Are you chasing antelopes or field mice?
A clever analogy to keep your eye on the big prize
Or, how you’ll starve to death if you sweat the small stuff
Whether you agree with his political ideologies is irrelevant. Newt Gingrich was a very successful political strategist in America and he is credited with this brilliant analogy, which pointedly illustrates the need to prioritize high value projects and let the minor emergencies go. Lions need to hunt antelope to survive. Antelope are big animals, so they take more focus and energy and coordinated effort to capture, but once caught they can sustain the whole pride.
Three reasons to love this analogy
It’s obvious and relatable. Lions need to hunt antelope instead of field mice so they don't die. Teams need to get better at wasting less time treating everything like a fire drill and develop coordinated and disciplined habits to realign toward big priorities so they don’t burn out.
It's quantifiable. A lion is obviously capable of chasing and eating a field mouse, but the energy expended exceeds the caloric content of the mouse itself. So, lions that hunt too many field mice will slowly starve to death. (Math says so. And math doesn't lie).
It's not about lions at all. It's the Lioness that does the hunting. And she doesn't hunt alone. Even though she knows she can take a mouse all on her own, she often relies on the strength of the group to take down the antelope. Lionesses do lots of other things too and so they need to be extra careful about their energy.
Also, mice are gross.
Put this to practice
Full disclosure: I chase my share of field mice. I can't help it, I'm a recovering academic. I love details and I have a hard time turning my mind away from problems I haven’t fully solved. Sometimes my competitive instincts get the best of me and when it’s me against a mundane technical problem or malfunctioning machine I just can’t let the damn machine win. On the flip side I am also susceptible to going down other rabbit holes because they excite me or because they otherwise get those juicy endorphins flowing (but don’t contribute crazy high value to the big goals). Sometimes I spend my time writing cheeky blog posts because they make me happy instead of doing the kind of work that pays the bills … but hey, I’m human.
Here are two free tips that have worked for me. Hopefully they will work for you too.
Friday morning thinking time. A previous director instituted this practice for our team and I protected this time with my elbows out. Clear your calendar free of all those soul sucking meetings, turn your notifications off and turn your attention to the creative aspects of your job that require flow. Do this by yourself or with your team, as required. The key is to focus on big picture stuff.
Regular check-ins with yourself about how you moved closer to your goals today/this week/this month. I used to do this in an advisory role with early tech Startups. Startup life is so hard with a million things coming at you all the time, so founders need to be insanely disciplined at breaking down lofty goals into manageable chunks. I used a spreadsheet (what tech founder doesn’t salivate for spreadsheets) with the columns below to hold them accountable to their key milestones. Feel free to adapt and use to hold yourself accountable to the same.
Date; Business goals; Technical goals; Did you meet your goals from last period; Wins worth celebrating; Roadblocks/need support
TL;DR
Like lionesses in the wild, who must focus on hunting antelope to survive, teams need to focus on big picture and high-value priorities to thrive.
To put this into practice, set aside dedicated time for strategic and creative thinking and regularly evaluate progress towards big goals.