Recently, I was presenting a training with two different companies I currently consult with. Taking an old idea, tweaking it, and taking it online. I gave the same advice to both companies.
The first company decided it was “outdated,” and chose to do nothing with it; not even give it a try.
The second company took the idea, tweaked it, and ran with it; full steam ahead!
That company that ran with it experienced 78 promotions in the two months following implementation, simply because they took what they could use, tweaked some other things, and left what didn’t serve them behind.
The company that did not, had less than 10 promotions within that same timeframe.
What the second company did was ‘eat the fish and leave the bones.’ In other words, they took what was useful to them, and left what was not useful behind.
This idiomatic expression, along with its cousin, "Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater," is used to explain a situation when you disregard information or ideas even when only a portion of it doesn’t resonate with you.
Not everything is a complete solution; sometimes, the answers lie within the information you can’t use. However, the parts that are usable can make all the difference in the world!
When you ‘eat the fish and leave the bones,’ you are choosing to take the good out of every situation, and leave behind what you don’t need.
You can make that choice. As a matter of fact, that’s how we learn and grow.
After all, just because fish have bones in it doesn’t mean you are going to stop eating fish. If you enjoy eating fish, you will simply choose to eat around the bones.
A right-brained approach to this concept happens when one thing inspires creativity in something seemingly unrelated.
In early 1975, the band Aerosmith took an afternoon break from recording to enjoy a movie at a local theater. The movie they saw that day was Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein.
So the story goes, upon returning to the studio, and stumped for a title for a new song they were working on, producer Jack Douglas suggested a simple line from Brooks’ movie, “Walk This Way.”
The song "Walk This Way" was originally released in 1975, and was then reissued in 1976, climbing to No. 10 on Billboard's pop chart.
The song has nothing to do with the movie plot or any of its characters. Other than the name, you would never know there was a connection unless you knew the story.
When Douglas suggested the title, inspired from the line in the movie, what he actually did was ‘eat the fish and leave the bones.’ In other words, he took what resonated with him, and left the rest behind.
This concept can have a big impact in many areas of your life. Without ‘bones,’ you risk only listening to people and ideas with which you already agree. The danger in that is you never learn and grow beyond where you are.
Even people with whom you disagree have something that you can learn from.
When you find more ‘bones,’ you have found opportunities to learn and grow. Here are three ways to find more bones in your everyday life.
- Listen better. When you hear a ‘bone,’ don’t immediately discount it or jump in to discredit it. Just keep listening. You might hear something from a different perspective or in a different context than you’ve ever heard it before, and you might end up learning something new. In the end, you still get to choose to take what you do agree with and leave the bones on the plate.
- Always be in learning mode! The best way to continually improve as a human being is to keep educating yourself. People have different experiences, different viewpoints, different ways to do things...and that’s awesome!!! When you are stuck with only having your experience, your viewpoint, and your way of doing things, you will have an extremely limited view of life, and that will often create more roadblocks than opportunities.
- Know that one size does not fit all. There are no bad ideas, it’s just a matter of who will choose to run with it and who will not. Remember my client who experienced 78 promotions in two months?
In summary, take what you can use, and leave the rest behind. Look for the answers, and don’t get bogged down in things that can’t help you get where you want to go.
Don’t short sight yourself just because you can’t get past a few bones. When you allow yourself to be open, and receptive, you can find exactly what you’re looking for...bones and all.
XOXO!
Belinda