Have I Taken On Too Much

If you’re reading this, to most people you probably have. I’m asked this question frequently from almost everyone. This includes my adorable wife, my partners, investors and friends – and to be frank I don’t know the answer just yet because we’re not done yet.

They say you should focus on just one thing.

It’s easy to conclude we should all apply our absolute focus on just one thing. There are 100's of great examples of this with renound business leaders all applying that ‘one thing’ principle. However there are just as many examples of folks tackling multiple ambitions simultaneously. So who is right?

A great example and almost unbelievable one at that is Elon Musk who is the CEO of two public traded companies Tesla and SpaceX, and the President of another in Solar City. To almost everyone on that planet this is unimaginable, yet it works, for him.

It depends on you.

At the end of the day it depends on what drives you, and equally how each of those causes inspires you. If you find yourself undertaking too many things, unless those projects offer significant value in financial, spiritual or learning it might be time to cut it loose and focus on which of them do.

I’m the CEO of three companies, albeit much smaller than Elon. One is a thriving digital and social media business Mailman, another is Kawo, a social media tech company and the third is a startup Shopilist, shaking up travel shopping for everyone. Each occupy time, they require different levels of engagement and the teams are at various stages – one barely walking, another sprinting and the other finding its way.

Am I taking on too much? Maybe. But I’m not buying it. I’m still very much committed to seeing it through and I enjoy every minute of it. Sure it can challenging at times, but in someway they each lend value to one another. I learn more, the team collaborate and as a group we become more powerful.

Stamina is also important

In my experience where the entrepreneurs can fall up is when they’re not prepared to go the distance. An idea can spark, innovation + speed then follow, then when the adoption is less than expected the entrepreneur is depleted and the race is unfinished. On to the next thing.

I’ve realised all success requires an enormous amount of time, and very seldomly are there any ways around it. So you just need the grit to stick it out. You need to be a little patient, adaptable when things need to change but most of all willing to stay in the game long enough.

So I have no real answers, you do.