March 2, 2025

If you’ve ever felt like giving up.

If you’ve ever felt the hurdles are too high, the headwinds too strong.

And if you’ve ever felt that as one person you can’t move the proverbial needle.

Then come with me for a quick trip to a south-central Sioux Falls backyard, where a flock of mallard ducks is about to renew your faith in what I consider some universal truths.

When I say a flock, I’m actually talking more like 400 to 500 ducks, which is what homeowner Eric Christensen guesses he saw out his window during one of our coldest days this winter.

As the air temperature was nearing 20 degrees below zero, with the windchill worse than that, Christensen estimated we were on our 50th straight hour of below-zero temperatures.

Typically, the water that ponds in his backyard “freezes between November and December, depending on how early winter sets in,” he told me. “We’ve been here three years, and the pond is usually frozen over months ago, and we usually don’t have any ducks or geese.”

Not this year. Christensen said a few dozen ducks hung around the area as fall turned to an unseasonably nice winter. Then, as the temperature plunged, it was like word spread.

“You’d see more and more ducks show up, and it was like, where are you all coming from? Shouldn’t you be further south?” he said.

Ironically, his work as a CEO consultant for CPA firms and on M&A transactional advisory services took him to Florida this winter at a time when their snow measured higher than ours, so “it’s been an odd year, and I guess wildlife also can maybe show you it’s been an odd year,” Christensen said.

An odd year, to say the least.

But back to the birds.

There Christensen sat, looking out the window and wondering “how in the world is this little section of water not freezing?” he said.

And then he took a closer look.

“You could see the ducks constantly moving,” he said. “I guess if the water keeps moving, it’s hard to form a layer of ice.”

The ducks worked day and night, taking turns, to keep the water from freezing.

The leadership consultant couldn’t help but see the mallards’ metaphor.

“It really shows if you band together and work together, I guess anything is possible,” he said. “You can keep water from freezing at 20 below.”

In his world, this is tax season. It can seem a bit like the world is freezing over, he acknowledged.

“And we just keep moving to keep things moving along,” he said, adding the sight out his window served as a reminder that “when the going gets tough, let’s all jump in the pond and get things done.”

Ice melts. Spring always returns. And last week, when it came a little early, the ducks — and a few geese — were there for it, floating in warmer water and climbing onto the nearby grass.

“They made it, and hopefully we all made it,” Christensen said. “Hopefully, we’re on the downside of winter.”

And hopefully the next time your slice of the world feels like the cold is closing in, you can think back on that flock in the pond. Surround yourself with like-minded, committed people, don’t stop trying, and you’ll likely stay afloat until better days return.