Steady in jerks was a saying I picked up from one of my first non-family bosses. I went to work on a farm for two brothers down the road. I was around 13 years old at the time. I had been driving a tractor for my Granddad for a few years and had the experience they were looking for.
We would be working on any number of chores that have to be done on a farm. It didn’t matter if we were scooping chicken shit or working ground with those big Case tractors, someone would ask how we were coming along. Bill would say, “Steady in jerks.”
I thought he was being funny. He was describing life. Life is never smooth. It comes in jerks and starts. Long periods of boredom and frustration separated by shorts blasts of life affirming progress.
That’s how it happens from the day you’re born. You enter this world kicking and screaming. Some days are good and some not so good.
Steady in jerks.
