Forget the Elephants, Watch Out for the Fleas

119 Pages·2010·1.15 MB·English

by  Justin Herald

F
o
r
g
e
t

T
h
e

e
You’ve heard the saying, ‘the elephant in the room’, meaning an issue that l
e
is impossible to overlook (no matter how hard you try!). The strange thing p
h
is, all of us seem to concentrate and focus only on these big issues, thinking
a
that if they are worked out and sorted everything else will be fine. n
t
s
While that might be great in theory, what you really need to look out for ,
w
are ‘the fleas’, the small issues. These little, pesky and annoying things
a
in life have the ability to become quite large over time, possibly as big as t
c
elephants, and so they need to be overcome and eradicated before they do.
h

o
Justin Herald tackles the areas that are most likely to be the fleas in your u
T
life, so you can recognise and resolve them before they grow into larger and
f
more difficult-to-handle problems. It’s the small issues that create the big o
r
problems, so Forget the elephants, watch out for the fleas.
T
h
e

F
l
Justin Herald is a successful
e
entrepreneur and was named a
s
one of the 50 most influential
leaders of the next generation
in Australia. He spends his time
on the speaking circuit inspiring
and educating audiences all
over the world and mentoring
small-business owners.
A L L E N & U N W I N
Cover illustration: Ian Faulkner
Cover design: David Thomas / Zoë Sadokierski
MOTIVATION www.allenandunwin.com It’s the small issues that create the big problems

This page intentionally left blank
It’s the small issues that create the big problems
Copyright © Justin Herald 2009
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any
information storage and retrieval system, without prior
permission in writing from the publisher. TheAustralian
Copyright Act 1968(the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter
or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be
photocopied by any educational institution for its educational
purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that
administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright
Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act.
Allen & Unwin
83 Alexander Street
Crows Nest NSW 2065
Australia
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.allenandunwin.com
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:
Herald, Justin.
Forget the elephants, watch out for the fleas.
ISBN: 978 1 74175 691 3 (pbk.)
Motivation: Success in business: Leadership
658.409
Set in 12/16 Sabon by Midland Typesetters, Australia
Printed in Australia by McPherson’s Printing Group
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The most successful men in the end are those
whose success is the result of steady accretion. It
is the man who carefully advances step by step,
with his mind becoming wider and wider—and
progressively better able to grasp any theme or
situation—persevering in what he knows to be
practical, and concentrating his thought upon it,
who is bound to succeed in the greatest degree.
Alexander Graham Bell
This page intentionally left blank
CONTENTS
Introduction 11
1 That dreaded 1% 19
2 Small issues can equal big problems—
the fleas 33
3 Don’t make the elephants bigger than
they actually are 45
4 The art of personal minesweeping 59
5 The snowball effect 71
6 Empty your recycle bin every now
and then 85
7 How to move on and past those fleas 97
This page intentionally left blank
You never know how many apples there are
in a seed.