Lori Grenier, known as the “Queen of QVC” on the hit TV show Shark Tank, is credited with saying “Entrepreneurs are the only people who work eighty hours a week to avoid working forty hours.” I never thought of it like that, but I think she’s onto something.

So what drives you to work so hard on your dairy business?

Is it your passion for what you do?
Do you love the challenge?
Are you afraid of failing?
Do you have something to prove?
Are you trying to leave a legacy for the next generation?
Is it for the financial reward?
Do you want to make a difference?

Like many “big questions” in life, there’s no one-right-answer. But identifying (or admitting) your personal “What drives me?” could be a real game changer. Discovering your “Why” will reveal what you truly want and has the power to show you what you should and shouldn’t do next.

Too often, most people do what they do because “that’s what everyone else is doing”. In the dairy industry, it seems that many dairies get bigger because everyone else is getting bigger. Many people believe that if they don’t expand, their neighbor’s will – making it that much harder to acquire more land in the future. So, “how big?” is “big enough”?

Before you start trying to figure out how big you can or should get, the first question you might ask yourself is “What am I trying to achieve… and WHY!?” And after you come up with your answer for that question, ask it again. But this time, reword it slightly… “And what will life be like if we succeed at that?!”

For many entrepreneurs, the answer lies in the words “love, challenge, and reward”. For others, the answer consists of “money, ego, and power”. The first three address an internal hunger and a quest for inward satisfaction. The second three also feed on an internal hunger but they also seem to focus more on an outward expression of success.

Regardless of what drives you to work as hard as you do, it’s your choice. It’s your journey, and your path is different than everyone else’s. Keep asking yourself what you truly want and why you want it. Let that be what drives you.