We Can Achieve Anything If We Stop Trying To Do Everything

> it’s much more effective to focus your effort on one thing.

This is the gist I got from this post, and while I agree with the statement I think it is too simplistic.

I am one of those persons that "have a long list of goals, desires, and wants for your life" as teased in the article. I think it's clear that focus helps to achieve an item on that list. It's the issue of deciding what to focus on, when multiple items are competing for the 24 hours we have per day. Most life-advice, as the article, starts off with stating the conflict and immediately jumps to the conclusion. The hard part is in the middle.

Personally, I came to the conclusion that everything I postpone to a later stage in life might just as well never materialise. If I can't live with that thought, then it has to be done concurrently.

That's probably different for short-term project that the article uses as examples, but these typically aren't the items I'm conflicted about.

I appreciate the post, and it would do good for most of us to understand how compounding works in so many things in our lives, also in relationships etc. But it isn't one thing vs. everything, there is also a balanced middle ground. A generalist might be interested in several things, and not care if as a specialist she could be "more successful", usually measured by an oversimplified metric, e.g. number of dollars or books sold. But this is a very good topic.

I'd add to that: if you always aim too high, take on too difficult tasks, then you'll end up nowhere (but you might learn a lot).

> Personally, I came to the conclusion that everything I postpone to a later stage in life might just as well never materialise. If I can't live with that thought, then it has to be done concurrently.

Sheryl Sandberg recently gave a talk to Inc. where she used the term 'ruthless prioritisation' to describe her decision-making process. It basically comes down to finding the best thing you can do and making a lot of tough choices.

Now, she was discussing this concept from a business point of view, but speaking as someone who works from home, minds children, and runs a house, it also resonated with me. I have a long list of things to do on any given day, and only a certain number of hours in which to do them. Most days, I end up feeling guilty about not getting something done; it feels like I'm failing in one of my areas of responsibility. Or, worse, as you say, I try to get everything done concurrently and either fail or risk burnout.

The main thing that ruthless prioritisation does is give me the space to forgive myself for the things I couldn't do. I know that I calculated the best thing I could do on a given day and I worked on that. It makes postponing things a lot easier to handle.

The only things I've truly succeeded at were simple: I didn't have a choice but to succeed.

I guess it's on par with this article, you can't lose focus when you have your back against the abyss. It's your real focus.