Chunk.It.Down.
In my e-article offered on my website ‘four worthy insights for every business owner’ I talk about ‘chunk.it.down’ as one of the insights. That is, reducing the overwhelm of getting stuff done by slowing down to speed up. I use the example of content mapping to demonstrate my point … investing time up front in order to maximise and leverage your shared value for the months ahead for example, spending half a day mapping out 2-3 months of content for your social media.
What I didn’t share in this insight was the documentary I watched years ago called ‘Touching the Void’ that truly demonstrated this point to me. A lesson lived through someone else’s experience, told in a documentary that left such an impression on me, I’ve never forgotten it and often use it to help me through overwhelming times. Lockdown included.
Touching the Void is a story about two climbers, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates who, in 1985 set out to summit the Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. They succeeded, but it was on their descent off that mountain wall that disaster struck when Simpson falls and breaks his leg. This would be a disaster for any mountaineer, but what complicated matters even more for these two climbers, was not only the stormy weather that flared up on their descent, but the type of climbing technique they were using. They were attached to each other with rope, so when Simpson falls and breaks his leg, he’s left dangling over a rock edge unable to move, whilst slowly pulling his partner Yates down the mountain side above him. After hours of the weather and situation worsening, and not being able to communicate with each other, Yates breaks the holy rule of mountaineering and cuts the rope, leaving Simpson to fall 150 feet into a crevice deep down into the depths of the mountain.
For the rest of the documentary you watch the struggles of these two men, particularly Simpson who knows only too well, the importance of getting back to their base camp before his fellow climbers leave, as he correctly assumes he’s been left for dead. With a badly broken leg, his journey ahead of him is an arduous one to say the least. His first objective is getting out of the hole he’s landed in (literally!) and crawl, hop, manoeuvre and roll his way down 8 kilometres of glacier, rocks and crevices. It took him 3 days with no food and very little water. And he made it.
So “where does the lesson of ‘chunk.it.down.’ come into this story?” I hear you ask. It was about an hour into the documentary where Simpson talks about the enormity of his situation.
“The big picture was so big I couldn’t deal with it. So I started to look at things and think ok, if I can get to that crevice over there in 20 minutes, that’s what I’m going to do.” And for the rest of his ordeal that’s what he did. He broke his desperate goal down into more manageable achievements, giving his brain, mindset and body a more realistic and hopeful scenario to work with. He went after these bite size goals with such tenacity because his life depended on it, and it worked.
So whether it’s a global pandemic we’re facing, another lockdown, home schooling (my shattered nerves) an illness that you’re battling, or a business goal you so badly want to achieve … chunk it down into more bite size pieces. Reduce your overwhelm by achieving smaller goals and attack them with such determination to keep momentum going.
It’s a life lesson that has worked for me many times when the reality of a situation overwhelms me. I hope it does for you too. And do yourself a favour, watch Touching the Void.
It will inspire you.
