someone follows you like something on facebook you get a hit of dopamine that's how we get addicted to phones that's why we check to see did someone like that post we get a hit of dopamine every time so for those of you that are in it you can find me at a g-bag i'll take whatever you're going to give me um but that is why that's why it works that's why social media and phones and everything else have become so addictive the problem with the to-do list like this has this one's written is each of those components are too big they're too all-encompassing your brain looks at that and goes so let's choose the top one improve lamb survival it looks at that and says pretty much yeah but how it's too overwhelming and we we move into this procrastination state where we don't have a clear direction and so instead of doing something we do nothing the best example of that one it's when i was at uni i have an assignment you think it'd be pretty straightforward i've got a due date there's an amount of time i can do that assignment and i've got an amount of work to do now if i was smart it would look something like that what do you reckon it looked like and we fill it in with procrastination doesn't really matter what it was other stuff stuff that we do instead procrastination is the whole reason that youtube exists there's no real reason for any of this stuff to exist on youtube other than for procrastination presentation so the problem that we face is this procrastination kicks in because these are too all-encompassing our brain doesn't function really well with it so what can we do we break it down let's break those first two points down into more manageable tasks makes it easier for us to handle doesn't it it's an intersmall more manageable tasks the problem is that list just grew that list just became enormous that's only the first two points in that to-do list and then we get faced with this thing called the paradox of choice the paradox of choice is one of the best pieces of research i've ever seen it's got nothing to do with sheep or cattle what they did was they set up two different jam stalls in a park one of the jam stalls had 24 different varieties of jam the other one had six then they tracked how many people stopped to look at it how many people stopped to buy 60 percent of people stopped to look where there was 24 different varieties of jam only 40 percent of people stopped to look where there was only six we didn't get as many people stopping to look at it but what happens with the buyer decision only three percent of people bought jam where there was 24 different options 30 percent of people bought jam where there was only six they convert that into people and what actually bought less than two people per hundred bought jam where there was 24 varieties versus 12 people who bought jam where there was only six you want to see it in practice you walk into eldy if you walk into eldy and you say i'm going to get some biscuits you walk in there and it's that one or that one and you stand there and you go oh well i guess i'll have that one you walk into walworth or coals and there's 27 000 different biscuits in front of you you stand there and you can't decide you end up walking down the aisle and you don't didn't buy any biscuits that's why eldy gives you bugger all choice they're not silly it's part of their marketing plan so what can we do how can we influence this paradox of choice that we get faced with our next step generally is to say well let's prioritize it let's put some priorities against them let's work out the a's the b's and the c's the problem with that is when does a c get done either never or when it becomes an a so let's say it's servicing the ute it wasn't a real high priority until the ute started making that bloody noise now it's a priority becomes an a that's when we start doing it if i take that list that's there all those things on on it and i drop it into a month on a calendar this is what it looks like look at how i just think for a second about how your brain reacts to that compared to the list there's plenty of spare time in there there's things laid out pretty well it's not overwhelming at all the other advantage we get is we've got a due date on each of them because we know we're all procrastinators we know we love due dates we like to leave things until the due date this gives us a chance to do it you still get to cross them out every time you do it you still get to cross them out if you can't cross it out because you didn't do it means you have to move it into another date give yourself another due date we still get the hint of dopamine keeps us accountable but it also doesn't overwhelm us really simple way of just changing the way we think about setting ourselves up the best way to get something done is to actually begin now when i say begin that's on a whole range of fronts this whole thing you know i think our whole role in the industry needs to change the way we view ourselves this is bigger than just you on your farm the way we motivate staff the way we motivate people within our family the way we motivate the rest of the industry one of our biggest challenges i think we need to stop being victims as an industry we need to stop talking about how hard it is we need to stop talking about how it's so dry dusty we work long hours one of the problems we face is if i go into any school anywhere in the country and i say draw me a farmer what do you reckon they're gonna draw it's something like this it's a straw hat it's a pitchfork it's a piece of straw hanging out of their mouth that's not what a farmer is that's not what we are i hear people describe farmers as the salt of the earth i don't really know what the hell that means but i suspect it probably means really nice but a bit simple that's not us either so poverty is that's our job to change the perception of who we are one of the things that frustrates me as i hear this when you're gonna thank a farmer you will have seen these campaigns thank a farmer for your next meal what a load of crap when are we going to thank an