Why Doing Too Much At Once Does Not Get Results.
I know I've been a little quiet when it comes to my blogging. It's not that I have been lazy. Far from that actually. I have been extremely busy. To be honest, I've been up and down like a yo-yo and now that I have finally got back into the groove of things, I have come to the realisation that I have spent the past few months being busy getting absolutely nowhere.
Life as an entrepreneur has it's highs and lows. The highs are so freaking high and there are moments you feel absolutely invincible. It feels like nothing can stop you. Then come the lows. When they hit, it's like you want to crawl into a black hole never to be seen again. All of your hard work, the late nights, the early mornings.... for what? You start to question yourself, your goals, your motives and then you even start to wonder if it is all even worth it. Will you ever get there?
ONE STEP AT A TIME
Last year, I managed to juggle a full time job, train for a bodybuilding competition, write up my weekly blogs, write for larger online publications, post weekly YouTube vlogs, start my own business and maintain an active social life. Looking back, I am in complete awe of how I did it all. People used to comment on how amazed they were seeing me accomplish goals and tick them off one by one. Where did I find the time?
This year, I have found it difficult to stay on top of things. I find myself overwhelmed and even anxious at times. When I find myself kicking goals in one department, the others fall behind. How was I juggling everything last year? What was I doing different? I ran myself down, I fell ill. That's when I decided to stop and analyze where I went right last year and figure out what I was doing different this year. The answer was quite simple. Instead of taking 10 steps in different directions, last year I took one step at a time.
PRIORITIZE YOUR TIME
Writing a to do list is something I find extremely helpful. Every evening, I would write the next day's tasks. I would list the most important at the top and prioritize them, the bottom had the least priority. I would also allocate something I enjoyed to fit into my time. It was like a reward I would receive if I accomplished certain tasks.
When I first started doing this, I found I didn't wake up overwhelmed with the things I had to do for the day. I knew what had to be done and I knew which to execute first. I would cross them off as I go and be happy to reach the bottom of my list when I was then rewarded with something I enjoyed.
I also kept a schedule, this way I was never double booking my time. I had time slots allocated for every occasion, date night or event. Once I learnt the art of knowing my priorities, things seemed to flow easier. Why on earth did I stop doing this obviously constructive habit? Maybe I thought I could get on top of things without it, maybe I overestimated myself. What I do know is that in order to get things done, I had to go back to basics.
DO THE MOST DREADED TASKS FIRST
Ticking off and knocking the most dreaded first allowed me to get the work I don't enjoy as much out of the way. I found when I left these tasks until the end of the day, I would have excuses. I would be too tired, I would procrastinate and most of the time, leave it for the next day. The best thing I found was to just get it out of the way so there was more time to enjoy the rest of the day.
It sounds kind of brutal, doing mundane, hated tasks to start the day but I felt it was better this way as then I had things I could look forward to after the work was done. It was a much better feeling instead of spending the day dreading the hated task that was yet to come. It's all about perspective and how we look at things right?
KNOW YOUR WHY
I've had to give up a few ventures or put some on hold so I could pursue and focus on what was most important to me. I have just decided to not compete in this season's bodybuilding competition as all of the commitment and dedication needed with food prep, counting macros and hours in the gym both morning and evenings was just too time consuming and taking me away from what mattered most and that was my business.
I haven't given up on competing, just won't get on stage this season. I came to realise that I needed to spend my time wisely. I had gotten to a point where all I could think about was what I ate and how I should train. This didn't leave much brain power to sort out my business. I was half halfheartedly prepping for a comp and also halfheartedly working on my business. I needed to focus on one and give it my all. I knew I had to perfect the art of one goal before moving onto the next.
I sat down and wrote up a list of pros and cons. I thought about the reasons as to why I was chasing these goals and what I wanted to accomplish. That was when I realised that my WHY for building my business was so much stronger than competing this season. There were plenty of future bodybuilding competitions but when it came to building my business, it needed to be done now. Every second wasted was just a setback to the time I would be able to achieve my bigger goal.
As much as we like to think that we are invincible or are capable of doing anything, in reality, chasing too many goals and doing too many things at once can bring a mediocre result. In order to excel at what we do, we must prioritize, focus on taking one step at a time and set out a road map.
The steps in between may change. Opportunities and detours may arise but taking it by each step will allow for more substantial results. After all, we are only human and we only have 24 hours in a day. Make every hour, every minute, every second count and choose to spend your time wisely. Set smaller goals that lead to the bigger picture. You never know just how much you can achieve by not doing too much at once.
