The over committer’s dilemma

After reading Matt Swanson’s article on the difficulties of being an over committer I was overcome with empathy. I’m a constant over committer, and struggle to say “no” to just about every opportunity. That probably even gives me too much credit, I enthusiastically commit I every possible opportunity.

I commit to small one-off projects for friends, longer-term work with acquaintances, and whip up my own projects all the time. Sometimes the projects are freelance, and sometimes they are simply “free.” All this serves to satiate the needling feeling in the back of my brain that I might just be missing out on something.

I used to compare my workload with the incredible stories of start-up legends who recall sleeping in their desk chair for five months until a million dollar product was born and they were set for life. Now I think those people could have the over committal problem licked. Those famed entrepreneurs had something an over committer doesn’t, focus.

It’s common sense that the more fractured your focus becomes, the less attention you can give to each piece. The other side of that coin is that you have to be super confident in that one thing to rest comfortably on it and avoid everything else. It’s perhaps a bigger gamble, but it’s probably the kind of gamble that pays off. People don’t trip and fall into hugely successful ventures, they think it through and focus.

Sprinkling your attention across many endeavors just ensures that none will likely mature. The more I work at hitting the right balance between current and ongoing projects, I have come to think that doubling down on the one solid idea you have may be your best bet.

What do you think?