Can you really do it all?
Why do internet marketers work their butts off only to feel like they’ve accomplished nothing?
Here are some insights:
- Our society places a high value on doing whatever needs to be done
- Those that can’t do everything are seen as deficient or weak
- Our media paints pictures of successful entrepreneurs being hard-core workaholics
- Entrepreneurs can be too self-sufficient which also fosters suspicion of outsiders
In short, we are conditioned from a young age that we can’t always do things that we like. Unfortunately, doing the things we like and excel at is key to success in business and life.
Now, I’m not saying the secret is to only do things we find enjoyable. Nor am I suggesting that we should try to outsource everything we don’t have a true passion for.
My message here is a simple one:
- Take a look at all the jobs you do everyday
- Find the ones you love to do and those you hate to do.
- Make a list of each
- Outsource as many of the things you hate to do as you can
- For the dislikes, be sure you set strict regular daily time limits on them
- That way, you’re not gumming up your creative mind with chores that test your patience and rob you of time to work on things that really energize you
- Re-examine your task list monthly to make sure your not wasting time.
Your main goal is not to be drowned by the “must do” tasks and end up with no time for the “love to do” ones.
What’s this got to do with washing machines?
I knew you were going to ask : )
One of my favorite movies of all time is National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. For those of you who may not remember, Chevy Chase plays Clark Griswold, a Food Additive Designer with a tendency towards obssessive compulsive behavior who is trying to have the ultimate family Christmas gathering at his home. He wants everything to be both perfect and done in a huge way.
Do you see where this is leading?
Anyway, one of the holiday traditions he decides he is going to start is decorating the house with lights. Did I say decorating? I meant to say encasing his home in 25,000 twinkle lights! The gutters, the roof and seemingly any open space on the house would be covered.
He starts off on the right foot by asking his son to untangle the huge ball of lights (outsourcing), something he clearly has no patience for. Where he goes wrong is deciding that he must hang (or attach) EVERY SINGLE BULB himself. Let me explain why this was a bad choice for Clark.
Clark has shown throughout his life and career a flair for creating things for other people to produce. He didn’t win Food Additive Designer of The Year by making millions of batches of the chemicals he dreamed up. He found a need (niche), created a means to satisfy it (product) and passed it off to the people who are best at bringing it to the consumer (production, sales, marketing).
So, after repeated failures we are left with the dialogue between Clark’s in-laws and his daughter that sparked this whole article. Standing in front of the house, Clark has just unsuccessfully tried (again) to get the outside lights to light.
Here’s the clip:
Clark failed because he tried to do it all. He would have done much better to plan out what he wanted done (his strength) and hire people to accomplish all tasks except the ones he was really good at or really enjoyed doing.
To answer the earlier question: no, we really can’t do it all. Learn from Clark Griswold and don’t fail because you think you have to.
Don’t be a washing machine entrepreneur.
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Best,
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