Walking into your favorite steakhouse, you take a sit and you open the menu…
Before even taking a moment you go ahead say to the waiter, “I’d like the largest steak on the menu.” You pause and before the waiter can take a breath to ask you how you would like it prepared you chime in. “Well Done.”
You close your menu, tuck your napkin in your lap and you excitedly await your meal.
Who wouldn’t want the largest steak on the menu well done?
(Let’s not debate now, but if you are curious, I’m more of a petite filet medium rare guy.)
About 20 minutes later the waiter delivers your steak, a monster piece of meat, and dinner is on.
Now…
How are you going to eat that steak? You probably aren’t going to try to consume the entire steak in one bite?
That would be insane to try, inherently impossible, and if somehow you fit the entire thing in your mouth you would die…(Try not to picture this)
Okay, take a breath, we aren’t having a meat eating contest.
Now, let’s say that the steak is a metaphor (it is) and that the last question didn’t really seek to know your steak eating habits.
Let’s say I’m more interested in how you approach the full plate that is life?
Can we agree that we all take on a lot?
In recent years I have noticed that many people take on so much that they become very mediocre at best at doing anything.
“Busy” becomes a form of paralysis, and execution becomes increasingly rare as the pile of responsibilities grow.
That is because we all have limits. No matter how good we think we are, we have a point in which we cannot do any more in a fixed amount of time.
So time becomes the key.
Time and how we prioritize the items that comprise our rapidly growing list of “To-Do’s.”
The bottom line is that by trying to take on everything at once we are ultimately setting ourselves up for a massive failure.
Taking on too much is a proverbial death sentence whether in our work, with our families or any other activity.
And if you have the gluten for punishment that is taking on more than you can possibly handle, you need to learn the art of putting first things first.
One of the greatest lessons of Stephen Covey’s “Seven Habits.”
Have you ever heard the expression eat the elephant a bite at a time?
So don’t let your overwhelming pile of To-Do’s bring you down; Rather focus on what you can control and go from there.
Bon Appetite and don’t forget…”Stay thirsty my friends!”
