Years ago, when I was working on my PhD, I was (like every doctoral candidate) intimidated by the idea of writing a dissertation. I knew how to research and how to write, but I didn’t know how to research and write a whole book.

Not really expecting a helpful answer, I asked my mentor, “How do you write a dissertation?”

She replied, “The same way you eat an elephant: One bite at a time.”

Remember that big project you said you’d tackle “next year”?

It’s next year.

What’s the big project?

  • Redesigning the website?
  • Cleaning up the database?
  • Setting a social media strategy or reviving the blog?
  • Instituting a system of donor gratitude communications?
  • Producing a set of awareness-raising videos?

All of the above plus a couple more? OK, fair enough, but tackle one at a time. Right now, before you read the rest of this e-letter, pick one big project you need to do but haven’t planned for yet. I’ll wait.

…

OK, got your project? Great. Now. What keeps you from constructing the comprehensive plan you know you need to accomplish your goal?

  • You’re too busy to do anything that involves long-term planning and a major time commitment.
  • You don’t have institutional buy-in and don’t know if you can get it.
  • You don’t have a budget or the people you need.
  • You know why you should do it, but you don’t really know how.
  • [Insert your obstacle here.]

These are real issues. You need a significant amount of time simply to make a plan. Your plan has to include not only a budget and timeline but also how to get support from higher-ups, where the money and people will come from, and how to acquire the necessary expertise.

That’s why you haven’t started. The project can’t succeed without a plan, but making the plan is just too overwhelming.

So here’s what you can do instead: Just start. Take one bite. For today only, put strategic planning on hold. Pull a Scarlett O’Hara and say you’ll think about that tomorrow.

Today, do one thing. Any one thing. For example:

  • Rewrite the home page.
  • Dive into the Ds and fix a dozen database records that have obvious mistakes.
  • Set up a one-week series of posts on one social media platform.
  • Call five donors to thank them and ask why they gave.
  • Find three videos you really admire from nonprofit organizations. Write down what you like about them and the names of the video producers. If the names aren’t listed, email the nonprofit to ask.

There, that didn’t hurt, did it? It took only a couple of hours, and now you’ve made a start.

In the process, you’ve probably also learned some things that will help you make a plan. You’ve got a better sense of the size of the problem. You know more about what donors need or video viewers expect. You’ve got a better idea of what kind of software or people you will need to get the job done.

If necessary, repeat tomorrow and the next day. At some point, you’ll get tired of making random improvements. You’ll also be better equipped to devise the comprehensive plan. In fact, pieces of the plan will be knocking around in your head (if they aren’t already).

But the main thing is, you’ve taken a step. That step was a commitment.

Taking that one bite brought you closer to your goal. It’s not just that you’ve now got one task less to do but that you’ve actually improved your capacity to eat the elephant.

So, can you try that today, or maybe tomorrow? What’s your big project, and what one bite can you take today?