Don't let the roach become an elephant! Taking initiative to address small issues early on can make a huge difference in the long run. Learn how in our article

“Don't let your roach turn into an elephant.” - Major Williams

Is that a Roach on the wall? The evolution of a problem

My first article ever written was about eating elephants now, writing about roaches.  I assure you, I do not intend to have every article with a theme such as this.  or maybe I should. When I decided to start writing articles.  These were the first two concepts that came to mind. 

I remember back when I was in college.  My wife and I were in our apartment and we noticed a roach.  One of those things I remember my mom saying “if you see one roach, there are more you can’t see.  You need to handle it right away.” 

I jumped up and went to the store to buy an arsenal.  I didn’t know what I was doing at the time.  It was my first time dealing with this as an adult.  So I was reading the labels to see what they did.  I also worked at the store.

When my coworkers saw me and asked,  What am I doing?  I would reply.   I saw a roach and we are going to war.  They all laughed, including me, but I was completely serious.  I was determined to make war with this invasion of roaches before they took over our apartment. 

I purchased my arsenal and went home.  I had everything, sprays and traps of various brands.  I didn’t spend a large amount of money but enough to feel, I was well prepared for war. We set the traps and placed sprays strategically around the apartment.  I recall maybe spraying 1 roach and that was about it.

Victory For All

A couple of weeks later, I declared victory! 

The war was over. We did not witness another single roach. 

In contrast, we used to have a monthly get together with friends. We would rotate between each family's places to just hang out a let loose a little. It would be a form of potluck and have a great time.

But I remember one day in particular, without knowing the exact date, when a roach appeared in one of the friend's places...  I didn’t say anything. 

When we got home, my wife mentioned she saw the roach but didn’t want to say anything. We went on with our lives and didn't think much of it.  Then they next get together at their place, and we saw a few more roaches.  We looked around to see if anyone else was reacting to them and nobody did. 

As time passed the problem got worse, and it couldn’t be ignored. The friends at one point acknowledged it, blamed it on the apartment complex, and said they were moving.  We even helped them move.  They moved into the next place, starting hosting again, and the roaches kept coming.

Mom's are always right! Ok most of the time...

The next thing I remember thinking was, Mom was right. That is a hard thing to admit when you are in your 20s. That mom is right.

We didn’t notice any roaches while helping with the move but somehow the problem followed them. We loved hanging out with them but the roaches became too much for us.

Another thing happened, when talking to other friends that also attended, they all mentioned remembering seeing those first few roaches and didn’t want to say anything. None of us wanted to embarrass them or hurt their feelings.

You may be thinking ok this is an interesting\uninteresting story about roaches. What is the point?

Breaking News: This just in Roaches can Turn into Elephant's

The one roach we saw several months ago had become the elephant in the room.  See what I did there? If you have not read it, take a look at how to eat an elephant.

It is my opinion that an unacknowledged roach can evolve into an elephant.  There was a point where the problem could have been handled for $25 or I could have given them some of my arsenals to get started.

Instead, we all ignored the signs of a looming problem.  Until it could not be ignored any longer. We all did it to preserve the host's feelings, yet we all started talking about them and stopped going to their apartment. The attendance talked about it when not in the presence of the host but not in front of them. 

I have learned from personal experiences that problems tend to not just go away.  In fact, without giving it attention, it keeps getting bigger until you must give it the attention it usually costs more in the long run to resolve.

It is important when a problem occurs no matter how daunting it may seem.  It should be addressed as early in the process as possible.

You may be thinking great now what.

Here are some steps to follow to prevent the evolution of a problem.

Be on the lookout for problems

Build an effective monitoring process to identify a problem that is coming.  In your personal lives and business lives there are things one can monitor to notice any issues.  You can do things, like:

Set up alerts on your bank account. 

Check your weight regularly.

Get your annual check ups.

Set up key performance indicators (KPIs) for business and life.

You can track costs, workout days, sales calls made, clicks on your ad, number of new leads, blood sugar, or quality time spent with your family. 

The things you monitor should be tied to the goals you have whether business or personal and should help you identify when things are getting off track.

 Reflect

 We often spend time in the activity of building a monitoring system and feel a sense of accomplishment with our brand-new dashboard.  We need to also schedule a time to review it regularly.  After building the monitoring system, plan quality time to review the system.

In addition to monitoring, it is important to give yourself space to identify unanticipated problems.  Sometimes problems do appear out of seemingly nowhere or an event occurs that requires action to resolve. 

It is important to acknowledge a problem and address it head-on. The key here is not to keep your head down.  Be open and aware of your surroundings to notice and recognize a problem when it appears.

Until you become intimately familiar with the numbers, it will be a challenge to recognize when a problem appears.  I believe there should be a rhythm in most things we do.  Reviewing the monitoring system developed should be broken down into daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual processes as a general rule of thumb. 

For example, if your goal is to live a healthy life, there are things you should check within each of those cycles.  I know some say checking your weight every day is obsessive but what I learned in my journey to become healthier depends on how you approach it. 

I checked my weight every day as a feedback loop.  I would get daily feedback on how I did the day before.  I did not get down on myself when my weight went up or stood the same.  I adjusted my actions until I started seeing the results I was expecting. 

It resulted in a 20lb weight loss over 12 weeks  With ups and downs along the way.  

Action Plan

When something seems amiss, take the time to investigate the facts. Personally, I reviewed what and when I ate the day before, then made some adjustments to compare my results. On top of that, if I'd been neglecting my family, I scheduled some time to reconnect the following week, or even right away.

The last thing you may be thinking is where do I find all the time to schedule all of this time?  It has been my experience when you put the right monitoring process in place, spend time reviewing the information, and go to war with the one roach instead of waiting until it evolves into an elephant. 

Less time is spent chasing and eating elephants and more time spent on higher quality activities, like meal planning.

If I compare the actions between us and our friends.

We noticed the one roach, researched remedies, created a battle plan, and the problem was resolved within a month, costing around $25.

Our friends ignored or didn’t notice the roach.  Moved twice, and eventually had to pay an exterminator.  Assuming a move cost roughly $150 a low number I admit but it will prove my point.  An exterminator costs at least $55 per visit.  Assuming about 2 visits.  I don’t know the specifics of the number of visits.  That’s $260 and we both started with the same one roach. 

The cost to resolve the same problem at different times was a 940% increase in cost.  Now, being proactive, is not an easy thing to do.  I don’t want that to be the takeaway or for you to think that I’m implying that.  What I’m asking is a hard thing to do.  But it is much easier to address the problem earlier than later.  

If you are not sure what to do, there is nothing wrong with asking for help. We all need it from time to time and probably more than we like to admit.

The moral of this story: When you find a roach go to battle to prevent a war.

Bringing it all Together

To prevent Roaches from becoming the elephant in the room do this:

Create a Monitoring Plan-- This will help you identify when things are out of order.

Create a Reflection Plan-- That allows you to review your successes and failures and identify how to repeat improve a success or reduce the chances of failure.

Create an Action Plan -- Problems will not go away on their own. You have to put a plan in place and take action.

Until Next Time…