When faced with overwhelming and unwieldy tasks, the metaphor about “eating the elephant” reminds us that the only way to tackle it is one bite at a time.
Whether it’s a major project, a personal goal, or a tough decision, the key is to start. Too often, we fool ourselves and others by dancing around the elephant, procrastinating or overplanning.
This dance—making elaborate plans, seeking endless advice, or justifying delays—can feel productive but only serves as a distraction. Real progress begins with that first bite.
Start somewhere, however small, and build momentum from there.
Have you ever looked at all the processes running in the background on your computer? You can see them in Task Manager.
Some of them are recognizable and necessary. But there are probably a bunch that don’t need to be there. Some may have been put there by advertising platforms, some may be remnants of old programs you used years ago.
Each one consumes your computer’s finite CPU and memory capacity. Each one is jockeying for position in the hierarchy of tasks.
If you’re able to take the time to identify and eliminate the unnecessary background tasks, your computer’s performance improves. Software runs faster. You can open and work on bigger files without waiting forever (measured in seconds nowadays) for them to load.
How many meaningless or unnecessary background processes do you have running in your life?
How many of these processes consume valuable emotional capacity in your head?
How many are sapping your energy, your creativity, your productivity, or your ability to think deeply about a subject?
Our minds are amazingly powerful. They can provide incredible clarity and understanding. They can energize and motivate us to push into new frontiers, explore our limits, and hone our craft beyond all outside expectations.
But if we allow our mind to be clouded, to waste its valuable processing power on dumb things, unnecessary background processes, or dramas that have nothing to do with us, all that amazing power is wasted.
Our understanding and motivation about what we’re doing, both now and in the future, will become cloudy and fragmented. It’s easy to see how this can lead to a sense of hopelessness…a sense that there’s nothing for us in the future except for more cloudiness and confusion.
Consider all the distractions we allow to get in the way of our clear thinking.
How many can we eliminate? How many can we channel in a productive direction, or remove entirely from our lives?
It’s worth our finite time to do a “background process audit” in our life. See just how much of our emotional capacity is being wasted without adding any real value to our lives.
It won’t be easy. These meaningless background processes are desperate to continue living in our head. This audit will require self-awareness, introspection, and sometimes difficult decisions about what to eliminate.
The payoff for all this effort?
Mental clarity for the things that truly matter, increased productivity, and a more hopeful view of our future.
Delegation isn’t a “set it and forget it” task. As the leader, you aren’t abdicating the task and walking away…
How’s your delegation game? If you’re like most managers, I bet there’s room for improvement. As leaders, our ability to delegate effectively is a cornerstone of organizational success.
When done correctly, delegation is a powerful tool for growth, multiplying a leader’s effectiveness and unlocking the full potential of individuals and their organization.
Delegation isn’t a mere task transfer—a way to dump all the unpleasant tasks off your plate and onto someone else’s. True delegation involves entrusting the responsibility and authority needed for the team member to take emotional ownership of the assignment. This is the only way they’ll be able to make the decisions necessary for success.
Delegation isn’t a “set it and forget it” task. As the leader, you aren’t abdicating the task and walking away. It’s critical that you remove your ego from the equation, recognizing that your team member’s approach may differ from yours. Your job is to provide the necessary space and grace for team members to be successful. Moreover, you should offer support, insights, and resources to aid in their success without dictating every step.
Delegation is the linchpin for developing a pipeline of future leaders. Breaking employees free from routine tasks pushes them outside their comfort zones. They learn more about their organization and themselves. Their picture of the organization becomes clearer, and their connection to the organization strengthens.
Success breeds confidence. Not only is the leader’s effectiveness multiplied when their team members succeed, team members gain confidence to handle future challenges. When setbacks occur, leaders should provide guidance, help redirect efforts, and work collaboratively to identify lessons learned.
Managers who refrain from delegation or hoard the “secret sauce” of their roles create a bottleneck in leadership development. They will find themselves locked into their roles, unable to develop or contribute to other parts of the organization. Their failure to prepare team members for advancement creates a stagnant environment that hinders overall organizational agility. Without a culture of delegation, an organization will struggle to identify and nurture emerging talent.
One other thing about delegation: when you delegate an important task, it’s your job to champion your team member’s efforts within the organization. If you’re congratulated for their success, make sure your team members get recognized for doing the work. If things go poorly, own the failure and work with your team members to improve their chance of success the next time.
Delegation is not just a skill. It’s a long-term strategic commitment to nurturing and building tomorrow’s leaders.
How can you enhance your delegation practices today?
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Procrastination initiates a cascade of preventable urgencies, turning manageable tasks into overwhelming burdens and sowing seeds of chaos in our future.
Few things strike fear into the hearts of students quite like the term paper.
The teacher lays out the assignment – a substantial research paper requiring thorough analysis and a minimum of 5000 words. Oh yeah…and half of your grade in the class will be based on how well you do on the term paper. You have until the last week of the semester to get it done.
You think about the topic. You might even jot down some notes on your phone about how you’ll approach it. But there’s no need to rush on this assignment. You have plenty of time. Besides, your friends are heading out to get some tacos and margaritas at your favorite Mexican restaurant. This term paper can wait another day.
As the weeks go by, a creeping feeling of impending doom grips your subconscious. You haven’t started work on that term paper. Growing anxiety and stress become unwelcome companions as the deadline looms closer, and you realize the gravity of the task at hand.
Unfortunately, you have other things on your plate that need more attention. Ironically, many of these more-urgent items are other long-term projects that you had chosen to delay…until now.
The urgency of the term paper magnifies as the deadline inches closer. The once-manageable project becomes an overwhelming burden.
You start to question the fairness of the assignment. How can this teacher expect me to write 5000 words on this topic when I have all these other classes to manage and so little time to get it done?
A cascade of preventable urgencies engulfs your life, leaving you in a world of self-inflicted chaos.
Sound familiar?
The term paper saga is a small-scale reflection of the self-inflicted busyness and chaos in our lives.
Only a disciplined and methodical approach to our tasks can break the grip of procrastination. Our bias must be toward thoughtful and immediate action, not mindless delays to another day.
The time to start work on that long-term project is now, not tomorrow. The time to continue work on that long-term project is tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day after that.
Procrastination is a choice. Each delay we accept sows seeds of chaos in our future. Every task we postpone adds to the burden our future selves must bear.
Grandpa Bob Encouraging Leadership 
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