English Explanatory Dictionary

when you're up to your neck in alligators, it's hard to remember that your initial objective was to drain the swamp

English dictionary entry

Meanings

proverb
  1. It is easy to lose sight of one's initial objective, becoming caught up in subtasks or in tasks only tangentially related to the original goal.

Word forms

when you're up to your neck in alligators, it's hard to remember that your initial objective was to drain the swamp

Related words

yak shaving bikeshedding XY problem if you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging
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