How many people do you know who have ever died of a snake bite?
When a snake bites you, two instincts kick in, seek first aid to control the poison from entering your bloodstream or kill the snake. The latter is especially tempting it’s revenge. But does killing the snake stop the poison?
My grandpa used to say, “In a crisis, the first thing to do is stop bleeding. The enemy can wait.” Grandpa was a small-scale farmer and retail shop owner, but he understood human behavior better than any textbook psychologist. He knew that in the heat of the moment, people often confuse movement with progress.
Killing the snake feels good you may say it’s a sign of fearlessness. But while you’re chasing the snake, its venom is spreading in your body, quietly undermining your life systems. Your adrenaline spike is your worst enemy here because it clouds your ability to prioritize.
Think about your career.
The coworker who betrayed you? That bad client who humiliated you? The partner who “didn’t believe in your dreams”? These are all snakes. The bite of the wound is what they are doing, but the venom? That’s the damage you allow to keep spreading by staying fixated on their actions. Remember, people do not die from a snake bite, they die from the venom, which keeps spreading slowly until they cannot handle it anymore.
The real strategy isn’t in pursuing vengeance or even “proving a point.” It’s in stopping the poison. The uncomfortable truth is that dealing with the poison is harder than killing the snake. Poison is invisible it’s the emotional baggage, self-doubt, rage, or despair that takes over your brain power. It requires internal work: reflection, recalibration, and, most importantly, action towards what matters. It creates some sort of internal friction
“If you kill the snake first, you’ll die angry. If you stop the poison first, you’ll live to kill the snake properly.”
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Meanwhile, the snake? It’s just there, an external target you can lash out at because it’s easier than dealing with yourself.
Grandpa had another gem: “If you kill the snake first, you’ll die angry. If you stop the poison first, you’ll live to kill the snake properly.”
So what does this mean for you, the bitten? It means you stop bleeding first. Drop the stick. Tend to your wound. Neutralize the venom with action that protects and sustains your life: learning, pivoting, and focusing on what builds you.
Killing the snake can wait. By the time you’re ready, you’ll realize something amazing: the snake doesn’t matter anymore. It was just the trigger, not the war.
The battlefield is internal, and victory is quiet. Stop the poison, save yourself, and let the snake slither into irrelevance. That’s how you win. Someone has shouted at you at the traffic junction: ignore them. A person you once called a friend has backstabbed you just forgive and forget. Only do not let them know that you forgave them until they come asking for forgiveness.
That is how you progress.
Copyright 2025 Mr Strategy of Summit Consulting Ltd. All rights reserved.
