Why I Chose Not No Be One Thing

We’ve all heard about how we should niche down in order to be successful in business. And if you want to make money being creative, it is a business. But some of us are just not built that way.

And I completely understand that me working on several things at the same time will slow down my progress. This is for those of us that can’t just concentrate on one thing until its “successful”. For me the other projects I work on feed into all the others. Either way all of them will grow at different rates. There will be times that I work almost exclusively on one project for maybe a week, but I also leave space for other inspiration to come in.

Not gonna lie, when I focus on one more then the others I get the most inspiration for my other things or a completely different idea. Its half my creativity working overtime and half my brain trying to distract me. But I have a notebook just for these things to put down and not lose the idea. Its called a Parking Lot list (thanks for telling me this Katrina). I give myself five minutes to put everything down that’s running in my head then just put it away.

Yes, all the research and articles out there talk about not multi-tasking. What they do not reiterate is that we all work on a lot of different things throughout our days. Whatever task should be the only focus, but not the only thing you work on. You can’t tell your dog you can’t take him for a walk because you can only today. Or you can’t help you kids with your homework because you can only paint today.

I still get all my tasks done. I write everyday, always on my fiction, other days I alternate on my blogs, non-fiction books, and poetry. I also take 10-30 minutes to learn a language. I can take my dog out and workout. I’m sure all of you do go out to hang with friends.

The point is to break down everything into smaller tasks. Whatever your goals are break it down so each task takes anywhere from 5-30 minutes. Then you are always working towards them. I always make sure to write 500 words a day. And write one poem a week. I do a language lesson at least 5x a week.

These may seem like too small of things to really get anywhere. But unlike most people who work only on big things, who is actually getting things done? Most people I see still haven’t written their book. They didn’t save for that big trip. That businesses idea is still a dream. I’ve published two books and two short stories. And will be publishing two more this year. I’ve recorded and published 2 different podcasts. Hell, I co-hosted and ran a conference.

I’m living my best life. Doing work that I love. And I’m never bored. How do you want to live your life?