Ever have one of those weeks that just completely overwhelms you? Too much to do, too many requests, to the point where you become completely drowned work, family, friends or all of the above? Of course you do. You’re reading this blog and that means I know at least 3 things about you- 1) You have great taste, 2) You like your leadership wisdom full of pop-culture humor, and 3) You’re ambitious. And ambitious people always bite off more than we can chew, at least from time-to-time.
So rather than tell you not to do that (you won’t listen- I wouldn’t either), I’m going to tell you how to fix it. Watch your step, ‘cause I’m about to drop some serious knowledge. Ready for the big secret to dealing with having too much to do? Here it is:
Quit.
The reality is when you have more than you can handle, when you over extend yourself, something’s going to suffer. It’s inevitable. So you have to decide; do you let quality suffer or do you back out and leave others the chance to find someone else to help. It’s usually better to quit.
The hard part of quitting is getting past the guilt of letting others down or the personal shame of feeling like you failed. That’s the part I can help you with. Consider this.
Quitting is NOT the same as Failing.
Seth Godin says that in his brilliant book, The Dip (it’s a textbook in how to quit the right way). And it’s a simple truth that if you can embrace it, will help you overcome this hurdle. Quitting is a decision. It’s not that you couldn’t- but you choose not to. And if you’re choosing not to because you can’t give your best, that’s a wise choice. But don’t let quitting and failing become synonymous- failing is when you can’t, quitting is when you choose to stop. And that might be a good choice.
Jon Acuff also wrote a brilliant blog on it. Check that out here.
Bottom line, if you’re a go-getter, you’re always going to overextend yourself from time-to-time. The real question is, are you going to fix it or let your work suffer?
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