African Food and Art

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Bail Water While It’s Still Ankle Deep

Bail water, while it’s still ankle deep, is a West African Igbo Proverb whose meaning warns us not to ignore our problems because they grow and become bigger problems over time.

Bail water while it’s still ankle deep is a West African Igbo Proverb whose meaning warns us not to ignore our problems.

Bail water while it’s still ankle deep West African Igbo Proverb means leaders solve problems and stop them before they get too big.


Bail Water While It’s Still Ankle Deep African Proverbs and Quotes.


It happens to even the most seasoned people. You are excited to embrace new challenges and you have visualized success at the end of the road. Here is how some leaders think about problems and how you can learn to overcome them before they get too big.

A positive attitude may not solve your problems -- but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. – Anonymous

A problem is a chance for you to do your best. – Duke Ellington

All problems become smaller when you confront them instead of dodging them. – William F. Halsey

Do not bother people for help without first trying to solve the problem yourself. – Colin Powell

Each problem that I solved became a rule, which served afterwards to solve other problems. – Rene Descartes

Giving up is the most painful way of solving a problem. – Anonymous

If you are unable to understand the cause of a problem, it is impossible to solve it. – Naoto Kan
Inside of every problem lies an opportunity. – Robert Kiposaki

It isn’t that they cannot find the solution. It is that they cannot see the problem. – G.K Chesterton

Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced. – James Baldwin

Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines. – Robert H. Shuller

Problems are nothing but wake-up calls for creativity – Gerhard Gschwandtner

Problem-solving leaders have one thing in common: a faith that there’s always a better way. – Gerald M. Weinberg

Running away from a problem only increases the distance from the solution. – Anonymous

Sometimes problems don’t require a solution to solve them; Instead they require maturity to outgrow them. – Steve Maraboli

There is no problem outside of you that is superior to the power within you. – Bob Proctor

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. – Albert Einstein

We fail more often because we solve the wrong problem than because we get the wrong solution to the right problem. – Russell L. Ackoff

Your ability to solve problems and make good decisions is the true measure of your skill as a leader. – Brian Tracy

More African Proverbs from the motherland.

  1. Your Attitude African Proverbs
  2. What is an African Proverb
  3. Do not invite evil to sit at your table then cry
  4. Mean Coworkers African Proverbs
  5. Having Faith African Proverbs

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