This guest posst is by Kole McRae of Chilled Soda.
Four months ago, I had 15 blogs. I had blogs about net neutrality, writing tips, technology news, and more. They we’re all things I was passionate about and loved writing them but one day I deleted them all.
All but one.
I didn’t back them up. I didn’t think twice about it. I simply clicked Delete and never thought about them again. Each one had an audience. Some of them even brought in a little money. But none of that mattered.
That day I discovered a simple truth about myself—a truth that expands to absolutely everyone. The idea was simple, which is kind of the beauty of it.
The less you spread yourself, the better your work
Though I worked hard on those blogs, I knew that the quality of the posts wasn’t high. I tried my best but I just didn’t have the time to do the in-depth work I wanted to. At first I blamed it on my day job and other priorities, but over time I realized it was the sheer number of projects that was holding me back.
With each new project or blog I started, I spread my resources a little bit further. I had less time to devote to each one, and because of that the quality suffered.
The day I made that realization, I deleted them all and focused on a single blog. I was finally able to devote the time required to do the detailed, high-quality posts I’d always wanted to.
Because of this I was able to get that blog mentioned on Consumerist.com, Time Magazine’s website, Howstuffworks.com, and many other A-list websites. All it took was dedication to a single cause instead of many.
Take a look at your current list of projects. Are you able to devote the amount of time necessary to make each one a raging success? If not, why are you working on them?
One at a time
You’re probably looking at this article with an expression of shock. I can hear the objections now:
“You mean, you want me to kill my babies? But all my ideas!”
I’m not asking you to delete everything and never work on those ideas again. As naturally creative people, we want to create. Here is what you should do instead: work on each project, one at a time. Put all your focus on the first one, then, once that’s complete, move on to the next.
It’s up to you to decide what “complete” means.
Not only will this approach ensure that the quality of each project is incredibly high, but you’ll also get a lot more done.
In small doses
You don’t have to do it all at once, like I did. I know that deleting something you’ve worked hard on can be incredibly daunting task. It can even be depressing at first.
Instead, cut out one project at a time.
You’ll find that with the removal of each project, all the others become better in terms of quality. The more you delete, the more you’ll want to delete as you see how much better your other projects get. It’s like an endless loop of quality.
In the end it just proves the point: “Less is more.”
Have you got multiple projects running at the moment? How do you juggle them? Are you giving every single one your best?
Kole McRae started Chilled Soda, a resource for those working 9-5 jobs that want to reduce stress, get more done, find more time for the things they
love, and all around become happier.
