The Tree
I shared this story with my Fellow Coaches of the Institute of Coaching (McLean, Harvard Medical school affiliate) this morning and was encouraged to post it. Given my inexperience with chainsaws, I was only allowed to have a short 12 inch/ 30cm blade. There was a huge oak that was being strangled by vines and if not take down will eventually collapse on our neighbor’s yard. As I started to fell it, the winds changed and the sheer weight of the leaning tree trapped the chain. My tiny chainsaw was rendered useless. The tree was now leaning even more precariously. At first, I thought the mighty oak was too big for me to handle. Then I started cutting the branches and vines (one branch at a time )by hand, all the time watching how the winds might help me. Eventually, with many of its branches and holding vines removed, the mighty oak fell on its own weight releasing my chainsaw from its grip.
When your resources are overwhelmed by the problem at hand, pause to address what you can with what you have, all the time with the eye on root causes and changing environment, the previously insurmountable task becomes just another step that you take. Don’t try to take down the oak with a 12 inch blade - use it strategically instead - one branch at a time.