Over the last few months I’ve started to feel like I’ve been just managing to keep things together. I’ve had quite a bit on my plate, and so now that things are starting to quite down, I have decided that I really need to focus my time and energy on the things that are likely to have the biggest bang for buck.
So what does that really mean?
Well for me, that means that I am going to focus all my time on just one project at a time, rather than trying to do about 10 simultaneously. For too long I have been feeling like a puppet master who has grand plans, but never gets to see them through to their maximum potential. The areas in my life where this is probably the most noticeable is online.
Instead of just spending time getting 1 project to bear fruit, I have been trying to do 3 or 4, and it just isn’t possible. That is, unless you either have more time, or more people with the same level of passion as you do. It’s clear to me that I don’t have more time, and while I have been trying my best to find good contractors to work with me, it is difficult to find ones that have the same level of drive that I have.
So for the last month or so I have put my plan into action. I have been spending 80% of my online time working on just 1 project. At first I wondered if I was doing the right thing, but now that I am starting to see the results, I am more certain than ever that I should have done this a long time ago.
Here are some of the ranking increases I have made since I started focusing on just the 1 site.
Now I know there is more to being successful in the online world than just ranking in Google, but it is encouraging to see the fruits of my labour.
The only thing that is disappointing, is that I have had to let some of my other projects fall to the side, fortunately they can be easily resurrected. Plus, I have another idea that a friend suggested to me that might work well to get things moving on my other projects – I’ll talk about that on Wednesday.
Question
How are your projects going? Do you find that you are spreading yourself a little bit too thinly and could benefit from refocusing?
I routinely felt spread to thin and I think refocusing on only a few issues/projects is a great strategy. It’s tough though when you see/read/hear about all that everyone is else is doing and think you need to be doing it too.
Brian @ Luke1428 recently posted..How to Enjoy a Life of Guilt Free Spending
I can 100% agree with this, but I am finding this is making far more sense for me as I am starting to see results.
Fascinating! I am the kind of person who thinks that more projects is better (I currently own 2 businesses on top of a part-time teaching job), but maybe you’re right. I will ponder your wise words. 🙂
HappinessSavouredHot recently posted..The Less is More project: Week 6 – The case of clothes
I just can’t dedicate the right amount of time to each task. I’m not saying it can’t be done, just that I struggle.
I have cut my network sites numbers lately myself and decided to focus better on fewer projects. It’s indeed important to not spread yourself thinly. Now I work on my personal finance blog and my portfolio web site more. It’s already paying off, I see an increase in traffic and got more clients as well.
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Nice one! I hope it continues going well for you.
Wow, this is really interesting stuff. Maybe I’ll stay focused on my blog, rather than expanding and working on other ventures. There is so much to do, so little time!
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I think this not only works for focusing on your most important project, but also the most important things within that project. I have found a few things that are the most important to my blog’s success…#1 is writing. So I focus on those few areas, as opposed to writing for a few minutes, then commenting, then doing social media…I found what is working and I focus on that. Which is basically what you said! Great article, Glen. 🙂
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