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Perhaps you’ve heard the story (joke) about the two hikers and the bear. In brief:
Two hikers encounter a violent, man-eating bear in the woods. The first kneels down and proceeds to lace up her shoes. ”Why are you bothering with that?” the second asks. “You’ll never outrun the bear.”
“Oh, I know,” replies the first. “But I don’t have to outrun the bear–I just have to outrun you!”
PR, multimedia, technology and life are all like that: there’s so much to learn that sometimes it seems like we’ll never “outrun the bear.” But we don’t have to. Said another way, you don’t have to know everything; you just have to stay ahead of your personal responsibilities.
By focusing on “the bear,” it’s likely that you’re missing your opportunity to stay ahead of the most important things. Instead, redefine your focus to stay well ahead of the things that matter most, and worry less about the things that don’t.
To be the technology or new media expert at work, you don’t have to know everything. That would be trying to outrun the bear. You do need to know how to do what needs done, preferrably before it is needed. That’s one of the key reasons I run my own website(s): practice.
When I know that an upcoming work project might require a knowledge of CSS, I go home and play with stylesheets on my blog. If we’re going to start podcasting, I experiment with the technology at home. When we start the project at work, I’m ready. I don’t know everything, but the boss doesn’t have to realize that, because I know everything we need. Make sense?
This applies to most overwhelming subjects:
- Getting an “A” is less about knowing the entire subject than about having the right answers for the test.
- Being a great parent is not about having the right response for every possible challenge as much as it is about having the right response for this challenge.
As long as you stay ahead of the situation, outrunning the bear is irrelevant.
So what are you doing to outpace expectations? And what do you think might be a misguided attempt to outrun the bear?
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Ohh, interesting post, David. Does studying Portuguese and PMG on my own count as “out running the bear”?
And thanks for the warm thoughts for while I’m in Provo =] Best of luck to you in the next year and a half!!!!
Ashley!
Thanks for commenting.
Since Portuguese and Preach My Gospel are going to be some of the most important parts of your life for the next year and a half, I’ll give you credit for a well-focused effort to stay ahead of the situation. (Unless you’re stressing about learning everything ahead of time).
You should know by now that I think you are an awesome person, and you are going to have a wonderful mission. Best of luck to you, too!
Great explantion David! I think this is a perfect statement: “Being a great parent is not about having the right response for every possible challenge as much as it is about having the right response for this challenge. “
[...] You don’t have to outrun the bear [...]
[...] one of my favorite posts that I’ve ever written: You Don’t Have to Outrun the Bear. When things get overwhelming, this is important to [...]