Last week I failed to meet a weekly goal. Normally not a big issue but this time I’d publicly posted it on a forum. Accountability is a great thing and, in this case, it made me look at why I hadn’t completed it. I had piles of great excuses – family health issues, last minute projects, all urgent stuff that needed to be done but I knew that the excuses just weren’t acceptable. So I dug deeper and looked through Asana, that ws when the obvious struck me, I have too much stuff on. I’ve recently started re-reading Essentialism by Greg McKeown and what has really stuck out to me is the idea that
every time you say yes to an opportunity you are saying no to something thing else
And that thing you’re saying no to is often more important to you. Time is limited, and although I feel like I can do anything, I’m now starting to realise I can’t do everything. So in answer to the question are too many opportunities a bad thing, I think the answer is yes!
I know if I’m going to succeed, to truly make an impact, I’m going to have to say goodbye to some distractions. The two projects that I really want to concentrate on are How to Rock WP and this blog. I want to add the consistency and quality needed to build a community on How to Rock WP and here I just want to start posting regularly again. Its time to start letting go of some baggage and some business’s.
The list to go includes:
- Funkybump Maternity: We started this company 10 years ago when my wife and I were made redundant a month before our first child was born. It allowed us to be at home with our girls until they went to school, spending a lot of that time in Portugal. Now it’s just an unloved site so I have to let it go.
- Open MedScience: A medical journal I helped start last year with a crazy smart guy called Sean. Instead of getting paid for the site I took a share of the company. Everyone thought it was an great opportunity, but it was always his passion and note mine. It takes up time and headspace and for me to move forward I need both of those things
- Beacon Internet Solutions: My Web Design and Marketing Agency. Just because you can do something well, doesn’t mean you should be doing it! I have enough clients to pay the bills, but I’m not going to spend time growing this business. My heart’s just not in it.
So here’s the plan. Over the next month, I’m going to hand over control of Open med science to Sean and make a set of videos showing how to run the site. If I spend a little more time on them then they can also double up for tutorials on How to Rock WP. I’m also going to find a buyer for funkybump or just replace the site with a notice that this domain is up for sale. With Beacon I’m going to delete all of my tasks associated with growth and only work with the clients I currently have.
I’ve allocated time for each of the projects that count and they are going to be my sole focus going forward. Obviously I’m still going to be spending the bulk of my time working for my current clients, a guys got to pay the bills, but the other time will be on these my two pet projects. I’m also going to start taking the weekends off!
I love the idea essentialism and minimalism but the only way to get there is to let go of one thing at a time.