We’ve inherited a story of success that looks a lot like farming. Put your head down. Work the land. Plant the seeds of skill and discipline. Grind away for years. Guard your harvest. Repeat.
It’s the agricultural model of achievement: steady, linear, and long-term. And it has value. Persistence matters. Discipline matters. But, in a fast-changing world, the field doesn’t always hold. By the time you’ve put in your 10,000 hours, the soil may have dried up, the market may have shifted, and the game may have changed.
The Hunter/Gatherer Alternative
In Michael Neill’s latest Cafe for the Soul post, he offers a different metaphor: the hunter/gatherer.
Hunters don’t grind one patch of land forever. They travel light. They keep their senses sharp, scanning for what’s available right now. A ripe fruit here. A herd passing through there. They take what’s needed, adapt quickly, and move on when conditions shift. No hoarding, no backbreaking toil in barren fields.
When we map this onto modern life, the hunter/gatherer mindset prizes responsiveness, adaptability, and opportunity-spotting. It asks us to notice the openings that are already around us—in an email, in a conversation, in a passing idea—and act before they vanish.
The hunter’s toolkit is different from the farmer’s. Where farmers invest in ploughs and irrigation systems, hunters cultivate awareness and mobility. They develop pattern recognition, that ability to read subtle signs that others miss. They learn to trust their intuition about timing, knowing when to strike and when to wait. Most importantly, they understand that scarcity is often an illusion; there’s usually another opportunity around the corner if you know how to look.
The Coaching Reframe
Here’s the coaching takeaway:
Instead of asking, “How can I keep working this one field?” Try asking, “Where’s the fresh game today?”
That simple reframe can free us from the grind and open us to the opportunities at our feet. It’s about balancing long-term goals with agility so we’re not trapped in a field that’s no longer fertile, rather than abandoning them altogether.
Consider how this plays out in different domains. The farmer-entrepreneur doubles down on their original business model even as the market shifts. The hunter-entrepreneur pivots quickly, following emerging trends and customer needs. The farmer-professional climbs the traditional corporate ladder rung by rung. The hunter-professional builds a portfolio of skills and relationships that can adapt to new industries and roles.
The Integration: Why We Need Both
For me, both models hold truth. In the fast pace of today’s world, I find myself leaning on the hunter’s skills, like staying light, moving quickly, and spotting what’s fresh before it disappears. It’s how I keep up with the shifts, how I keep my work alive and responsive.
At the same time, running my blog feels much closer to farming. Soulcruzer is my field. I plant new insights, tend to ideas, and cultivate a space where people can return, season after season. It’s a place of steady growth, a kind of digital soil that grows richer the more I care for it.
And maybe it’s not just a field; perhaps it’s also a campsite. A fire that stays lit so others can gather round, share their own stories, and feel part of something communal.
The Rhythm of Sustainable Success
Hunting keeps me fed in the short term. Farming keeps the fire burning in the long term. Together, they create a rhythm that feels sustainable, alive, and true to the times we’re living in.
But there’s a third element often overlooked: the rest between seasons. Traditional societies understood this: the fallow periods that let the land recover and the ceremonial times when the community gathered to share stories and make meaning from their experiences.
In our always-on culture, we’ve forgotten the wisdom of rhythms. We try to farm and hunt simultaneously, burning out in the process. The integrated approach requires not just knowing when to plant and when to roam, but when to simply be still and let insights settle, relationships deepen, and energy restore itself.
Living the Question
Gather what’s close. Hunt when the hunt is on. And remember to rest in between. Success is about actually living, not just harvesting what we’ve grown, or hunting the next big thing.
Perhaps the deepest insight isn’t choosing farmer or hunter, but learning to ask better questions: What season am I in right now? What does this moment call for? How can I honour both the need for growth and the need for discovery?
In a world that’s changing faster than ever, our survival, and our thriving, may depend not on having the right answer, but on staying fluid enough to dance with whatever questions emerge. The farmer’s patience. The hunter’s alertness. The gatherer’s appreciation for what’s already here.
That’s a way of being fully alive, not just a strategy for success.