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Army General Creighton Abrams once said, “When eating an elephant, take one bite at a time.”

Now, I’m not sure how many elephants you’ve eaten, but frankly, it’s one of the things that has never made my bucket list.  There is little context for this famous quote; however, I imagine that it must have been said in the context of war which I’m sure seems as daunting as staring down any elephant in the wild.

When to-do lists, personal change aspirations or projects seem overly daunting, it can feel hard to know where to begin.  And when you throw elephants into the mix, have you ever thought about where you’d even take that first bite?

Yes, it’s a crazy analogy and when taken to its literal extremes, I’d venture to guess that no human would dare to actually take a bite of an elephant.  Would you?  Really?

Now, if we turned that elephant into something that we’d actually want to eat, the analogy makes more sense. So, maybe here is the lesson:

• Forget about the size of the overall project,
• Don’t see an elephant, see something that motivates you,
• Segment your work into smaller, bite-sized chunks,
• Prioritize what needs to be done first,
• Reward yourself for small accomplishments because each step is one action closer to your goal, and
• Give yourself a reasonable period of time to experience and learn from the journey.

Many people see working with social media as that huge elephant.  Instead of turning that vision into a large, cinnamon-smothered elephant ear, they run in fear.  But, if you endeavor to spend just 5 minutes a day, learning one new thing, eventually you will be surprised at what you know about how to use social media.

Don’t worry about the size of the whole communication spectrum.  Start with what you are familiar with.  Do you use Facebook personally? Learn a little bit more about using for groups and agencies.  Consider how you can take that one area and apply it to your business.

And if you’ll commit one hour a month, you can meet other people, talk about one specific area and improve what you know in leaps and bounds.  In the coming week, we have the following fun classes:

• Using Your Free WordPress.Com Blog by Aaron Hockley on June 11th,
• Twitter Basics by Cheryl Bledsoe on June 12th,
• Choosing an Engagement Strategy on June 13th, and
• I’m Too Old for Social Media by Kevin Sur on June 13th.

And, if you’re just starting out in social media, you can take “I’m Too Old for Social Media” for free by using promo code: kevinROCKS.

Whether you are seeking to improve your knowledge of social media or working on training for a marathon, forget the whole elephant. You can do this in an encouraging and supportive environment and we’re here to help.  Don’t let the fear keep you running away from your goal.  Turn around, face it and take steps towards your target.  You’ll be glad you did.

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