7 Dec 2025 · 1 min
Short podcast segment in which Tom Ferry recounts advice from his mentor Bill Mitchell: taking action alone doesn't guarantee immediate results. Using a childhood well-cranking analogy, Bill emphasizes persistent, repeated effort ("cranking the well") across areas like finances, relationships, marketing, and business until momentum brings results.
So one thing my mentor, Bill Mitchell, taught me growing up early was I always thought that I could just take some action and produce a result. And what he would say to me over and over again is, you may take that action and think you're going to get the result, but the truth is, you have to take a lot of action to finally get into some level of momentum before you actually experience what it is you truly want. And he would say to me, he's like, tom, I was raised on a farm in Michigan. My mom would hand me a bucket and say, go outside to the well and bring in some water. Now, first of all, could you even imagine that? So he would say, I'd go outside and he would crank the well over and over and over and over, and water didn't come out immediately. You couldn't just go to Starbucks and grab something. He's out there cranking the well. And then eventually it would start to trickle, and then the water would flow. And he would say to me, tom, you have to be willing to crank the well. Whether it's with your finances, whether it's with your relationship, whether it's with your prospecting or your marketing or your business. You can't just do this and get that. It's always do this and this and this and this. And every day you feel like quitting, you keep cranking the well, and that's how you get the real results in life.