Choose Your Elephants
Wisely, Feed Them Jealously.
Peter Turla
says ‘Don’t be stomping on ants when you’ve got elephants to feed’
There is so
much that demands our attention every single day. It doesn’t matter how much
time you have, there will always be more to do for as long as we live.
In the
beginning we look for things to keep us busy. There is a certain pride that
comes from being occupied and engaged. Before long however, we come to the
realization that busyness shouldn’t be our goal at all. Productivity becomes
more important because it is the only thing that makes sense. It doesn’t matter
how busy you are, if you are not producing the kind of results you are looking
for, you are wasting your life and time. When all you care about is activity,
you become like a rocking chair. A lot of motion but zero progress like Alfred
A. Montapert puts it.
You need to
come to a point where you choose where you will focus your attention because it
would yield the greatest return on your time and other resources. Nobody wants
to spend their resources where they are going to waste or yielding less than
ideal outcomes. You have a choice to spend your time on ants or elephants.
When there
are so many things screaming for your attention, you need to pose and ask
yourself what the most important ones are. I like what Stephen R Covey
recommends in his famous book ‘Seven habits of highly effective people.’ He
insists on the significance of knowing who you are and what your values are as
a person. The reason why we fail to stay focused on our elephants is because we
do not know what they are. The one takeaway you should have from this article
is that you need to decide what is important to you. Forget about what your
peers are doing right now. Forget about the fad of the moment. Don’t get side
tracked by the excitement of the crowd. Don’t be moved by whatever challenges
you are facing at the moment or what needs your attention right now. Concern
yourself more with what is most important when all is said and done. Think
about what you would never give up no matter where you find yourself. There are
certain things that have refused to go away. You can’t seem to shake them off
your mind. Think about what you want to do in your times of peace. What makes
you fulfilled beyond anything else? What would you still wake up to do when you
do not need to work for money? Therein lies some hint of what your values are.
Once you are
clear on your core values, it is time to look at your activity so that you
begin to align it to your values. This is what it means to feed your elephants.
Elephants are those activities that have the greatest impact on you living out
your deepest values. Let’s say for example you value the dignity of every child
and as such you want to see all children wherever they are living well. For you
as you pursue money, the end is not money per se. You see it as a tool that
enables you to live out your deeper value of dignity for all children. You will
want to make money so that you can contribute to the taking care of the lives
of children as much as you can. Any activity that impacts negatively on your
ability to generate money for this cause, will not find room in your schedule.
In the same breath any activity that propels you further forward in your quest
to reach your goal will find room recurrently in your schedule.
The question
then becomes, what elephants are on your schedule right now? If you can reflect
back over the last month or so, what do you see taking up most of your time and
resources? You have to do an honest assessment so that you are clear on where
your priorities lie. Those represent your elephants.
The truth is
that sometimes you won’t like what you see. Many times, there is dissonance
between what we say we value and what we value in action. Your greatest task
then is to identify this dissonance and take corrective action. You have to
become deliberate in choosing items that are a reflection of your values to
fill up your calendar. Everything else can be done when you have that 25th
hour in your day or that eighth day in your week. The same must follow when it
comes to your other resources. You can only spend them in the areas that align
with you values.
It comes as
a shock to some of your associates and close friends when you choose to adjust
like this. All of a sudden, they realize that you are not as available for some
activities as you used to be. The good ones will have no problem with this.
Friends who have a problem with you taking steps to make your life better are
no friends at all. You should not be troubled about such after letting them
know the reasoning behind your shift.
As I finish
this, suffice it to say that your elephants are your own and you should be
proud of them. Give them the best and choicest of your resources. Feed them
regularly and do not spare anything from them. As for everything else, let it
fit into schedule as it unfolds. There is an analogy that would represent the
best way to wrap this up. You have to look at your tasks as rocks, stones,
pebbles and gravel of different sizes that you need to fit into a container.
You have to start with the biggest rocks-Those are your elephants. The little
ones and the gravel are all the other things you can do. They should be allowed
to slip in and fit within the container but only after the big rocks are in.
Choose your elephants wisely and feed them jealously.
Article by:
Samuel Mwinamo Asena
Author:
Blessed to be a Blessing. Check out intro here:
https://samuelmwinamo.ck.page/91a9bdeddf
Founder:
Optimize Institute:
https://www.facebook.com/Optimize-Institute-103167017916357/
Photo Credit: UN.ORG
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