What I Learned From Being Spread Too Thin

Fresh Start

When I left Atlantic Bedding back in July, I did not have a clue about what I was going to do. I didn’t need to get a job immediately because I had been smart with my money and I wasn’t living paycheck to paycheck. Nothing was set up for me on the outside world, I just knew it was time to leave.

As soon as I left, I was approached by six people that wanted me to either work for them or start a business with them. I had lots of options, and as soon as I heard them I wanted to start them all. I wanted to dive in and get to work building the next great thing. Each sounded exciting, fun, lucrative, and they all sounded like I would do well in them.

Being Effective

spread too thinI like to be effective and I was used to having a lot on my plate so I knew my limitations and how much I wanted to dedicate myself to something. I looked at what I could do freely, what each would need for investment, and who I would be working with on each. Epic Day Outdoors (Adventures at the time) it was, working alongside my buddy Travis that I’ve always wanted to work with.

I knew this was a new challenge, I knew who I was going to work with, and I knew what sort of resources I was prepared to dedicate to this project and this person. Had I chosen more than one of the other businesses, I would have had to ration out my time amongst multiple partners and businesses. I’m glad I didn’t do that *pats self on the back*

Furniture Daze

In my Atlantic Bedding days, I was almost always spread too thin to really dig in and enjoy what I was doing. Since the company had grown so large of the years, the positions weren’t really built around the strengths of the people and roles weren’t that defined. When a company starts small and grows fast it has to build positions around people. This isn’t a bad thing but since there’s almost always less staff than is needed, people get stuck with jobs they don’t like or can’t do well.

When I had too much on my plate I was never able to focus in on one project and give it my all. There was always a trip to be made or a proverbial fire that needed to be put out, it was a reactionary situation. One thing I liked about the prospect of Epic Day was the idea of planning and looking forward instead of looking back.

Going With My Gut

When I picked Epic Day I was going in the opposite direction of my previous position, I didn’t want to be spread too thin. I picked what I thought I would be the best at and who I would show up every day for because I knew he’d do the same for me. I wasn’t interested in wasting my time, and I haven’t. Epic Day has been quite an adventure (pun intended) and I’ve learned a lot from the experience so far.

When we spread ourselves too thin we don’t put forth our best work. If I had started 3 businesses at once I would never had given any one of them a fair shot, I would have been spread too thin. I wouldn’t have the appropriate time to dedicate to each one of them. And if even one of those was a great idea, it would have folded because I didn’t get it the necessary time to grow and mature.

Where are you spread too thin? What about your business? What can you do to get focused back in? 

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Have a great day!pickadirection.com

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