Ideas, Planning and Spreading Yourself too Thin

Most creative type people have loads and loads of ideas.

That's probably no great surprise. I suppose what I really meant to say is that most creative people have loads and loads of ideas that never make it past the conceptual stage.

I tend to be more of an "executer" than just a "theoretician" than most creatives... and whereas there are some positives to bringing many of your ideas into reality, the hidden danger is that you can end up spreading yourself too thin. And when you do? Nothing you're doing seems to ever achieve any degree of success.

Plan A, Plan B... Plan Y

Mrs. Denmarkguy and I currently have seven active businesses/initiatives going, and since the local economy is not in the best of shapes, we're having to spend more time than ever, trying to keep up with everything.

From some perspectives, you might argue that we are "well diversified," and therefore have many options to fall back on, if one of our ventures should truly go south.

That's the kind point of view.

From a little darker perspective, truth is that we're not able to give our full-time attention to any one thing we are doing, which basically is close to the same as saying that everything we're doing is a "back-up plan," and there's actually no active "Plan A" that we are giving 100% of our attentions to.

Winter comes...

The "Talking Heads" that peddle success seminars for a living will tell you that it's a recipe for disaster to (a) not have a primary plan you're giving 100% of your attention to, and (b) spread yourself too thin.

But Everything is INTERESTING!

I have previously written about my lifelong struggle with "Too Many Interests Syndrome" (AKA: ADHD), and I'm quite open to admitting that I tend to take on too many different things, in the hope that one of them turns out to be a real winner.

But can I really expect that, given that I have never actually had the luxury of just focusing 100% on any one thing I have started?

I fear there may be a self-fulfilling prophecy there; a negative feedback loop: Because I take on too many things, I never can give 100% to any one of them, as a result of which none are ever true "winners," as a result of which I keep taking on new projects... in search of a winner. See where that can become a problem?

Summer daisy...

Unfortunately, both Mrs. Denmarkguy and I "suffer" from this same affliction... and even though we both love being self-employed, the specter of a "real" 9-5 job looms ever larger ahead. For her, a return to the restaurant industry; for me, retail management — someone else's store, not our own. Our lack of focus has gradually become a liability.

In time, we'll see how it all plays out. For now, we're just trying to narrow our scope and focus, and perhaps get rid of some of the deadwood that consumes time but sadly adds very little to our personal bottom line.

Thanks for reading!

How about YOU? Do you tend to stay singularly focused on just one thing? Or are you more likely to spread yourself around? Are you self-employed, or do you work for someone else? If you ARE self-employed, how do you manage your time? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!

(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Created at 181208 23:15 PDT