Eat That Frog! Part 3 of 9: How to Eat an Elephant
October 16, 2009 by dr. lam
There is an age old question: “How do you eat an elephant?” The answer is easy: ”One bite at a time.” I like this expression. It reminds me of Lao Tzu’s saying that a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Remember the series that we did (for my more established and faithful blog followers) on the power of intention. When we put our intention on what we want, we can accomplish much more. We must visualize what we want and visualize it as already present. As mentioned in our first blog of this series, we must see ourselves as productive creatures or we will falter.
However, this imagination of what we want is simply insufficient. There must be planning on how to eat the elephant (or frog). Why? Because it allows us to work with maximal efficiency. Without efficiency, our work life is unproductive and it can spill into our private lives. The saying “Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance” should be absorbed. The 10/90 rule says that 10% of planning will allow us to be more efficient with the remaining 90% of time. Even 10 minutes of accurate planning can shave off a couple of hours in the day to free us up to do other things that can be more productive.
When should we plan? Tracy argues that planning would be better accomplished the night before. As we settle on what we need to move from the day’s tasks that were not completed, everything is fresh in our minds and we also then allow our subconscious mind during sleep to help guide us to what would be the best course of action the following morning. When we awake, we can be instilled with a lot more energy, drive, and fresh ideas. Of course, that morning, spending a few minutes to plan for the day will then allow us to take a chunk off the bigger elephant more effectively.
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5 Responses to “Eat That Frog! Part 3 of 9: How to Eat an Elephant”
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and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
Great point!! I really like the elephant idea! Great!! Sorry for commenting so late!
cool, a new gravatar!
Funny, it just now came through? LOL
Love your yoga one, Dr. Lam.
That pose is really spectacular!!