Breaking Down the Mammoth Tasks

There’s an old joke I remember as I was growing up. It went something like this: How do you eat an elephant? I don’t know how do you eat an elephant? – Answer: one bite at a time. Actually, it wasn’t that funny, but it helps with the illustration.

The illustration of the elephant used widely at time management courses in the 80’s represented anything in your life that overwhelmed you. In my case, it’s the stuff like the work deadlines, the humungous washing pile, ironing stack, overstuffed pantry, kid’s bedrooms, and office disaster. So how do I tackle all of this? Answer: one job at a time.

You see ever since school holidays ended two weeks ago, I have felt completely overwhelmed by the number of jobs requiring my attention. My elephant was the clean washing that had piled up in the guest bedroom, leaving no room for any potential guests and the office with receipts, mail, paperwork strewn all over the floor. Oh, and did I mention the kids bedrooms and the toy room. My elephant was huge and getting bigger every day.

The more I look around, the more discouraged I became and the less likely I was to tackle these big jobs. Throw in a bout of sickness, a tight deadline and I had imminent disaster in my home. All I could do was shut another door, apologize to my husband for the mess and buy another pair of school socks for my daughter, because I couldn’t find the others.

Yesterday however, I turned over a new leaf. I figured the longer I left this, the worse it would become until my whole family will be buried alive under dirty socks, electricity bills and un-ironed shirts. If left untouched, we would eventually feature on that new TV reality show, “I shouldn’t be alive.”

Not wanting to put my family through this humiliation, I picked up my knife and fork and began carving up my elephant. A load of washing before breakfast – I feel better already. A handbag clean-out after lunch (I forgot to mention the state of my handbag). Then I really got adventurous put away the contents of my travel bag that had been sitting on the lounge room floor for two weeks. And the ultimate: I bravely tackled half the clothes that needed to be put away in the spare room.

Tonight – my house is not completely in order, but it’s getting there. And I feel so much better. My encouragement to everyone who finds themselves looking down the trunk of your elephant, don’t ignore it, don’t put it off – just tackle it – one bite at a time.

Nicki Partridge