I fly out to Oklahoma this next week to start with the Digerati Team at LifeChurch.tv, and I couldn’t be more excited. In preparation for that I was going through projects, emails and notes today to wrap up as many things as possible before heading out. Man, was I wildly over committed!
So, this afternoon I have been doing a “spring cleaning” of my side projects and commitments and am getting ready to send some “I’m sorry but things have changed and this isn’t going to happen now” emails. At first I felt bad about it, then I realized that I would have done a terrible job on those commitments anyways and it is better for me to cut the ties.
I guess the biggest realization is that we can allow commitments to clutter up our time and attention until we aren’t doing anything well. I experienced this when I started as a decathlete in college track. My main events were the high jump and long jump, and my freshman year I did well and was excited. Then year two came along, and while my over all scores went higher, my long jump and high jump both decreased. Eventually I was scoring decently in the decathlon event - but didn’t feel “great” at any of the events.
This is death in a leadership / team environment. It is good to know what is going on, but when we allow too many responsibilities to clutter our attention then nothing ever gets done well - if it gets done at all.
My encouragement to you is to do a “spring cleaning” of your projects and commitments. Get those little things you know you are never going to do out of your attention zone. Send an email, make a phone call, or even a visit - apologize but say that it just doesn’t fit and that you won’t be able to do it. Not only will you feel better, but you will be able to be fully present in the things that matter most, and you will do a tremendously better job at it!
