Why You Need to Juggle Less to Create More
Are you trying to do too much?
Keeping 10 balls in the air is fine if you're a professional juggler; not so much if you're a creative entrepreneur.
All that keeping everything in motion can make you dizzy. And very, very tired.
You've got to make your work and promote it; maybe you do some teaching or coaching as well.
There's that eBook to write, that gallery submission to send, that guest-post to propose.
There's work to collect or deliver from your previous/next exhibition, your website to update and your newsletter to plan.
You need to keep yourself fed and clothed - and maybe kids/spouse/parents as well - and make sure social services doesn't put sticky tape round your house as a health hazard because you haven't cleaned it for so long.
Of course, you don't want to drop the ball.
But I'm telling you that's too many balls. Even for a Super-Artist.
So what about if you put a ball down carefully and deliberately?
Or several balls?
What if you put down half the balls you're currently trying to keep aloft?
What would your life look like?
Terrifying?
Or a big relief?
I'm guessing a bit of both.
But surely it would mean less productivity? Less getting things done?
Working on too many projects causes overwhelm
Up until I crashed into the wall of overwhelm in 2015, I would have agreed with you that more equals, well, more.
I'd have told you that keeping all those balls in the air mean I'm a productive person.
But since my snarl with the overwhelm monolith, I've radically questioned the sanity of my juggling habits. I've been experimenting with putting aside some of my balls.
Not forever, you understand. I'm keeping those balls within sight. But I recognise that packing out my week with a host of different projects is not actually half so productive as I thought.
Do More = Less Productive
And guess what? It's a cliché, but since I've started doing less, I'm actually achieving more.
Instead of inching a multitude of projects towards the finishing line, I'm making great strides on a few.
And I feel more enthusiastic.
And what's even more amazing, what I AM doing is taking me less time than usual.
Which gives me chance to breathe. And smile. And listen to the birds.
Imagine life with a stripped-down to do list
Over to you:
• Which balls are so heavy that you're dying to put them down?
• Which ones keep slipping through your fingers anyway?
• Which ones just make you feel plain snarly?
Put them down. Just for now.
Or, I tell you what. Put them all down.
There, that's nice isn't it?
Now: Which balls do you really want to pick up?