How do you eat an elephant?

Credit: Cory D.D. Miller

Credit: Cory D.D. Miller

This question has been around for a long time. You might have heard it before from a friend or a family member, or if you have taken any leadership courses you might have heard this along the way as well. “How do you eat an elephant?” The most common answer is “One bite at a time.” The question asks the listener how he/she would conquer a large and time consuming task. In essence, boil it down to its basics: to eat something you have to take a bite. Hence, “one bite at a time.”

I remember my brother in law telling that I should ask my sister Stacy this question one time.  She replied, “First, I would disable its trunk since this is the elephant’s main weapon. Then I would make the elephant immobile by attacking its feet…”  At this point I stopped her and said, “What the hell are you talking about? Disable its weapon? Make it immobile? The answer is one bite at a time.” She then quickly retorted, “Well how are you going to bite it, if it’s biting you?” At this point I am collecting my brain off the floor because my mind had been blown.

My sister gave me a completely different viewpoint on what I thought was a cut and dried answer. Needless to say I was shocked, but I used this as a catalyst. I started changing the way I did things in my life. I had become stagnant in my ways and gotten into a rut. So I started small. I would start conversations with people I wouldn’t normally chat with and began adventuring on different routes home or to venues I was traveling to. What I began finding were unique and different experiences that I wouldn’t have had before.

Pro Tip #3 - Redefine your thought process, and be UNIQUE

So many times we get stuck in the same routine. Take, for example, the idea of getting involved in an organization. Your first act might be to go straight to the top of that board or committee and talk to the president about getting on. I want to challenge you to think first, “Instead of picking out something I want to be on, what is something that I am passionate about?”

Next week’s blog will focus on defining that passion and how to convert it into actions.

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