Mindset story: Always prepared and can sleep when the wind blows

Once upon a time, there was a farmer who owned land along a seacoast. He constantly advertised for hired hands. Most people were reluctant to work on farms along the seacoast. They dreaded the awful storms that raged, wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops. As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he received a steady stream of refusals. And even the ones who accepted the job didn’t stay long with the farmer as the conditions were just too rough. Nobody was prepared for what they were getting themselves in. Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer about the job. The farmer desperate for help asked the man “Are you a good farm hand?” The man assured the farmer that he is always prepared for the situation at hand and that he can sleep when the wind blows.

Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help, hired him. The man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man’s work. Soon the farmer trusted the man enough to leave him unsupervised and relax a little bit. Then one night the wind howled loudly in from offshore. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand’s sleeping quarters. He shook the man and yelled, “Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they are blown away by the wind!”

The man rolled over in bed and said firmly, “No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows.” Enraged by the response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. He took a couple of minutes to yell at the hand, When I hired you you said you are always prepared for anything. But now you are here lying in bed unwilling to do anything about the storm that is going to blow everything away.” When the farmer didn’t get any response from the man, he hurried outside to save as much of his farm from the storm as he could. To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured, everything was tied down and safe. Nothing could blow away.

The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant when he said that he can sleep when the wind blows. The farmer went to the hired hand to apologize, and then he returned to his bed to also sleep while the wind blew.