Swallowing an Elephant in One Piece is Unhealthy

Every one of us knows that you cannot swallow an elephant in one piece. And yet, every one of us keeps trying. It never works. Consequently, there is a good chance we give it up after the first trial, frustrated that whatever we wanted to do, did not work. It is rare that we ever try again.

Of course, we do not eat elephants. We love these beautiful, huge animals, we protect them. They are simply the perfect metaphorical representations of the size of the tasks that we face daily, and how small we look in proportion to them. The metaphor might be coming from Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s heart-warming tale of the Little Prince, where – in the imagination of a six-year-old - a boa constrictor swallowed the elephant in one piece.

The Guaranteed Way to Stacking Sport Injuries

Let me demonstrate on my own bad example, how unhealthy swallowing elephants in one piece is.

One day, I decided that I would run. I set myself the goal to start with 5K (kms), after all, everybody can do 5K. I went to the gym, set myself on the treadmill, and decided that I will not get off this machine until I reach the target. I suffered. It hurt. The next day it still hurt, but I went back. And again, and again.

I don’t know what kind of school you attended, but in my ones, from elementary to university, in PE, we were told that we had to run 2 kms, 5 kms. Nobody ever tried to teach us how to do that, it was simply the basic expectation. We were given grades on that. A generation later, my children met the exact same expectations in a different country, different schools.

Many are genetically made for running. I awe those people, who – without any previous training – can really start by running 5K as the first step of gaining condition. I am not one of them.

It took me roughly 2 weeks on the treadmill, keeping strictly to my goal, swallowing this - however small - elephant in one piece, that I could finally run 5K without stopping. I also managed to develop a long-lasting shin splints inflammation.

This was not yet enough, I was back on the path again as soon as I could stand on my feet. As an “experienced” runner by that time, I made up my mind that - if anyone else can run a marathon -, I should be able to run at least a half one.

Without ever considering that you could enjoy running, I was working hard, beating myself daily, overcoming the constant pains. And I did it. I swallowed this big elephant in one piece too, I ran a half marathon. I did not have any good feeling after that. I had pain and the feeling that I never want to do it again. The permanent reminder of this particular elephant of mine is a chronic achilleas tendon inflammation that has been with me for more than 10 years now and is likely to stay. Potentially developing into bone spurs with time, which will prevent me further from running now, when I learnt to truly enjoy it.

Looking back on these times, I was constantly searching for advice of fitness trainers, physiotherapists, then orthopedic specialists. All of them focused on fixing my actual pain, nobody would ever say: take it slow. Do it step-by-step. Listen to your body, not to others’. And most importantly: enjoy what you do.

Do it Right

When my children faced the same obligations of running the expected distances without any preparation in the school, I stepped into the place of their PE teacher for a couple of afternoons. I was already equipped with all my bad experiences and took the girls to the riverbank. They were protesting, fighting that they cannot run, they suffer, they cannot breathe, anything that you can imagine. So, I asked them: I understand that you cannot run 2 kms, but can you imagine that you can dance for a minute? Sure, that they can. So, earplugs, favorite music in the ears and let’s pretend that we dance for a minute. We ran for a minute, imagining we were dancing. Of course, they could have done more, wanted to continue, but we stopped. Earphones out, back to nature, we walked for two minutes. Then, earphones back and another minute dance-run. And again. It was easy, it was fun.

The next day we ran couple of seconds more and walked couple of seconds less. We were changing the running-walking proportions until we were running unnoticedly, continuously 2K, then 3K and so on. Most importantly, we were enjoying what we were doing.

Step-by-Step is Not Only for Sports

We try to change; we want to have an impact on the world or on other people’s lives. To achieve this, we constantly engage in large scales projects. It would be a mistake to limit the phenomenon to sports only.

I have a client, who is facing the large elephant of writing a book. She knows that she has lots of valuable things to say, that could help many people on earth to change their lives, she just does not know how to write a book. If you face book-writing from the full volume perspective, it is huge, intimidating, it is understandable that most of us step back before even trying. We keep watching this elephant that we want to swallow in one piece with starving eyes.

My articles usually start with an idea, with a main theme. In the past, when I was inspired by a good idea, I used to be stuck for days searching for the first sentence. It took me a while to realize that it is easier to start with putting down any of the sentences that are already stacking in my head. Then, when all finished and done, or in the middle of the process, a first sentence will always pop to the surface by itself.

What helps in these situations, is a radical change of perspective. Having sized up the whole elephant in the first step, let’s move our eyes away from the book itself, and concentrate on a chapter. Not necessarily on the first one, we can sharpen our pencil on any chapter that most impatiently bangs on our mind’s to door to be let out. Should you have a problem with the first sentence of your chapter now, how about starting with the second sentence – or with the third one? 

You can start writing your book with a single sentence. Then rounding it up to a paragraph, slowly building to a chapter. Your book might well shape itself into full volume without your noticing.

Control the Environment

We rarely realize, how important role the environment plays in the successful execution of our plans. We already excel in determining what we want to achieve, we also know what we need to do to arrive at the wished target. What we often under-estimate is the external factors’ influence on the outcome of our plans.

A friend of mine, who is a highly respected coach and school-founder, has invaluable thoughts and teachings that will contribute to changing our perspectives on the world, to finding who we are and what we really want, once these thoughts and concepts are available in digital or paper format. 

He is, however, hesitant to start publishing in social or other media, because he is aware that – once started - the expectations for regular publishing and deadlines might overwhelm his life, not even mentioning social media’s medusa arms dragging him in for limitless commenting and posting. Even though he most consciously wants to approach his elephant piece-by-piece, and publish as much as he feels like, he is aware that he might choke on the perceived or real obligations and pressures coming from the external environment.

Having seen social media’s excruciating effect on so many people, we can say that the fear is well founded.

Being aware of the dangers coming from this hyper-active environment is the most important first step in preserving our peace and integrity. The second step is already easier: we need to resist temptation. The reins are in your hands and you do not need to obey perceived obligations however persuasively they are presented. Know that the decision is yours. Post what you feel relevant and do it when you feel appropriate. The quality of the pieces created with joy will be your audience’s reward for accepting less in quantity.

Life-Changing Endeavors – Step-by-Step

We all want to live a meaningful life. We launch into high-scale projects of changing the world and it often seems to be beyond our capacities and capabilities. It requires us to invest time, energy and many times money.

These endeavors mostly present themselves as huge, hostile elephants at first sight that we seem unable to conquer.

As we take a step back after the first scary view, we realize that we can slice the task into small, digestible pieces and can achieve tiny results daily, which will add up into one great achievement.

If you have ever tried to write a book, or lose 10 kgs, or run a marathon, you will already appreciate the value of every small step. You know that you write sentences that once will become a book, you lose grams before they add up to a kilo and you run kilometers, one by one, before you complete a marathon.

Here is an impressive mathematic equation of how the tiny small steps add up to giant results: if you improve your performance with only 1% everyday, your performance in a year will be 37 times higher than on day 1.

Can you change 1% today? How about tomorrow?