Eat the Elephant

There's an old saying that goes, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." Though it's meant as a joke, it's still a great metaphor for anyone trying to achieve huge goals. You've got to break those goals down into manageable chunks, and then work a little toward achieving them every single day.Then again, you don't necessarily have to do it this way. One of the best ways I've found to get work done is to let your deadlines just drive you. You let the pressure build, and it pushes you to get a lot done all at once. Though it's not much fun, it's often the way you achieve your best work. Making real money requires dedication and endurance.There's a time and a place for procrastinating. Sure, if you think logically, you can break all your goals down and just do a little bit every day, and you do make steady progress. But it always doesn't work that way. If other projects get in the way, you may have to deal with a pressure that builds and builds, because you can't always get that little bit done every day. As a result of that pressure, you figure things out at the last minute. That's not a bad thing, given the results -- but sometimes it feels horrible.Here are some things that can help you cope. First of all, you've got to think conceptually. You've got to be able to see the big picture all at once -- what I call seeing it bigger, and thinking it simpler. You've then got to be able to break it down into bite-sized pieces, before reassembling it like a jigsaw puzzle. Strive to get something done every day -- even if you're just thinking things through.That really is the logical way to handle it, and I do recommend it. It works well -- sometimes. But I've found that sometimes you have to procrastinate a little to let the pressure build. Sometimes the work is just difficult, no matter how little you do, and that piles on the pressure. But in the meantime, as you're eating the elephant, be kind to yourself. Don't beat yourself up for not making enough progress. That's the worst thing you can do. A better idea is to pace yourself, but push yourself. And sometimes, you need to take time off.If you're used to pushing yourself constantly in an effort to get each project done quickly, here's what I recommend: do sprints instead. Work your tail off for a short period of time, then take a little time off before you go back to working your tail off. That way you pace yourself, but still push myself. Try looking at all your projects as a series of sprints. Try to get as much done as fast as possible; but then pull back and rest a little.You've got to make a game out of it for this approach to really work. You can't take it too seriously -- you really can't. Sure, put everything you can into it; work as hard as you can, but also realize that good enough really is good enough. You can fix the gaps and errors on your next run-through. There's such a thing as paralysis of analysis -- or as I like to call it, vapor-lock. When you're trying to be too perfect, you may never get started. Don't do that. Do the best you can with what you have, like Theodore Roosevelt said, and that will be enough -- for now.When you're working on new marketing projects, work on the sales copy first -- while it's still fresh and new, and while you're still excited. That way, you'll transmit all your excitement directly to your prospects and customers. Most people do it the other way around: they work on the product development and the fulfillment while they're excited, and by the time they start the sales materials or websites, all their enthusiasm is gone. That's too bad, because ultimately, selling is the transference of emotion.The more excited you come across in your sales material, the more excited you'll be able to make other people. There's a magic involved when you're excited, when it's a brand-new project and the thrill is still there. That's the time to create your sales material. If that's all you learn from this article, then I've taught you something very valuable. Too many people think it's all about the product -- that they should spend all their emotion on that. And the product is important, no question about it; but if the thrill has worn off by the time you write your sales materials, you'll find it very hard to muster the emotion you need to sell it. Do the sales material first.That's another way to eat the elephant: try to stay excited. Do the best you can. Keep your eye on the prize. Be like a racecar driver, always focused on the road ahead. Later, as you're working on the development, expect obstacles. You also have to want it bad enough to push through all the challenges, which is yet another way to get the elephant eaten.There's a song called How Bad Do You Want It? by Don Henley, and as Henley points out, most people don't want it bad enough. The more you want to achieve your goals, the bigger the goal is, and the more excited you are about achieving it, the more you're going to be willing to put up with the challenges -- and the higher the price you'll be willing to pay. Even though it's going to be hard work at times, make it a labor of love. You'll be proud of yourself when you get it done... and by the way, hard work will not kill you. It makes you stronger. It's good for your soul. I believe that wholeheartedly.


Too many people don't realize that -- or don't want to. Making money is a skill you have to polish. The good news is, you can earn while you're learning; but it is a skill, and the way you develop skills is by working hard and doing everything I'm talking about doing in this article. As the saying goes, "Everything is difficult until it becomes easy."Most people are afraid of hard work, and shouldn't be. The secret is, the more you want to do something, the less you call it work. The more excited you are about a project, the more you're willing to endure. It's not always difficult; in fact, there are times when the money rolls in easily. But those times are the results of the hard work you've already done.Be sure to give yourself some time off, so you don't burn out. But don't take too much time off. People who take it easy all the time never accomplish anything substantial, and they never have that great feeling of pride and satisfaction that can only come when you really bust your tail for something -- when you're giving it all you've got. So remember, all you can do is all you can do -- but all you can do is enough. When you face vapor-lock, this paralysis of analysis, get over it. Plow through it. Stop striving for perfection; it'll never happen, no matter how much you try. You're only human. Do your very best, and move on.One of my best metaphors for this is Go as far as you can see, knowing that when you get there, you'll be able to see even farther. So many people want to figure it all out before they ever get started. They want it all to be clear in advance, so they can plan for everything. That's a good recipe for paralysis. You'll almost never know from the beginning how it's all going to come together. You're going to get blindsided anyway, no matter how well you try to prepare. Things will come out of nowhere to alter your whole entire plan. You're going to get newer and better ideas. You're going to see new problems you didn't see in the very beginning, so you're going to have to make adjustments along the way.Eat that elephant, one bite at a time. That's the way you get things done. As the saying goes, inch by inch, life's a cinch; yard by yard, life is hard. In business, especially small business, you really do have to push yourself. Don't worry about perfection; just know that your best is going to get better as you move forward. Realize that this is a skill that requires practice. Everything you want to accomplish you can have, but you do have to pay that price.Everybody knows that, but most don't stop and realize it. And maybe it's good that they don't, because the price for success is a lot of hard work, lot of pain, and a lot of suffering. Oh, not all the time, or even every day; you couldn't survive that. You've got to take it slower, but you do have to take it. You'll have to face some stress. This idea that stress is a killer is BS. Stress is not a killer; it's essential for life and growth. It's strain that's the killer. The difference between stress and strain is that strain occurs when you're not pacing yourself -- you're pushing yourself full blast all the time.So you've got to give yourself a break. You've got to see yourself through kind eyes. You've got to be good to yourself. Don't strive for perfection; just get something done every day. Try to move forward. Break your big goals into pieces, but realize that those pieces are going to change, and you're going to get better ideas as you move forward.What I've shared with you here has taken me many years to figure out, and I'm still on the path, just like you are. But I've already made millions of dollars, and if that's true, then I know that it's possible for anybody to make millions. If you haven't made your first millions yet, then you're just going to have to make that leap of faith that's absolutely essential to get out there, believe it bigger, and see it simpler.Eat the elephant one bite at a time. This life is a journey, and you can make as much money along the way as you want to make. It doesn't matter what your background is. If you're dead broke, so what? I was dead broke when I got started, and I've gone through many periods where I've struggled financially. But you get through it by going through it, by doing as much as you can every day, while still pacing yourself so you don't burn out. Success is waiting for you if you keep that in mind.