Imagine we are tasked with teaching a monkey to recite Shakespeare. We, of course, start by building a beautiful pedestal for the monkey.

We do this because we know exactly how to do it, and because it is fun.

This, however, creates a false sense of progress. We focus on the easy, enjoyable work to avoid the scary unknown of the actual problem.

All this does is keep us from finding out if our idea is even possible.

There is a more direct approach: tackling the monkey first.

• The Pedestal: The easy, comfortable tasks... organizing our desk, tweaking a design, or writing a meticulous plan because it feels productive and safe.

• The Monkey: The difficult, unknown, but essential work... making the dreaded phone call, writing the messy first draft, or testing our riskiest assumption immediately, because if we cannot validate it, nothing else matters.

Where are you pedestalling this week to avoid the monkey you need to tackle first?

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

With no hesitation,
/rajesh