“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci (Adopted by Steve Jobs)
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A young Milkmaid traveled to market carrying a Pail on her head.
While she travelled so, she calculated the number of eggs that she would buy with the milk money. From the eggs, she would hatch many chickens, which she would sell. From the chicken money, she would buy a new gown. And, with the new gown, she would make all the girls envious!
Caught in the moment, she tossed her head in disregard for those imaginary girls, spilling all of her milk.
Moral of the Story: Do not count your chickens before they’re hatched. Stay focused on the task at hand.
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Introduction – The Essential Aesop – Epilogue
Related Article: Thinking It Through, Or, Seeing the Thing from the Seed – No. 101. The Porcupine and the Cave; Big Ideas – Business of Aesop™ No. 8 – Belling the Cat
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Why We Loved It: “‘If’ is the biggest little word in the world.” The “conditional” statement. This little word makes and breaks presidencies, health diagnoses, business opportunities and sports gaming. One thing must occur as a condition for the next thing to occur. Success, if…
There are two lessons in this fable. The first lesson is that we are wise to understand—and vigilant to see—that certain results rest upon preconditions. When we listen to new opportunities, we need to find each precondition, and to assess risk at each juncture. Sellers don’t tend to expose the “ifs,” because the sellers are selling the presumption of a successful result. For those who watch Shark Tank, the process of exposing the latent “ifs” is exemplified by the expert panel.
A form of this condition is also known as “betting on the come,” which is acting on the assumption that things will work out such that each precondition is assumed to be satisfied without “Plan B” alternatives. This is also known as the all-in “If you build it, they will come” from the fictional movie, Field of Dreams.
The second lesson is a bit more subtle, because it somewhat forgives the first lesson; to wit: Every strategy naturally contains a process of “ifs.” The Milkmaid did, indeed, “count her chickens before they hatched,” but that is exactly the process of developing a strategy and tactics to achieve an objective. Therefore, we extract the second lesson (perhaps only a corollary of the first lesson): During implementation, focus on the task at hand. Every sports lover has watched a winning football team’s coach say the following after a big game: “No. We’re not thinking about the Super Bowl or the Division Championship. We’re going to enjoy this win tonight and get back to work tomorrow and focus on our next game.” The reality is that every football coach needs to plan for timing and sequencing, calculating all the “ifs,” such as whether to play a slightly injured player or to hold the player to heal for an important future game, but it does not matter if there is implementation failure in getting to the intended future game.
Accordingly, “Don’t be concerned about winning the game,” says the coach, “be concerned about catching the pass. Just focus on doing your job, each play. Winning will take care of itself.” And, then to be even more granular, the coach says: “Don’t be concerned about catching the pass in the game. Be concerned about doing your practice routine right now. If you focus on your practice routine, each repetition right now, catching the pass in the game will take care of itself.“
The Milkmaid lost her focus on implementing the task at hand, counting her chickens betting on the come, and bobbing her head in a field of daydreaming. She got ahead of herself. Foolish Milkmaid.
“I’ve never run into a guy who could win at the top level who didn’t have the right attitude, didn’t give it everything he had, wasn’t prepared, and didn’t have the whole program worked out.” ~ Ted Turner
“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.” ~ Alexander Graham Bell.
“The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.” ~ Bruce Lee
“Focusing is about saying ‘No.’” ~ Steve Jobs
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© 2013 Arnold Zegarelli and Gregg Zegarelli, Esq. Gregg can be contacted through LinkedIn. Arnold Zegarelli can be contacted through Facebook.
http://www.linkedin.com/pulse/betting-come-clause-89-milkmaid-her-pail-essential-zegarelli-esq-/
You might also like: Big Ideas – Business of Aesop™ No. 8 – Belling the Cat
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