electrician or a school teacher or a chiropractor we chose our occupation they don't need to thank us we're business people just the same as everyone else they don't need to thank us i think we need to start being leaders and we absolutely need to start listening more instead of telling people we need to listen the consumer is the king we need to understand what their perspective is because sometimes perspectives can be different so quick question for you what does your consumer look like have you got a good idea of who your consumers are yep some of them look exactly like us some of them are completely different could a vegetarian be your consumer one of your consumers yep how yep so if you've got a cropping operation absolutely they might wear wool still because they're only a vegetarian then a vegan i'm going to do something dangerous i'm going to show you a photo of a vegetarian this lady's a vegetarian is she a consumer of your products the one thing i would say is we can't assume absolutely can't assume we shouldn't discriminate and the one thing we definitely shouldn't do as an industry is yell and that is a real risk of social media is everyone thinks that they're defending our industry they're not defending our industry they're yelling at people and often they're yelling at our consumers the people we need to buy our product what we do need to do is listen and find out what is their perspective do they buy our product why don't they buy our product the reason i know that she's a vegetarian is because it's my wife she was a vegetarian the day that i met her she buys all of the meat in our house my three kids eat meat i ate meat she doesn't we have a sheep operation we've run a sheep trading operation she's a vegetarian we can't assume just because we're looking at things from different angles doesn't mean the other person's wrong we can try and be bullies we can try and yell at people we can try and tell people that we think they're wrong it's actually okay for us to disagree on things i think the world's gone wrong thinking that everyone needs to agree they don't need to agree we don't need to force our our opinions and ourselves on to other people sometimes we need to stop and walk a mile in their shoes and the risk for us as farmers is we do this we live in our little bubble and we talk to each other and we reassure each other we tell each other that it's okay it's okay for us to do it that way we have to be cruel to be kind or we have to do it this way because we talk inside our bubble we don't get outside it i think is an industry we need to start setting goals and for you as individuals start setting goals and i like big goals not little ones i like you to set big goals and i don't want you to tell anyone about them why would i say don't tell anyone because someone will tell you you're an idiot that's not going to work as if you're going to be able to do that that's what humans like to do they don't like to feel like someone else is getting ahead of them so let's just cut them off at the knees and drag them back down again let's just force our opinions on to someone else and or our perspective on to someone else i want you to set big goals i want you to set big goals for yourselves and i don't necessarily want you to tell anyone others in your business absolutely outside your business no what i don't want you to do is type them either when we type a goal so let's say we're going to put down a smart goal or some smart objectives when you type them it uses eight muscle functions when you write them it uses 22 000 neurological functions and the reason that's important for us is that helps us get it into our conscious and subconscious brain it changes the way our brain works changes the way we filter so now i wish for this one that i didn't change my slide i used to have a bright green Jeep Wrangler that i use as my example and if you look out that window there's a bright green Suzuki Sierra just over there that would have been perfect for you to look at as you drive out the concept it's the same i decided i wanted a Ford Ranger the minute i decide i want a Ford Ranger what happens i start seeing them everywhere everywhere i go i start seeing Ford Rangers i start seeing a Ford Ranger with a tray that i really like i start seeing a Ford Ranger broken down the side of the road whatever it happens to be i start seeing them why do i start seeing him is because my brain started filtering it in rather than filtering it out up until that moment that i made the conscious decision i want a Ford Ranger my brain was filtering all of the Ford Rangers out didn't need to know about it it's designed so that we don't go insane if we have every single sense coming brought into our conscious thinking we would go insane so our brain does a whole lot of filtering for us that we don't ever know about so it starts bringing that into me another example would be if i was decided i wanted to go to Finland all of a sudden i open the paper and here's cheap flights to Finland and i think wow that's amazing how'd that happen and then you're at a party and you hear someone talking over in the corner they got an accent next thing you're over there having conversation with them now you know where you're going to go in Finland and you've probably got somewhere to stay and you think oh it must be fate it's not fate it's science it's your brain it's the way your brain works things don't just happen you make them happen so this is our challenge this is the challenge i put to all of you real leaders don't need titles we don't need to wait for someone else to make the changes for us we need to set the the targets and the goals for ourselves we need to stop talking about they they should do this they should have done that they should be doing it this way i don't know who they are but they sound like a pack of bastards to me it's not their industry it's ours it's time we all stepped up and took some ownership of it it's our role as individual leaders as i said before whatever we do well today we can do better tomorrow thanks very much