Choosing

[tertius]

I'm having trouble with choices.

I want to do A LOT of things. But I know that I'm human and I can only fit in a normal amount (supernormal) and I can't really do ALL the things that I want to do.

I know why I'm like this, I mean, that I basically want to know everything. It's because I find my identity in what I know etc. I know this is a problem, and I'm not changing this. But changing that still doesn't take away the amount of things that I still wish to do.

Is this crazy? Or should I just do all these things?

[Dave Kaminski]

Please elaborate upon the choices and your circumstances!

[tertius]

Lets take working/business.

I have 5 great ideas and I want to do them all at once (feasability will fail if I don't...)

Which one to choose? I don't want to let 3 of them go and let a big part of me go (these are quite specific to things that I like, so taking away 2 of them takes away big parts of me).

Fun/Entertainment.

I want to rockclimb (doing this), surf, kite surf, ballroom/latin dancing (have done this for 2 years, took a 1 year 'break', want to start again), hiphop dancing, drumming (did it for 2 years at school, starting again next year with lessons). Those are the main ones, I could probably add 5 more, I don't see me having enough time for them all.

Studying.

I've about got my degree in computer science, but i want to study further while I'm working to enrich myself, in information systems, business, personal financial management, more in project management, more in entrepreneurial management, marketing.

Studying (for enrichment).

I'm christian, so the study that I want to do on the bible and history is quite vast, and I know I have a lot of time to do this, but how do I choose what to do first etc.

That's about it, I could probably double that.

[tertius]

Circumstances.

I just finished studying full-time. I'm going full-time with my business that I've been running for two years whilst studying, and while that is in progress i will be developing other business ideas that I have.

[Alvin]

Hi tertius,

I've been where you are before. I have a lot of interests and there are so many things I love to do and learn!

After a while of pushing and pushing it though, I got worn out and was more tired and stressed than I'd like to be. Worse, I was fast becoming a jack of all trades and a master of none!

And there's the caveat, if you want to become an expert at something, you have to specialize. You can have a few specializations (like 2 or 3), but too much and you'd spread yourself too thin.

For me, it was an easy and difficult choice I had to make which things to drop and which to keep, because I loved all of them but I also knew which I loved more, which is the question I'd ask you to.

1) If you had to rank your choices in order, do you know what they'd be?

2) Which choices would give you greater leverage for your effort? I'd suggest you concentrate on those that you love most and give you the most return for your investment.

3) A fulfilled life is a balanced one, no use building a successful business if you run your health into the ground. Remember to keep your emotional, social, mental, financial and spiritual growth in balance!

[stephencp]

You might want to start with whatever will help OTHER people the most. This in turn should benefit you finanicially, which will ensure that you aren't wasting what time you have doing things that you don't have to do yourself.

Stephen
Power-Book Library: Free personal development, success, inspiration and motivational classics

[Keith]

Just wanted to add that (for most things) you can postpone. ie. If there's 5 things you want to do, you can say "Right, I'll do #1 for a few months, then I'll do #2, etc. etc."

It sounds like you're trapped into thinking that you have to do everything now or not at all - that's rarely the case. (If it is the case for a couple of your things and they're important to you, I'd probably do those first).