How to Eat an Elephant

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Photo by Dinner Series http://bit.ly/IHL9pL
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I read this post by Jon Acuff this morning and it reminded me of something my English prof was fond of saying. “How do you eat an Elephant?” she would ask. “One bite at a time.”

Both Jon and my English professor were hitting on the same idea. Success isn’t made in fits and spurts, it is developed over the long haul, bit by bit.

We can choose to go through life simply doing whatever doesn’t require any long-term commitment from us. We can choose to only do the things that we can accomplish in one short burst of energy. In fact, this is what is normal.

But, if you’re like me, normal isn’t what you want. You want extraordinary! You want to stand out, to set yourself apart from the crowd, and accomplish something of significance.

It’s not normal to accomplish things of significance. If it were, significant things would simply be normal. To accomplish our goals we have to be willing to break the mold of normal. We have to be willing to commit for the long haul.

If you want to eat an elephant you have to do it one bite at a time. If you don’t you’ll choke.