Learning to distill lavender has been a huge learning curve for me.
It is hot, fast-paced work, and the timing matters more than you would think. To get the best essential oil yield, you have to harvest the lavender earlier than you might expect—before every bloom is fully open and while the field looks perfect. That big blooming field is what we wait all year for as lavender farmers.
One of my mentors told me the ideal time to harvest is when the bloom is around 35% open. Mine were closer to 80% this year. The early spring heat accelerated the bloom cycle before we could get out there and cut. The bees were quite angry about this!
Then, once you harvest, you have to move quickly. The lavender needs to get into the still while the plant material is fresh and the oil yield is at its best.
Distillation also produces a byproduct- hydrosol, more commonly known as “lavender water” -- and you get a massive yield of that. But after all the cutting, hauling, loading, steaming, and processing, you end up with only very small amounts of essential oil (especially if you wait til 80% bloom like I did this year!).
The smallest output is also the most concentrated—and the most valuable.
LEADERSHIP REFRAME
Business can look a lot like that gorgeous copper still. Shiny. Productive.
There is plenty of volume: Meetings. Emails. Projects. Decisions. Opportunities. People working hard. Especially when you have a team of “doers” moving at your every direction, the busyness can become very deceptive.
But volume is not the same as value. The most important work is often a very small part of everything moving through the business. One decision. One priority. One relationship. One responsibility that finally gets fully transferred. And just like my lavender harvest, some of that value has a window.
Leaders often wait until everything looks ready—until the plan is perfect, the team is fully aligned, or there is finally…enough…time. But by then, the moment may have passed.
The work of leadership is not to personally produce more volume. It is to recognize what matters most, act while the opportunity is fresh, and protect the small amount of work capable of creating maximum value.
NOTICE THIS WEEK
Look at everything moving through your business right now.
What is the lavender water—the byproduct and necessary work that keeps things moving? And what is the essential oil—the small number of decisions, priorities, or relationships that could materially change the second half of the year?
Then ask: Am I protecting the highest-value work? Or am I letting it sit while I manage the volume?
TRY THIS
In the new edition of Let It Go!, I share practical tools that help leaders identify the work that truly requires their attention—and release the work they are still holding onto because of habit, control, or unclear ownership.
Because leading with less is not about doing less meaningful work.
It is about continually distilling your attention down to what matters most.
Helping you lead with less,
Your favorite lavender farmer- Emily