Do you remember the movie Cool Hand Luke? It stars Paul Newman as an anti-hero who has been jailed for committing some serious crime; and he is sentenced to a sentence of hard labor. The hard work, which consists of building a road as far as I remember, is occasionally interrupted by crocodiles. Well… I guess it would actually be alligators because the movie is set in the southern United States. However, I think the Crocodile Principle sounds much better than the Alligator Principle, doesn’t it?
However, when this happens, the prisoners must interrupt their daily work and call one of the guards to deal with the interruption. Only when the crocodile is done with is it possible to return to the more productive (at least for the penitentiary) business of breaking those rocks.
Now I see this whole situation as a kind of metaphor for our own situation in the workplace. Here we are doing everything we can to be as productive as possible; and we keep getting interrupted by the crocodile equivalent. We also have to deal with those interruptions before we can return to more productive activity.
So what is the answer? Well, I remember a wise person once explained to me,
“When you’re up to your neck in alligators, it’s hard to remember that the first priority is to drain the swamp.”
That is a very true statement; and it also contains the seeds of a really deep answer as well.
To permanently resolve the crocodile situation in the film, what is needed is to drain the swamp. So the prisoners can go about their normal activities much more effectively. But before the swamp can be drained, someone must first conceive of a situation in which there are no crocodiles; in other words, someone must have had the vision.
Once the vision is conceived, it is possible to intersperse some swamp drainage activity with the normal daily rock-breaking activity. Over time, the exchange would peter out and the prisoners would become much more productive.
And so it is with us in the use of our time. First we have to recognize the crocodiles. Then we need to figure out what needs to be done to get rid of them permanently. Finally, we need to intersperse some of that activity with our normal daily activity. Ultimately, we too can say goodbye to the crocodiles and become much more productive.
To sum up: first conceive your own vision. Take time to think about what the ideal situation would be like for you. Then, figure out the steps you need to take to bring your vision to life. Finally, incorporate those steps into your daily schedule and see them through to completion.
Don’t underestimate the power of this little tip. If you only commit to one activity each day toward your goal of draining the swamp, whatever that means to you, you will eventually drain the swamp; and you will reap the results.