If you're anything like me, you are our natural problem solver who loves to figure things out 😀.
You will probably also have figured out, that you are a rather rare breed. People keep coming to you with various requests or asking you how to fix this or that... Or the most intoxicating, almost irresistible, situation occurs when you overhear someone talking about a problem and your brain instantaneously goes "I know how to fix that!" and you absolutely must help them out. This goes marvellously at first, and your ego is riding high on the knowledge that you have made a minor mark in the world and helped improve things.
This is great, but…
You have just run out of time in the day to do all the things you want or need to do. You have inadvertently signed yourself up for every repair job and are on a bunch of committees. To top it off you're also involved in a few projects in which you will also taken the lead and are in no position to hand it off to someone else in order to give yourself a break.-Your control freak has just introduced himself to you.
If that's you in a nutshell, fear not because that's also me. I have a feeling it describes a lot of people in the world whose goal it is to improve life in general. We just love to play and inadvertently become the repair shop, the support of friend, the problem solver etc. This isn't just ego either, we really do have a knack for understanding situations. The worst part is you (and I) know what to do, we just disdained the thought of doing it, and that is, it is necessary in order to do the best work possible, to stop trying to do everything. One must "Simplify, and Reduce Distraction" which means in practical terms something must be let go.
This sure is a difficult thing to do. To choose one of the many things we are doing and let someone else actually do it. Don't worry the world will live on. But one must make a commitment to oneself also do not take anything new up. Trading projects is not an option, it is necessary to give oneself some free time. You do remember what free time is don't you? -I'm not sure this moment if I do- Here it is 8:30 in the morning and I have to resist the urge to follow another idea for an article. I have to face the fact that I can't put out multiple articles and do the work that is expected of me later in the day as well as doing all the artwork and publicizing necessary in the time allotted. ...(Yes, believe it or not folks, blogs and websites do need publicizing. The traffic and visitors don't grow on trees and just show up. Internet myth busting fact #1: "A Website is not a substitute for an advertisement. It is the destination a visitor ends up at after seeing an ad about the site.")...
So I'm on a quest to reduce and simplify things. I can already feel my subconscious going nuts at just the thought... I think one of the first things to go will be a committee or two... To give myself a little more breathing room. Because quantity is no substitute for quality and if you and I want to do good in the world we must become focused and allow other creative souls to take over certain things. The world has done well without us before head and will do well after us.
It is really necessary to focus on the quality of the goal and doing all you can do to assure that it comes out well. As I can older I really believe that the other people we see in our lives who appear to be doing everything so well have to face the same issues and the lessons they have learned is to focus and simplify. This also means using tools like delegating and allowing people to grow into positions.
The brightest stars in the heavens are bright because their light is focused.
Have a great day everyone.
Take care Patrick
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