Another Claus Møller's technique for handling very large tasks, i.e., elephant tasks. Examples of Elephant tasks are developing a new product, learning a language, learning a programming or other skill, losing weight, getting fit, writing a book.
These tasks are overwhelming; progress is difficult to see; there are no immediate consequences; and they are often postponed.
They are too big to accomplish them or "swallow" in one day. That is why many people postpone them for a while – to wait until a better time, or until their mouth has grown. It never happens!
Because these large tasks are your important and goal-related areas of business or family life, you have to write them down into the key areas and plan them in your calendar.
How to eat an elephant?
The only way to eat an elephant is by dividing them into "bite-sized" pieces.
- Divide the elephant into "bite-size" pieces.
- Schedule regular "bites of the elephant" as "task of the day", "task of the week" or "task of the month".
- Make sure you "eat" a bite every day in addition to completing your other routine tasks.
Make sure you finish the elephant. Thus, focus on no more than 1 or 2 elephant tasks at a time.
Learning French with the elephant technique
If you want to learn French, don't worry about the entire task (the elephant) at once. Instead, make sure you eat a small "French elephant hamburger" every day.
In other words: It is not a question of learning French next year – but of learning 10 French words every day. That will be 3,650 words in a year, which is equivalent to the basic vocabulary.
Become a development person
There are two kinds of people: the "maintenance" person who works to preserve the status quo, and the "development" person who proactively applies the elephant technique to drive development and change.
Are you a "maintenance" person?
A "maintenance" person:
- Uses all their time just to get by.
- Does not schedule any time for development projects.
- Works to maintain the status quo, avoids problems and criticism and solves problems in the short term.
- Is controlled by external influences: telephone calls, mail, interruptions and sudden whims.
Be a "development" person
A development person:
- Manages current tasks.
- Always reserves some time for development projects.
- Completes a small part of an elephant task every day.
- Is guided by the goals they have set for the future.
- Has sufficient self-discipline to postpone a short-term pleasure for the sake of major, more long-term goals.
How to use Elephant tasks in Practical Manager
The elephant tasks are built into your calendar section of Practical Manager. Write your elephant tasks for each calendar period.
- Consider if there is a need to write a goal for this specific elephant task.
- Create a List in a corresponding Key Area and name it with the elephant task's heading.
- Divide the elephant task (your project) into the main tasks.
- Divide each task into smaller one-bite sized activities within each task.
Some situations may require to use more than one list for an elephant task. Also, you can use a goal's milestones to associate a stage in your elephant project with achieving a milestone.