It matters how you eat an elephant

For as long as I can remember, I have known about the advice to ‘eat an elephant one bite at a time’ when dealing with a big task. I never knew what it really meant, until last week when I managed to complete a big project more easily than I had imagined it would be.

It makes sense, right? You start at the beginning with the first bite and keep going. And provided you keep going, you will ‘eat your elephant’.

My revelation was to focus ONLY on the current bite as a bite, not as part of an elephant.

Sure, take a step back occasionally and look at the bigger picture, but when doing a task, focus on doing the task in front of you.

Not the next task, but THIS one, in front of you NOW.

What elephant-sized projects are you working on right now?

Note: This tip was created without harming any elephants ?

Here’s a thought… Life is a big project. Focus on today.

Changing the lie

“If you never change your mind, why have one?” Edward de Bono

This got me thinking, which changed my mind.

Have you ever made an impulsive decision? Or agreed to something you later regret?

Then what?

Live the lie, or say those four words “I changed my mind”.

By the way, this is not about ducking your commitments or giving up when the going gets tough.

It’s about being true to who you are.

What lies are you living at the moment?

You should consider how this impacts your personal brand.

Your voice takes centre stage

When you are reduced to a 16:9 rectangle on a screen amongst other little rectangles, your voice becomes more important.

How do you reach out from your little rectangle to change minds, motivate, be friendly, be noticed and leave a good impression?

Online, your voice takes centre stage, so here are a couple of tips for our new Zoomified world.

Take a moment now and stare out the window. Adopt a posture as if you are confident and successful. Done it?

You probably sat up straight, lifted your head up, pulled your shoulders back, and started breathing more deeply. Think of this as your posture of power and grace.

This posture is great for your voice (and how you feel), so position your screen and camera at eye level and use this posture when in online meetings.

Do it for your next meeting and notice how things change!

One thing you will notice is that you will use more variation in your voice. What the rectangle has cost you in terms of gestures and body language, you need to add back in with your voice.

Here are a couple more tips on how to influence others with your voice.

Your head is not an office

Are you using your mind as an office?

Does it feel crammed full?

Do you ever feel you have too many tabs open at once?

While we can multitask, we cannot multi-focus. There's a difference, and trying to multi-focus causes that head-full feeling.

So how can you close a few tabs?

1. Write some stuff down to get it out of your head and somewhere else. It will wait there until you are ready to pick it up again.

2. Of all your spinning plates, decide which ones are china and which ones are rubber. The rubber ones will come to no harm if they fall, and then later you can pick them up again.

3. Stop for 3 minutes and focus on something like a flower or a veined pebble. Turn it around as you hold it and look for every nuance of shape and colour. Immerse yourself in the object. If you think of something else, bring your thinking back to the object. Imagine how it came to be as it is. Breathe.

Now choose one task to focus on for a set period of time, maybe 30 minutes, and really focus.