I was in New Brunswick, visiting a friend’s mother when I noticed what looked like pie plate with the word “tuit” on it hanging on the wall.
“What’s a tuit?” I asked, thinking it might be some regional slang.
“Oh, that’s a round tuit,” she laughed.
“A round tuit?”
“Yah. You know. For when I get around to it.”
I thought, “I can use that!”
If you are like many creative people, you likely have
more ideas than time.
They steal your attention.
As soon as you make inroads on one, the other calls to you
like a neglected child, “Play with me instead.”
And so, you waffle back and forth between different projects
rarely making any significant progress with any of them. (Been there. Done that.)
Progress requires focus.
Focus requires dedicated time and attention to a goal – even
when it gets hard, and even when you suspect that it might be far easier if
you just went with that other idea.
So how do you do this when you have too many ideas?
You create an around to it list!
An around to it list is a list of things you will allow yourself to consider pursuing when, and only when, you have finished the project you are working on now.
My around to it list currently includes a podcast, a documentary video series, a regular live event in Toronto, a play I want to write, certification as a spiritual director, and a trip to Scotland.
I would love to work on any of these right now, but I also have a bigger priority of growing my business teaching people how to build profitable service-based side-hustles to they can leave their day jobs and do what they love full-time.
Until I’m on auto-pilot with this, I know that focusing on any other big projects will distract me and slow down my progress.
And so my around to it list grows…. And that is okay.
Some ideas will lose their appeal over time. The ones for me
will still be there when I get around to it.
Everything has a time.
If you’re overwhelmed, ask yourself:
“What’s the most important thing for me to do now to live the life I want in the future?”
Do that first. Put everything else on an around to it list for later.
You’ll get there when you’re ready.
____________________________
Do you have so many ideas for a service-based business that you don’t know what to do next? Book a complimentary 30-minute video call with me to get clear on the right idea for you.