Winner's Circle Network with Lou Tice - A Lick-and-a-Promise

[Guest guest]

Winner's Circle Network with Lou Tice - " A Lick-and-a-Promise "

Sometimes, " a lick-and-a-promise " is a lot better than nothing and can keep

you from feeling overwhelmed. I'll tell you what I mean.

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by a huge task that is facing you? Do you ever

feel paralyzed because you can't see your way through to the other side?

Henry Ford once said that any task, no matter how large, is manageable if

you break it down into small enough pieces.

A very busy and wonderfully efficient woman I know says she belongs to the

" lick-and-a-promise " school of housekeeping: because of her busy schedule,

she doesn't have time to thoroughly clean things very often. So, instead,

she takes a minute here, a minute there and does what she can. " You'd be

surprised, " she says, " how many dishes I can wash in a minute - and there

are many, many times throughout the week that I have a minute to spare, but

almost no times that I have a free hour.... so I do what I can when I can,

and play catch-up later. "

This philosophy makes sense to me, and applies as well to troubles as it

does to tasks. Don't stand around wringing your hands when there's trouble

and you're not quite sure of the best thing to do. Wade on in and get to

work on some part of the problem, even if the full solution isn't apparent

to you yet.

When we rouse ourselves to action, it builds our confidence, which can lead

to more action and a better handle on the solution.

Lou Tice

The Pacific Institute