Small Squares Bring Big Jobs Down to Size
During the past season, I had spent a good deal of time bicycling with a friend of mine. This friend is an avid cyclist. He is very skillful and able ride long distances. Thankfully, he is also patient. To help me train, he had taken me on rides up and down the hills of the lovely Wisconsin countryside. Most times, when I worked my way up a steep incline, I anticipated a well-deserved coast down the other side. However, that wasn’t always the case with some of the hills we traveled. Sometimes, at the top of the hill, was another hill! The only thing to do was to take in a deep breath and pedal.
As a business leader, the hill at the top of the hill has become an analogy for me when confronting some of the challenges of my growing business. Certain stages of growth, it seemed, were rewarded with new hills to scale. Unlike riding along a bicycle trail, though, the pathway up wasn’t always clear. More direction was needed if my pedaling was to do any good. Furthermore, I was aware that setting off on the wrong course could also send me back down the hill, and fast.
Ironically, I had found myself at the foot of a hill at the top of a hill in the middle of winter. The bicycles were stored away for the season and the trails were covered with several inches of new fallen snow. Earlier in the week I was making new strides with my business. Some promising new connections were finally happening after years of pursuit. I was ecstatic about the new opportunities that accompanied them. The hard work was finally paying off. Unfortunately, the euphoria would not last very long. Within the same week, a key player on my team gave word that he was moving on.
Elation soon turned into deflation. Even if I could find a replacement, it would take me several weeks to bring that person up to speed. Dazed, I struggled with how I would find the time and strength to tackle these new projects while picking up the extra work that would now fall to me. In addition, somehow, I needed to allocate time to seek and develop new talent. There was no quick fix. My head was still spinning as I left for home at the end of the week. One thing was certain. I did not want to find myself back at the bottom of the hill I had just recently scaled.
That evening, the wind picked up and blew in a heavy storm. When I arose Saturday morning, I looked out on the vast white landscape. Snow had covered the tracks, paths, trails and roadways in all directions. The only thing to do was to get outside and shovel. Oddly, I felt rather grateful for the snowfall and the work it provided. Shoveling was simple and straightforward. It would take my mind off the complexities at work.
Once outside in the thick of the drifts, however, shoveling wasn’t quite as easy as it would seem. Hurling a shovel full of snow out of a 16-inch drift felt a little thankless at first. I hadn’t taken note of which way the wind was blowing. Thus, the first couple of shovels-full blew back in my face. Nevertheless, the more time I spent tunneling through the drifts, the more acclimated I became. I learned which direction I could throw the snow furthest. I became more familiar with my strength and endurance.
More intriguing, however, was the way I found it easiest to ford through the endless white stuff. I learned that shoveling a narrow path through a wide and indefinite stretch felt like an exercise in futility. In contrast, when I’d partition an area into a smaller-sized square, the task seemed less intimidating and a sense of accomplishment returned. Although it made absolutely no difference in the amount of area I had to clear, dealing with the task in a series of small squares simply felt more doable. I decided to outline the area of snow that I would conquer, then proceeded to tackle the grid, one small square at a time. I would decide how many small squares I would clear before allowing myself a break to warm up and rejuvenate. I reclaimed control and got the job done in less time than I thought it would take.
Back inside, with my cold hands gripped around a warm cup of coffee, the white noise of work once again began invading my brain. This time, I was ready for it. I realized that the first step was to outline the work and formulate a grid, defining the tasks at hand. I would be able to deal better with the mountain of work ahead when I stopped trying to push through it all at once and, instead, dealt with it one small square at a time. Who knew? Maybe, I’d even discover that getting on top of it could be done faster and with less struggle than I had imagined. At the very least, I would have reclaimed control over the challenge of it all. And, that is exactly what I did.
I cannot remember where I first heard it said, but I have come to believe firmly that more time is lost in indecision than in tackling any challenge or in doing any job. Complex challenges are comprised of a multitude of smaller challenges with a multitude of decisions to be made. It is too distracting to think of all the decisions there are to be made at one time. Attempting to do so, fills one’s head full of snow, and one ceases to be able to think clearly. The old adage, “Don’t sweat the small stuff!” seems to apply. Fitting that small stuff into small squares makes it manageable and sane. Better yet, it may even keep you scaling up the hill instead of sliding back down.