Slice the Turkey to melt away the Fears

You have a Vision. You want to live your dream, to pursue it, but the possibility of ever achieving it looks so distant from where you stand. Big endeavors require big effort... are you ready to tackle this one?

We often come up with a grand idea. We get excited about it and we start dreaming of the plans and achievements. We get excited about the whole concept. We talk to people about it. Thoughts rush in our head and we can’t stop them.

Something else stops them for us... Fear.

We come to a sudden halt in front of a monstrous challenge. Fear poses one of the greatest obstacles to any such endeavor.

I propose an analogy to explain the dynamics of the excited acceleration versus the sudden breaks: It is my analogy of the turkey.

The goal, the project, the dream is the turkey. It is placed on the dinner table, ready to be eaten. You want to eat it. It looks amazing. Golden brown and juicy. You’re salivating at the thought of tasting it. But you wouldn’t just take the turkey whole and gobble it down whole, would you? Goodness, that would be painful!

The thought of pain as you think of eating up the turkey whole stops you from doing anything at all. You’re sitting there, mouth open, still salivating, thinking this doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. You are afraid of the risk of pain. How will you achieve and enjoy this culinary experience in these circumstances? The image itself of trying to shove the bird down your throat is frightening. Disappointment starts setting in.

Now’s the time to rationalize. Is this story even logical? It’s rather funny isn’t it? Yet, we often treat our goals this way.

Let’s slice the turkey instead, the way we know to be a more efficient way of getting closer to getting a bite of it. You slice the turkey first in its presentation plate, then you place a few slices on your plate. You sit down and with your fork and knife, you cut the slice into even smaller pieces to make them bite size.

If you cut the pieces too big, they may still hurt your throat going down. Cutting them just right, small enough to chew, will not only allow you to eat properly, you will also accomplish your goal and live your dream of tasting this amazing home-cooked turkey. Taking in small bites removes the pain and fear, allowing to chew and experience full enjoyment. What a delightful experience. A celebration!

My suggestion is to keep this analogy in mind each time you have an idea and set yourself a goal to achieve. By slicing the goal down into milestones, steps and baby steps, you also slice down the risk of hurt and inherent fear. Movement forward is much smoother, less painful and will not bring forth debilitating fears when the steps are smaller and easier to accomplish.

This process has helped me many times, and still does. I highly recommend it to all my clients. The imagery of the turkey is useful in remembering to bring focus back to the goal, not letting fears take over. Considering the alternative of dropping the project altogether is more painful to me and not really an option. I rather rationalize it and make myself a proper plan of action, creating bite size steps I can take for an altogether better goal experience.

Next time you set your goals and face challenging fears, think of the turkey and start slicing!