Let’s get one thing straight: we all make mistakes, whether it’s in our creative work or at our Day Jobs. If you think otherwise, you’re living on another planet.
For me, the vast majority of my screwups happen because I take on too much and rush through things.
This wasn’t always the case—when I was younger most of my screwups happened because I was inexperienced, or because I wasn’t organized enough and forgot appointments or deadlines. I improved the former issue by getting better at things I wanted to do well, and solved the latter by implementing a To-List system that’s served me well for the past nine or so years.
Now, though, I notice a different kind of problem: because I have so much going on, and so much of it coming from different directions, I tend to rush through some tasks so I’ll have more time to work on others. Sometimes the things I rush through are relatively easy or mindless, like cleaning and easy Day Job tasks, or relatively low stakes, like sending short emails and blogging. It makes sense to spend less time on the tasks that are easy so you can focus more on the tasks that are hard, right?
Sure…as long as you can separate the easy tasks from the hard ones.
Scattering Your Focus Means You Have Less Energy for One Thing
For a long time I’ve been subscribing to a scattershot way of working, or what friend of BIAHADJ Andrew Marshall would call the Spaghetti Approach. In my case, I’ve been saying Yes to a lot of different things in hope of finding one or two that’ll lead somewhere, which gives me better odds than if I were to move in only one direction that might not work out.
The poet James Crews, another friend of this blog, would call that the Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket approach, because the basket you choose might not be the one that leads someplace.
This is also a reality of the gig economy that so many of us live in, where we have to answer to different bosses, clients, and contact people for all of our jobs and projects. Writers seem especially susceptible to this way of life: it can be a looooooong time between writing something and getting it published, and during that lull you’ve got to be working on another basket—or several baskets.
In my case, I’ve been scattering my eggs into too many baskets so that I’m constantly dashing between them. Not only does the dashing itself take up energy, it also means that some baskets will get less attention than others…and less attention than they need.
When I don’t (or can’t) set aside enough time for one of the baskets, eventually I’m going to make a mistake. Or more than one.
I’ve made a fair number of big mistakes in the last few years, and almost all of them, without exception, happened because I didn’t devote enough time to something that needed it.
I didn’t devote that time because I was spending it on other things.
I was spending that time on other things because I took on too much.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
Dropping Tasks Can Be Hard, But Necessary
I cited James Crews’s advice to not put all your eggs in one basket, but in our interview he also gave me some advice that I maybe don’t remember as often: You have to learn how to say No.
I say Yes a lot. Probably too much.
Sometimes saying Yes works really, really, REALLY well…but sometimes it doesn’t. Two years ago I wrote about how my biggest weakness involved taking on too much, so this is something I’ve been aware of for a long time but haven’t taken any real steps to change.
In my case I’m thinking it’s time to drop some of the many, many baskets I’ve been jumping between—the only questions are how, which ones, and when.
Some baskets can be dropped right away, so those should come first.
Others, though, can’t be dropped right away and need to be let go of gradually…so I’ve got to make a plan for how to step away from those.
Finally, as I’ve written about countless times on this blog, my ultimate basket-dropping ambition is to no longer have a full-time Day Job…but I’m not quite ready to make that leap yet.
I have, though, reached a point where I can see a light at the end of the Day Job tunnel…and that feels really good.
Being able to see that light also makes it easier to prepare for the day I finally leave the Day Job world, and that feels really good too.
Because maybe then I can stop taking on too much…and making mistakes because of it.