Tuesday, August 31, 2010

What to do with that Elephant standing in front of you

On top of getting five of my prints into the Photo Exhibit at the State Fair this year, I was honored to be invited by the Director of the Photography Exhibit to give a series of photography presentations as well. This was a blessing and a nightmare wrapped into one nicely coiled package the size of an elephant.

Many years ago a co-worker of mine used to put a little saying in his email footer; “You can only eat an elephant one bite at a time”. I didn't like him much, but his email footer stuck with me. It was a different way of saying the journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step, but the elephant analogy has always had a stronger frame of reference for me maybe because I love food so much. For me elephant analogy was the realization that even though the elephant would still be there tomorrow it would have one less bite remaining on it after today.

Have you ever committed to something that is bigger than your capabilities? How about two times bigger? Or even three times bigger? What about ten times bigger? Let me tell you something about how big that size of a commitment is. It is not like ordering a meal that is bigger than your stomach’s capacity; you know the whole my eyes were bigger than my stomach thing as everyone has expereinced at a Thanksgiving or two. The thing is that with the too-big-of-a meal, you can eat a little at a time and put the remainder in the refrigerator to save for a later meal.

Another thing about a commitment is that a commitment usually comes with deadlines. It’s like adding the Ole 96er scenario to the mix. In the Ole 96er scenario you have one hour to eat a meal that way too big, a 96oz steak (six pounds) and all of fixings; baked potato, vegetable and bread. If you succeed within the hour you get a t-shirt, a hat, rounds of applause and your meal, as well as everyone else’s meal at your table is free. If you fail, you’re so full it hurts, you gained 5 pounds and you now have to pay $60 for the steak dinner top off the fact that everyone else has to pay for their now to. The main issue with the Ole 96er scenario is that your stomach has the normal capacity to hold maybe 32oz of the steak (that is two pounds of yummy steak goodness) before being stretched to maximum capacity and you die; well at least wish you were dead. Talk about a challenge.

I did that exact thing with my commitment in July only it wasn’t a tiny 96oz ounce steak. It was an elephant sized task with an August 29th deliverable, which would prove to be a challenge for a healthy person. I committed myself to hosting and presenting a series of photography workshops and presentations at the Oregon State Fair this year. In using the term series, I am stating that there are a total of 21 workshop opportunities, 12 of which are unique, that needed to be planned, put together and ready for one and two hour long presentations. This is 35 days to prepare 12 unique presentations (30 totals hours). This was a huge task, but adding to the stress of that task is my full time day job, family needs and fibromyalgia symptoms that are not even close to being under control. I sat and looked at what I had in front of me: A true mission impossible; an elephant needing to be eaten.
So what do you do when you have five weeks to plan 30 hours of presentations that can spell success or failure for your professional life and reputation? What does a person do with that size of an elephant? Well you don’t try to eat that elephant all by yourself do you? Especially not if you have a deadline that is rapidly approaching. You can either walk away from the elephant and cut your loses or you can call on some friends to have an old fashioned BBQ. And BBQ is what I did.

I contacted all of the photographers in my photography group and opened the opportunity to them to co-present at the fair with me. I turned that elephant into a group event, an opportunity for everyone and the group jumped on the opportunity with a passion that equaled mine. I ended up with five presenters each planning their own presentations, including myself, and dozens of helpers to make banners, business cards and covering just about every aspect of the presentations that we needed.

It was still a stressful undertaking with now having to coordinate 18 people on top of planning my presentations, but coordinating only added a couple of bites of the elephant each day. While coordinating the people was a couple of additional bites for me each day, each of those 18 people took five bites off that elephant each day. As each one of them took it upon themselves to complete a task and start the next the elephant started disappearing rapidly.

The BBQ, as it turned out, was a great idea. I was now getting 18 times the work done with less than 1/3 the effort and this allowed me to focus on the bites of the elephant I needed to eat; my presentations and coordinating with the Exhibit Director.

Yesterday was the first day of presentations, eight presentations, each an hour long, and each presentation was perfectly planned and executed by myself and two other presenters. Sure I might have said something or explained something differently in other's presentations, but I was simply happy that it was the success it was and I am not really a control freak.

Had I not had the help from my friends, it would have been a complete disaster. And while we still have 20 hours of presentations to give for the remainder of the week, I have no doubt that each and every one of us will contribute to the success of those remaining bites of the elephant.
In the end, the elephant is nearly gone now, and nothing is going to waste. I have learned that yes, you can eat an elephant one bite at a time, if you are given enough time. If you don’t have enough time to go it alone, you can always have a BBQ and invite your friends over to help. And everyone loves a good BBQ. So the next time you are facing an elephant don’t fret over its overwhelming size; light the charcoal and invite your friends over. That Elephant will be gone in no time. Offering free beer to help wash that elephant down isn’t a bad idea either.