Seeing the Elephant

During the Civil War, soldiers who had a near death experience on the battlefield described it as “seeing the elephant”. In other words, they experienced something so overwhelming and so intimidating that they felt paralyzed, unable to act. They survived (by miracle or poor aim) but were forever scarred by the experience.

Business owners and entrepreneurs “see the elephant” every day. Some see it and kill it. Many pretend not to see it, to avoid it, but it’s there, lurking. Elephants are hard to ignore, they’re that big. And, the longer the elephant is ignored the bigger it becomes.

Think about the elephant that’s looming over you. Have you ever found yourself avoiding the elephant with wishful thinking; “if our company had better cash flow, we’d be able to fund a great marketing program” or “if my partner and I could get on the same page, we’d grow this business faster” or “if we had a better sales team we’d close more business”. These “if/then thoughts” are essentially rationalizing an elephant that we refuse to see and are afraid to kill.

Make a commitment to yourself to clearly see and then kill one elephant this week. You’ll have won a major battle and be one step closer to winning the war.