“Concentrating On Too Many Things Gets Nothing Done…”
No, not an ancient Chinese Proverb, just an Andrew Anderson one.
This axiom has been said in many different ways and no matter which way it is said, it is still true. It does not matter if we are talking your Business, the latest project, or even dating.
Not concentrating on one thing and getting it completed or at least to the next level will in the end more than likely spell disaster almost every single time.
While I know this and operate this way almost always in my business life, sometimes I still slip and I also have to ride hard on the people that I work with at times as well.
On the personal side, I have had less success in adhering to this. Which in most articles you read, they are strictly about business, but none of us operate in a vacuum which is why we need to balance things out in both our personal lives and in our business lives.
Business life affects our personal life and vice versa. And I am going to break some news that probably is not news to a lot of you. If you are an Entrepreneur, many of us including myself are far better at the business part of the combo than at the personal part of it.
This is perhaps partially due to the fact that as the Entrepreneur, we get our Jollies off on the business side of things. Nearly every successful One I know is an Entrepreneur precisely because they love what they are doing! Which is why Entrepreneurs as a whole are the happiest people under every measurement no matter how you cut it. At least that is what the Psycho-Ologists say or so I am told.
Now I am going to try and not project here, but I know that a lot of you will be able to relate perhaps just a little bit or maybe even a lot to what I am about to say.
What a lot of people do not realize is that even the most messy or seemingly disorganized Entrepreneur to many may seem like they are unorganized and just flying around all of the time.
Which point in fact typically could not be further from the truth. Even if they don’t realize it themselves any successful Entrepreneur is extremely organized in their own fashion. Even if it is in their own head. Many of them may seem like the messiest people in the world when it comes to their desks and files which for the most part they could probably use a bit of help with, but when it comes to what is really important, i.e. the money making things, if you delve into the head a little bit, they are often times able to organize and compartmentalize things extremely well. In fact they are often amazingly able to process information that most people would find mind boggling.
Not only organize it but connect seemingly disorganized and seemingly non-related ideas and information and turn it into something new, wonderful and often times beautiful. Let’s not forget profitable too!
The whole messy desk or office thing is a whole different beast and is related to Personality Language types and if I can I will try and get Marilyn Woodsmall to shed some light on that specifically one of these days. If you want extra credit or to enlighten yourself, get a copy of the book, “ Personality Language” by clicking here. It actually has very little to do with organizational skills in many cases but a matter of what is important to the individuals personality type.
OK, now this is where the rubber hits the road and I am going to share my own recent revelations brought about by a friend of mine who happens to be one very sharp cookie.
What popped up was that sometimes in your business, you often may have several projects running concurrently and the scheduling may not always be at your discretion. Which can lead to some rather creative ways in which to get things done and even some overlaps.
While this is OK upon occasion, it is not a good way to run your business. But if you have been around and are successful, as Entrepreneurs we can become pretty adapt at that.
I have to say that as this point in my life I put far more time in my Business than I do my personal life. This is because I have a start-up that I have been working on for over 18 months now it is the mother of all Muse’s or Musi!
I will share it with you very soon. Not only do I have that, but I have still have kept a few clients and keep my fingers in a couple of small enterprises. It keeps me mostly out of trouble for the most part.
Well, in the personal arena, I have a tendency to kind of let it take care of itself without nearly the amount of attention or planning that I put into my businesses. Well guess what? I am sure you can imagine some of the results.
Yup, you guessed. By stacking things and not paying attention to one thing at a time, I have ended not doing things in let’s say as in an optimal fashion as possible.
Don’t Screw Yourself!
By not concentrating on one thing, lassoing it and tying it up and moving on to the next item, you end up screwing not only yourself, but the people you are involved with as well. Be it going out to parties, meeting with friends, spending time with loved ones, or even dating if you are single.
The key is to bring a little bit of that great organizational and prioritizing skills that you use so well and effortlessly in your businesses to your personal life.
I have been thinking about this quite a bit. Perhaps because even though the business part of your life can be hectic,,, or perhaps because of it, you get an adrenalin buzz from it whereas the personal side can be a bit tedious and not a whole lot of fun sometimes. Just the way life is sometimes…
But, what I realized this weekend, while I would never leave lose ends laying around with my business, once I started looking at what was going on in my personal life, it looked kind of like a tattered old Burlap Bag.
So, this week I will be taking out the scissors and cutting off the loose ends, sewing things up and actually engaging in planning and organization with as much emphasis as I put into my businesses.
I had not realized how out of control it had become, nor how much it was weighing on me and slowing me down unnecessarily.
Not only that, it was not making things all that much fun for the people that care about me and those that I care about as well.
It will not get all mended over night, but 80% of it can be fixed in a day or so with only about 20% effort. Yes, it is the good old Pareto Principal in action again.
Perhaps after reading about my epiphany, you can have your own.
Now about the “Profit Out The Wazooo” part. Well, I can already see that by not specifically focusing on things in my personal life, that is was taking a lot of the enjoyment out of it and causing me and the ones the people that I care for headaches. This was and is also impacting my business. Guess what? My business and personal life are connected at the hip even though I and perhaps even you may forget that.
I don’t want to give you the impression that my personal life is totally hosed, but compared to how organized and smooth running my business life is, it is not even close.
But the good news is like with most business situations, once you recognize what the issues are, they are quite easily fixed.
The kicker is, it won’t get done if you don’t focus on it or if you try and focus on too many things at once.
I will leave you with something to ponder. The real reason why we start doing this is because we are afraid we will actually get what we are looking for.(BINGO!) Then what? It is often times a defense mechanism so that we won’t have to deal with getting hurt or be disappointed. This is especially true if you have gotten burned in the past in a similar situation.
You let doubt creep in and sabotage the very things you are trying to accomplish. But guess what? There are happy endings, things do work out, success is possible and usually many times greater than you can imagine. In business, life, and in love!
You can have it, just don’t focus on too many things, take advantage of the opportunity while it is there, because truly great ones have a limited shelf life and you need to grab them, even if you are a bit scared. Don’t be kicking yourself in the butt the rest of your life.
So, figure out the one thing you need to concentrate on and do it. Success and happiness will follow.
Cheers,
Andrew Anderson