The No Excuses Project: “I have too many other projects”

I have always ended up regretting using this excuse. At the time I never see it as an excuse; I think I’m being prudent or attempting to be realistic about what I tackle. The phrase ‘too many other projects’ often emerges in conjunction with another excuse such as ‘too tired’, ‘it will cost too much’ etc. so sometimes there a few layers that have to be peeled away. But when I finally give in, I’m inevitably hitting my forehead and wondering why the heck I didn’t just dive in the first time. For example, last Fall I postponed buying the equipment I needed for beach-glass jewelry, because “I had too many other projects.” I figured that I would experiment with wire wrapping the glass instead until I got a few other things out of the way. And then I realized that wasn’t going to work at all and that people were interested in seeing the soldered style. Now that I’m producing my own style, people are stopping and saying they’ve never seen it done that way and they seem to like it.

That said, it is possible to take on too much and then not give any of them your best. I think the trick there is to evaluate and take away the things that are not truly what you want to pursue. Maybe you think it would be prestigious to be a published author but if the rest of the world (the audience) disappeared you would stop it immediately. That’s usually a sign that your motivation isn’t coming from the right place. Most people that are truly living their passion would dance, sing, write, or do chemistry experiments solo on a desert island.

I haven’t rid myself of this excuse entirely, but I’m getting better just because I’ve had so many recent examples where I took the wrong path. There weren’t dire consequences but I ended up back at the same point every time. I remind myself of that when I feel the excuse coming on and then see if there isn’t something else that should be subtracted instead.

Next week: “It’s too big”

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