What is getting in your way?
It might be you.
This is the golden age of information, but like the unfortunate King Midas, this could be the very thing that kills your writing, or your business.
The vast amount of information available creates pressure – the pressure to know everything. This is stressful, and time-consuming, and ultimately futile because things change so fast and there is so much to know that it’s an impossible task.
We subscribe to dozens, or in my case, hundreds, of blogs and articles, which I skim at night instead of relaxing or taking that much-needed walk. We attend seminars, classes and workshops in the vain hope we can uncover the “secret” that will make our dreams come true and our working lives simpler.
All this takes time away from what we are trying to accomplish in the first place – writing that book, that article, solving a business problem or serving customers.
Time is not like a computer – we cannot sign up for more bandwidth, get an extra hard drive, compress files/moments into manageable bits and bytes.
Time is the same for everyone, everywhere.
If you use it primarily to keep up with the latest developments, you may become the one who knows much but accomplishes little.
So how much information is too much? It depends on how it affects you.
If you read opinions and allow yourself to be influenced one way then the other, stop. For example, there are people who want to write but don’t because they can’t figure out what the next big thing will be or whether they should publish traditionally or independently. This causes them to freeze, not do anything, because they are so afraid of making the wrong choice.
The fact is, they won’t be publishing at all if they don’t do step one – write.
I know this from experience, folks. I set about learning everything I could about digital marketing and independent publishing in order to share this as a business. Pretty soon, it became a monster, driving me to know more, more, more, even as the information changed and grew like gremlins (as in the movie), soon out of control. In my honest desire to stay current, I found myself farther and farther away from what I loved to do, what I wanted to do, and what I’d set out to do.
I’ll be talking more about the steps I took to reevaluate my direction and repurpose my efforts in future posts, but the point of this post is to get you to consider this:
Are you gathering so much information you don’t have time to do your primary passion?
Are you letting the opinions about what you should be doing stop you from doing anything?
Are you using research as a way to delay the action that will lead to success?
If so, you’re not alone. Don’t waste time feeling bad about it, just resolve to make your passion your priority, whether it’s writing, taking care of patients, building a new widget or offering the best customer service you can.
You need information and training to be excellent at what you do, but only you can determine if that next seminar or blog will improve your skills or get in the way of your progress. Maybe you know what you need to know right now, you just are afraid to use it.
What have you been doing that you think you should give up so you can succeed? Share it below…
