How do you eat an elephant? And, you’re asking me “Why would I want to eat an elephant?” Maybe if I ask it another way: How do you eat a 1,000 pound marshmallow? Is that a little more palatable? Either way, the answer is the same: One bite at a time!

Now, I doubt that you want to eat either an elephant or a 1,000 pound marshmallow. But, do you have a big goal? Does it seem overwhelming but yet something you really want to accomplish? Is the goal so big that you just can’t figure out how to “just do it”?

This is more normal than abnormal. Most of us have some big goals, things we want to accomplish that will take concentrated effort over a long period of time. We each have our own version of the 1,000 pound marshmallow and we’ll each have to figure out how to eat it one bite at a time! How can we do that?

Step 1: Analyze

The first step is to examine your goal and determine what smaller, more managable goals will lead to the accomplishment of the large goal. Years ago I was working for a computer company that had its own huge goal. (In fact, that’s the first time I had heard the question “How do you eat a 1000 pound marshmallow”!) We were going to develop a brand new computer with all new hardware, all new software, all new everything!

Step 1 was very important because we had to know what all the pieces would be before we could plan how to put them together. Your big goal is like that too. What are all the “pieces” that you’ll need to accomplish in and of themselves before you can bring everything together to achieve your goal? This is an important part of the process, so do the analysis carefully and get help if you can’t answer all the questions yourself. (more…)

  Posted By tyna     Aug 11, 2008       1 comment  

That sounds like a loaded question doesn’t it?  I am realizing, through different mentors that I have been studying with, that I need to set my intention every day for my business and life.  It has been an interesting journey for me as I learn about intentions.

According to Wikipedia intention means; an agent’s intention in performing an action is their specific purpose in doing so, the end or goal they aim at, or intend to accomplish. Whether an action is successful or unsuccessful depends at least on whether the intended result was brought about. Other consequences of someone’s acting are called unintentional. Intentional behavior can also be just thoughtful and deliberate goal-directedness.

For me, an intention means something I want to have happen in my life or business. As I write them down each day, I really try to feel that the goal or intention is happening now.  Then I watch to see if any positive evidences of that set intention appear.  During the time that I have been setting my daily intentions, I have seen some evidences that my intentions are appearing.  My goals are coming to fruition. (more…)

  Posted By tyna     Jul 6, 2008       2 comments  

Break It Down: The Un-Sexy Secret to Taking Action

Remember when you were a baby, with only a few miniature teeth, and your parents would sit next to your high chair and cut up your food into tiny, tiny pieces before spearing it with a fork and bringing it towards your mouth?

What if they had instead handed us a whole roasted chicken and said, “bon appetit” — we wouldn’t have fared very well. Many of us, however, throw down the equivalent of roasted chickens on our to-do lists and then wonder why we’re procrastinating.

No question, the allure and glory of a big, dramatic goal - “lose 50 pounds” or “build multi-million-dollar company ” - is what inspires us to achieve great things. But the problem with big, dramatic goals is that they can be so overwhelming and daunting that we resist actually taking the first step.

The key to overcoming inertia lies in breaking things down: while “lose one pound” may not sound terribly impressive, every ambitious goal and complex activity is the sum of many such incremental actions. Faced with a bite-size first step, it’s easier to get started which makes it easier to take the next step and, voila, soon you have momentum. But knowing how to break things down is a creative skill, and one we’re not explicitly taught in school or elsewhere. So here are three tactics to help you get started:

- START SMALL. I mean ridiculously small, so incremental that there’s virtually no resistance. If “draft global licensing agreement” has been on your to-do list for too long, try “draft first page (or first paragraph!) of global licensing agreement.” Still procrastinating? Break it down again to: “open new document, name it global licensing agreement.” There’s no shame in starting small if it means you get started.

- START SPECIFIC. If your tasks sound vague and ambiguous without a clear ending point - e.g. “overhaul entire file organization system” - you’ll be much less likely to get started. Describe your tasks in specific, finite ways - “alphabetize files in left bottom drawer” - so you’ll know exactly when they’re completed and you can cross them off your list.

- START SHORT. Likewise, it’s difficult to get started when you know a project is going to take awhile. So try my 15/30/45 rule: in the beginning, when resistance is high, frame your tasks so that they can be completed in 15 minutes. As you build momentum, you can work up to 30 and 45 minute time periods (this is how I break down a monolithic three-hour piano practice session, for example). As a result, instead of doing something until it just happens to get done, I break it down into set amounts of time in which to achieve specific mini-goals, which keeps me focused and in motion.

If you’re like me, you’ll find that resistance to beginning a project or task feels strong because we assume that it will grow and get even stronger once we’ve started. But, in fact, overcoming resistance is more like breaking through a wall - not climbing a mountain - and it will melt away once you’re in motion.

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Renita T. Kalhorn is a Juilliard-trained pianist with an Insead MBA and a first-degree martial arts black belt. Harnessing the power of “flow,” she coaches entrepreneurs and corporate professionals to achieve extreme focus and reach the top of their game at work. Claim your f*r*e*e copy of “Find Your Flow! 21 Simple Strategies to Banish Tedium, Reduce Stress and Inspire Action”

  Posted By tyna     Jun 1, 2008       4 comments