Priorities, priorities, priorities…

A hunter can spend all day and night hunting small-sized animals and sustain himself on the calories.  He has the intelligence, skill, agility, weapons and patience to do so.  He would feel the glory of success multiple times that day and feel accomplished having won several times.

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Alternatively, he could aim to spend that same energy on hunting one large-sized animal.  He has the intelligence, skill, agility, weapons and patience to do so. The downside: he would have to defer immediate gratification. It would mean not winning multiple kills that day. It would mean finding gratitude in executing the systems required for one kill.  The upside: he could feed not only himself, but his entire tribe for days on the sustenance. 

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Having a ‘big game first’ mentality means that you tackle the most sustainable challenge first, while physical and mental energy is highest. It means holding out on the dopaminergic reward of winning now, for possibly winning later.  It means tackling the task of highest importance instead of the task of highest enjoyment. This means taking on the hardest homework first, placing the exercise you hate most up front in your gym circuit, paying the biggest loan off first or making the hardest phone call first.

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Once the big game is crossed out, a confidence of newfound energy will allow the smaller-game tasks to be completed, leading to a positive feedback loop of compounding success. Not only will you have the energy to move through the less-daunting tasks, but you won’t have the weight of the big game stifling you.

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No matter how long it seems to take to chasing the big game first, it’s worth it in the end.

What big game are you deferring?