During one of my consulting sessions yesterday, I had a client tell me about the fact that when she started she had so many things she was doing, and now she feels like she's peeled many layers of that away that she is much clearer about her plan. I found this concept really interesting and it got me thinking about the whole idea of making choices in regards to projects.
The way I see it, when you first start out in any venture, you are in the middle of a huge store filled with things you want. It's pretty easy to run around the store and load up your cart with everything that catches your eye. Once you get home however, you usually find that there are things that either don't fit with what you're doing, don't work, or that you just don't have room for. If you find this is the case, you take the items back and get your money back to use on future items.
I've mentioned before how your time is in investment. It's money in or out of the bank and the things you choose to work on are your purchases. When you're feeling frustrated that you don't have enough time, wouldn't it make sense to look at your "purchases" and see if there is something that should be returned? Ideally, you'd have said no when you realized you didn't have the time for something, but sometimes things change and you can't be afraid to go back and let the person you're working with know that you can no longer commit to the project. If you continue and your time continues to be stretched, you ultimately may do more damage then good by holding on.
Remember, after a certain number of days, you can no longer return certain items. So if you're feeling like you have way too much to do and that nothing seems to be getting done, ask yourself what you've purchased recently and be honest about what might need to be returned.
As comedian Steven Wright once said, "You can't have everything....Cause where would you put it?"
Excelsior!
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