The old joke “How do you eat an Elephant❓” (One bite at a time) does offer a simple lesson, it misses out on many other questions you should be answering.
- Clearly identifying your goals. Is it to eat the elephant? Is it to get nutrition? To disappear the body?
- Develop a strategy / clear plan of actions and steps to take
- If you’re going to be eating a lot of elephants
- Have a way to track metrics
- Experiment with different approaches
- Get to a level of expertise where your subconscious can do the work
- Are there other ways to achieve your goals?
- After finishing a part; reflect on it and think about what went right, wrong etc. What can be improved
- Should you eat the whole thing?
- Are all parts equally valuable? Should you prioritize parts?
- Batching together actions that are similar. Can you do all the cutting, the cooking, the prep in a way that will make you more efficient? (It’s often in this step that we see how to automate things even more)
- Breaking it into “digestible” sections. Completing many “small things” gives you a feeling of accomplishment thus you’ll feel like you’re making progress and more likely to complete the goal.
- Planning other things to do in the meantime so you don’t burn out on the same thing over and over
- Be sure to reward yourself when you complete a section.
- Scheduling sessions to keep eating it. If you don’t block time for doing a thing, it often doesn’t get done!
- Are you using the right tools; Should you use a chainsaw? Fork & knife?
- Would improving your tools help? Do you need to sharpen your knife?
- Should you get help? Hire a butcher to do carving, A cook?
- Use positive thinking to “see” you succeeding before you start
- Match up the time you’re doing it with the level of your capability (If you’re “sharpest” in the morning, do the most tasking things in the morning, etc.)
- Is there a natural order of things. Do some pieces require to be eaten before others? Does it make it easier to eat the legs before the thigh?
