We all start this homestead journey with a goal. For many of us, that goal defines where we want to live, what animals we raise, and how we run our homestead.
And then along comes social influence.
We see how others are doing by watching social media. Or a friend of ours gets cows, and suddenly we want cows too! Our lives are open to outside influence.
Yet not all influence is the best way to meet the goals we set at the beginning. Maybe cows would be a bad fit for your family. Going all out on creating videos to monetize your homestead could consume the lifestyle you wanted to create in the first place.
I’m not saying your goals can’t change. But I am saying don’t allow outside influence to change your goals without due process.
It’s really easy to scroll around Instagram or Pinterest and fall “in love” with ideas you see on there. Soon enough you have 50 projects, all of which are going nowhere, and you hate getting up in the morning.
Instead of living on the whim of what you see and consume, live on your plans and goals for the future. Start with the long term. Write down the neat ideas and influences. Then see how you can fit those into your long term.
For example, we know which animals we want to add to our homestead in the future. Drooling over and then buying animals not in the plan slows us down. Same with little projects.
Our chicken coop runs fine without solar powered automation and a 100’ run. But seeing someone else’s cool setup might influence how I spend the next week adding automation that only serves to spend time and money.
Don’t fix what’s not broken. And don’t throw out your roots in favor of the latest thought.
A planned homestead is a successful homestead. No matter what anyone else is doing.