Sowing, reaping, and harvesting—career lessons from the prairies

I just arrived back from visiting family and friends in Saskatchewan. Somewhere between the clouds and the canola fields, I was reminded that the best way to build a multi-path career is to think like a farmer.

My dad was a farmer with an eighth-grade education—one of the smartest people I’ll ever know. He quietly lived a multi-path life long before I had the words for it.

I grew up outside a tiny village called Eyebrow (yes, it’s really on the list of quirky Canadian town names). Summers were glorious: I’d ride my bike with a wicker basket full of writing and art supplies, wander the paths between wheat and barley, then come home to weed our giant vegetable garden—usually battling that relentless portulaca. Some years brought hail, drought, grasshoppers, or hungry ducks. Still, we planted again.

Here’s what farming taught me about a multi-path career:

• Sow multiple seeds. Try different paths. Early on, tend them all so each has a fair chance.
• Watch what thrives. Put more energy where momentum and joy are growing.
• Cut what won’t yield. If a row isn’t producing, let it go and plant something new.
• Let land lie fallow when needed. Rest isn’t quitting; it’s protecting quality and well-being.

Years ago at a Schulich Executive Education Centre (SEEC) alumni breakfast, facilitator Stephen Friedman said something that felt like all the cherries lining up on a slot machine:

I rushed up to ask, “I know I want to do different things—how do I figure out everything I want to do?”
His answer: Start with one.

You don’t need to know all the paths—just the first seed. The rest grows organically.

That’s exactly how my own “career canvas” has unfolded. I couldn’t have predicted that meeting Murray would open doors in film, or that meeting Darren would lead to a prebiotic soda company. Those seeds weren’t obvious at the start; they sprouted because I kept planting, tending relationships, and saying yes to aligned opportunities.

You don’t need to tend every path at once. Some thrive in full sunlight, while others rest for a season until you’re ready to return.

Your turn: choose the first seed

Maybe your “first” is the job you’re in—because you enjoy it, because it pays the bills, or because it’s building skills you’ll need for paths #2, #3, and #4. Be strategic: squeeze every bit of learning and connection from it.

If you’re unsure where to start, take five minutes and jot down:

• What do other people struggle with?
• What do your friends say you’re great at?
• What do you think you’re great at?
• What skills have you developed? What knowledge have you gained?
• What challenges have you overcome?
• If you had a free afternoon, what would you do?
• What idea keeps nudging you?
• What problem are you itching to solve?

Then pick one small next step that plants a seed this week. The garden grows from there.

With prairie-wide gratitude and dirt-under-the-nails optimism,
Tamara

P.S. Hit reply and tell me the one seed you’re planting. I’ll cheer you on—and share a few back-pocket tools next week to help you tend what you’ve planted.