Feb 26 2011

OK – so I’ve skipped the song title here…this one is more appropriate.

The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.“

~Mark Twain

I often ask people “How do you eat an Elephant”? and the answer is of course “one bite at a time”. Why does this matter, what does this have to do with anything. Well, if you saw the amount of work that I am trying to get done currently, you might call it an elephant. I have a full plate with my current consulting project; an interim management role with some clear but challenging objectives to deliver in the next few months. I also have the busiest semester of my MBA to date. I have 2 full modules & 3 half modules.

It feels like an elephant at times, at others, I just forget about it all and drift off to sleep (that’s the 30 seconds a day that I’m at peace with the world)! It’s not really that bad though. I am regularly asked by my classmates how I do it. I am usually ahead of them in terms of study and assignments and yet many of them don’t have a partner and most do not have children. Maybe I’m a glutton for punishment, or maybe I just don’t see it as work and therefore am able to apply myself because I enjoy it. Either way, I am tackling both tasks (work & school) with gusto (as much as I have) and believe that I am doing a decent job of both. Feedback from work and my grades would suggest this is true.

I am sure that one could argue that if I didn’t have the school work I would perform better at work. Maybe that’s true. I could argue that if I didn’t have the school work I would feel like I’m coasting or idling along waiting for life to happen to me. Either way, it doesn’t really matter as I do have both and therefore it could (or should) be considered as a sunk cost, a decision made in the past that cannot be undone (although it is possible to drop out, but why!?)

I enjoy learning, and I am enjoying what I do for a living. I have a good life, a good wife and some great children! Life is great and that elephant, it may be big, but it tastes great!

Now I have a Corporate Finance paper to finish!