My software development team has a method of determining the importance of a particular requirement, bug fix, feature, or task by asking a single question.
“Is this elephant shit or mouse poop?”
For example, is it more important to fix the bug that’s crashing the system or that we get the correct heading color on the results page?
When you’re looking around at a room full of elephant shit and spot a little bit of mouse poop over there in the corner, where do you start? Seems easy, right? But it’s not always easy because often, the mouse poop aligns with the story we tell ourselves.
I’m cutting sugar to lose weight, so I don’t eat bananas.
I always buy organic Doritos.
I don’t run because too much running will lower my testosterone.
Mouse poop can be a powerful trap.
If you want to make a difference, attain a goal, or effect a change, take care of the elephant shit first. That may require adjusting the story you tell yourself.
