Is it an ant, an elephant or a dinosaur problem

My son Ben just wrapped up kindergarten.

And like most 6-year-olds, one of the most important lessons they’ll learn before they enter the first grade is how to manage the many challenges they’ll face.

Because life isn’t without challenges, you can’t avoid them, so you might as well learn to deal with them.

The problem is that, as adults, we sometimes make things overly complicated. And in those scenarios, it’s not always the worst idea to take advice from a 6-year-old.

Introducing the ant, elephant & dinosaur framework. It’s not just for 6-year-olds.

When faced with a problem, feeling stressed, anxious & overwhelmed is natural. And working in startups - as a founder, CEO, marketer, or janitor - there is stress.

But it’s also essential to teach yourself how to react in the moment, how to respond and how to recognize what’s really going on.

So here is the good stuff.

In life, there are only three types of problems. A dinosaur-sized problem, an elephant-sized problem & an ant-sized problem. And how you identify, react & respond to each - will define how you move forward in life.

Let’s start with the dinosaur problem.

Have you ever seen a real-life dinosaur on the street?

If you did, what would you do? Because I think I would immediately turn around, run, scream, and probably need a clean pair of pants.

Because it’s not every day you see a dinosaur on the street, staring back at you.

Elephants are a little less scary, because we see them more often (and they’re less likely to eat us in one bite…)

We see them in zoos and if we’re lucky enough, in their real-life habitat on safari.

They’re usually contained, are parallel to us & if we ignore them, they usually ignore us.

In comparison to the T-Rex staring down at us, they’re a little bit less scary & a little bit more contained.

And then there are the ants

Look down in certain places & they’re everywhere. But when you look up, they tend to go away.

If you focus on them too much, they become a big problem. But if you ignore them, you realize they’re not really there.

And when you need to remove them, they’re easy to remove.

So what am I talking about? And what does this have to do with business, marketing & life?

Throughout life, you’re going to be hit with challenges. Some are big, some are small & some are canon events that will ripple effect on the rest of your life.

When you’re faced with an ant-sized problem, the best thing you can do is to “stomp it out” and move on without flinching. Don’t focus on it too much, or it will take over, but don’t ignore it because you don’t want an entire family of ants moving in.

When faced with an elephant-sized problem, it might be time to call in the safari master or zoo keeper. Someone that is an expert at solving those problems & who can keep it contained without becoming a big mess.

And when you see that T-Rex chasing you down the street? That’s the time to run, get to safety quickly, regroup, and decide what to do next. You may never face one of these scenarios, but when it happens - you want to move quickly, be decisive and do everything in your power to stay alive to continue the fight.