Cut Out the Dreaming!

I recently read a book that was just published on time management. Like Juggling Elephants, the book points out the need to pick and choose what we do with our time because there are so many opportunities and not enough time to do everything. The author encourages that one way of picking and choosing is that if you don't do something very well or that you can't excel at it, then you shouldn't do it all. You need to focus on what you do well and maximize those things. That got me thinking. Should you cut something out just because you don't do it very well?

If you are an organization and one of your products isn't performing very well and the market responds in kind by not buying the product then yes, you probably should remove that from your "line up" or quickly improve. (Although I know some companies that don't do things very well - poor product quality or terrible service - yet they continue to keep the doors open and make large profits.) I do believe organizations should pursue excellence and focus on what they do well, removing the distractions of what they can't excel at. Point well taken – mostly.

But on the other hand, when it comes to your personal life or your "self ring" should you really abandon something just because you are not "good at it"? For example, I am a terrible gardener. But, every year I plant a garden with the usual plants. Bugs eat my produce, I forget to water half the time, weeds grow better than my lettuce and the cost is probably more than if I went to the store and bought the same amount of produce that I harvest. But, I still find value in planting a garden every year. It helps me relax and it gives me time with my family as we work together planting, weeding, watering, etc. There is a sense of pride for me picking and eating something that I have grown. I am not good at it, but it provides value to me. I enjoy it!

Someone might not be a good parent, but does that mean you just give up on parenting because you are not good at it? Definitely not! I think a big part of the benefit in doing something comes in the journey as we work on things that we are weak at and struggle through trying to get better.

Be careful about removing something from your line up that you value, like your dreams, just because you are not good at it. Kobi Yamada said, Don't run through life so fast that you forget where you've been and lose where you're going. Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored every step of the way. Some of the things that we savor the most might not be the things that we do the best. Be careful about taking the life out of life.