Slowly eating an elephant

The other day a colleague asked me how I am managing at work as I am one person with 2.5 roles. By the end of the conversation we had decided it was by 'eating the elephant one bite at a time' which is linked to an African proverb.

I've just listened to the next 3 minutes or so of the video that I am watching for a leadership course. This part focused on the concept of eliminating - tasks/responsibilities/activities - and I felt this was split into two ways, before taking on something new, and after you've taken on something.

What struck me as things you can do before you commit were: limit, dare and clarify. You can limit what you do by setting appropriate boundaries but you can only limit by daring to say no. As saying no is hard, due to a trade off between popularity and respect, it is made easier by clarifying your essential intent for what/how to use your time/energy.

After you've taken on something you can edit and uncommit. So, when you realize that something's travelling in a different direction to what you expected, you step down/uncommit. Alternatively you can edit, cut things back which reduces commitment. 

I thought they were quite interesting concepts, all of which I've struggled with, both in my leisure, volunteering and at work. For some reason I can name recent times I have limited, edited, uncommitted or said no within my leisure/volunteering roles, but not work. I guess this tells me something!