Jan 06, 2011
Entrepreneurs juggle many tasks and wear many hats on a day to day basis. When I think of how I used to work in the past versus how I work now; it’s easy to list how certain small changes I had to make to improve my productivity. In the beginning of my career, I was mostly a spontaneous and impatient person who overall worked and studied to no end. I discovered quickly that being this way led to burnout before I could even begin to manage my own website projects in addition to freelance client work I had. Most importantly: relationships I had in my life suffered because I was so focused on being an entrepreneur as I believed this was the only way to get ahead.
I was wrong. The reality is: I was missing the overall picture. There was no possible way to focus on ALL the projects and goals I wanted to accomplish while making them ALL into super producing income generating machines. Sound familiar?
More Projects = More Responsibility
Imagine a large pond that sits at the bottom of a lush green hill surrounded by ducks, deer and maybe a few rabbits here and there. How many raindrops do you suppose it took to fill this pond? Now take the same amount of water but drop little puddles in several locations across the plain. What would you expect happens? Most likely the water quickly dries up and the wildlife that depends so much on water, suffer.
What projects you chose to focus on can either be a giant pond that many benefit from or a small series of puddles that are spread too thin.
Personally, I never understood why entrepreneurs believe in a ‘hyper focus‘ when it comes to managing projects. Being excited about a new project can leave us feeling like we have ADHD (Oh, yes: I’ve been there!) and just for a few days make us feel like we have stumbled upon the next gold mine with OUR project or with OUR idea.
The truth is with each new project you focus on comes added responsibility that you either must take on with your own time or by paying someone else for their time and talent. How much added responsibility you can take on depends on your income and time, both valuable assets that should be used wisely.
Focus Means Doing It One at a Time
It is easy to believe that more projects will lead to more success which will lead to more revenue. But not at the cost of spreading yourself too thin while the important things in your life suffer.
Overall, what I eventually gained over the years was a sense of focus. When it is time to make dinner, I focus on that. When it is time to play with my daughter, I focus on that. When it is time to develop a site, I focus on that. When it is time to study, I focus on that. Be in the present: never forward or backward, giving things your full attention.
Entrepreneurship is no different. Give one idea your total focus and don’t move on to anything else until it is complete.
Now it is time for me to focus on my next cup of coffee and the cat meowing next to me waiting for a head scratch. ;D Have a good day!
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Good advice, Tia. It is very easy to get caught up with multiple projects at one time and not give as much focus as you need to getting one completely finished before moving on to the next.
Its a glass half full/half empty sort of conundrum. While, I admittedly spread myself too thin. Every project seems to open up ideas and avenues to other more lucrative projects and ideas. I tend to look at it more like one giant puzzle, every site is a piece of the puzzle and someday (hopefully) all the pieces will fit together and create one pretty picture. Otherwise I could just park all my domains, but that seems like an even bigger exercise in futility.
Im feeling it now…. how true you are
I find that even just as a blogger i fall further and further behind on all the new developments available to be used via social media etc , this week it is linkworth/com and joining up , then learning their systems , i think possibly if you just try to concentrate on one project at a time the knowledge gained will have a flow on effect for the next project : )
Good advice, Tia. It is very easy to get caught up with multiple projects at one time and not give as much focus as you need to getting one completely finished before moving on to the next.
Its a glass half full/half empty sort of conundrum. While, I admittedly spread myself too thin. Every project seems to open up ideas and avenues to other more lucrative projects and ideas. I tend to look at it more like one giant puzzle, every site is a piece of the puzzle and someday (hopefully) all the pieces will fit together and create one pretty picture. Otherwise I could just park all my domains, but that seems like an even bigger exercise in futility.
Im feeling it now…. how true you are
I find that even just as a blogger i fall further and further behind on all the new developments available to be used via social media etc , this week it is linkworth/com and joining up , then learning their systems , i think possibly if you just try to concentrate on one project at a time the knowledge gained will have a flow on effect for the next project : )