For intrepid Uncommoners, sometimes it is hard to admit when you’ve run up a brick wall. I’m not talking about the type of wall that you can push through with a little bit of moxie and determination, I’m talking about a solid concrete wall that means you just need to back-track and try a different tactic. When we do encounter such a wall (which hopefully isn’t often), there are two options in front of us: bang our heads against the wall until we are senseless and demotivated, or accept the wall and love it for what it really is: a road marker.
Everyone knows that famous line of Thomas Edison who claimed he didn’t fail 20,000 times, he just found 20,000 ways not to make a light bulb. Yet we seldom apply that same mentality to our own lives. One of my favorite quotes says that insanity is repeating the same action over and over and expecting a different result, yet so many people do just this every day in all aspects of their lives – their relationships, their eating habits, their work routine. Instead of trial and error, we try, error, and repeat until our resources are gone and our dedication is shot.
That is why a secret of all successful entrepreneurs and Uncommoners is knowing when to recognize dead-end directions and move on productively. I’ve been thinking a lot of about how and when to cut and run the past few weeks as I have taken stock of my current load of projects and started to reassess. The addition of newer, bigger, higher paying clients to my freelancing business and potential for newer and bigger Uncommon projects (newspaper gigs, book proposals) has put a major smile on my face but an increased strain on my time and work resources.
After trying a host of methods to keep everything going, from waking up earlier to restructuring my daily schedules, it became apparent to me that there was simply too many things competing for my attention on any given day. I didn’t really realize it until my boyfriend commented that every evening I commented that I had worked all day and still felt like I didn’t get enough done – sometimes it takes someone else pointing things out to you for you to really get them.
So now I was faced with the task of figuring out what projects were advancing my essential goals and which had evolved into dead weight and brick walls. As someone who gets personally involved in all my projects, making this harsh distinction was really tough. No one wants to think that something they have been involved with or created is extraneous.
Yet streamlining our workloads and being able to admit when something really isn’t worth the time we put into it anymore is a key principle of living Uncommonly, as hard as it is.
It’s times like these I love lists. I have an idea notebook in which I wrote down all the projects I was currently working on and how much they were bringing in per day, month and year. If you don’t have an idea notebook, I strongly recommend you get one. This Moleskine Plain Notebook Large
So what did I decide was extraneous? Unfortunately, of all the projects I’m involved in, my writer’s website has over the past few months become more effort than the revenue it pulls in.
I’ll admit, when I realized my online baby was a dead end, it hurt a little bit. Maybe if I just market it better, or get some fresh talent on the site, or revamp the visual elements than it will get back on track. But alas, there is no doubt that for me, that project right now is just a brick wall.
Thus producing the question: what do you do when you hit a brick wall? Here are the answers I’ve come up with thus far – if you have some to add to this list please do!
1) Try to make some final money. If there is a project that has turned into a brick wall for you, it doesn’t mean that it will be a brick wall for someone else. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure after all, so try to sell the project, the rights to the name of the project, or the ideal to someone else who can make it into gold. This, in my opinion, is the best way to step away from the brick wall and move forward. For example, anyone interested in buying Want To Freelance (with all content included?)
2) Give it Away. If you can’t sell it, then deliver it willingly and freely into the hands of someone who wants it. No technical profit, but you will get good karma on par with putting a pet you can no longer care for up for adoption.
3) Shelf It. Not ready to hand over that gem of an idea to someone else? Thin k it has potential above what you are doing with it right now? You can always put it on the back burner until you have time to deal with it properly. I’ve done this with a few fiction plots because I really want to be the one to write them. But with this road you need to be prepared that someone else might develop the idea before you have a chance to.
Bottom line is that you need to dispose of the project in whatever way you are most comfortable with. As long as you take it off your plate. When you spread yourself too thin you decrease your ability to be productive along all projects, including those that can really move you forward.
Remember, each project you participate in has the potential to enhance your abilities and help you develop and grow, but that doesn’t mean a project or endeavor will last forever. Think of projects like friends: some may walk with you on your journey for part of the way and teach you lessons, while others will be companions for the whole ride.
There is no shame in cutting and running as long as you do it with precision and purpose. Now how can you lighten your load?
Here’s to your Uncommon Life,
