Just last week, I spoke to two different entrepreneurs who were having the same problem.
Coincidentally, both were having problems with the same program— graphic design application Canva — and for the same reason: neither is a graphic designer (well, at least not a good or even passable one).
One had designed a logo. The logo was trash.
I asked who had created that logo.
“I did, with Canva.”
“Are you a graphic designer?”
“No.”
“Yes, I can tell. Stop graphic designing.”
The other was creating a PDF document and it was taking forever and a day.
She insisted that she would benefit from “learning how to do it.”
“Why? Who is ever gonna pay you to take 3 weeks to make a damn PDF when someone on Fiverr can do it — better than you — in 48 hours for $30?”
(Still waiting on that answer.)
I’m sure that these two women had not communicated with each other at all. Which tells me that they’re not the only two entrepreneurs showing the symptoms of the doing-too-much disease.
What’s the doing-too-much disease? How do you know if YOU have it?
I’ll tell you.
First, let’s establish a baseline understanding: Most people are really good at 3-5 things, TOTAL.
Three to five things. No more.
Go ahead and list all the things related to your business that you’re REALLY good at. If there are more than five things on your list, you’re probably lying to yourself.
For your reference, Really good (definition):
1) You can do it better than anyone you could hire.
2) You can do it efficiently (i.e., it doesn’t take you six hours to make a 2-page PDF; the time it takes you to record a 3-minute video is… 3 minutes).
3) Someone has offered to pay YOU to perform this skill for them because of how skilled you are.
If you can’t check all 3 boxes, you’re not “really good” at it — which means you should STOP doing it. And never do it again.
How do you know if you have doing-too-much disease? Here’s how: If you’re investing time doing anything that’s not on your list of 3-5 “really good at this” things.
If you’re doing 10 things, but you‘re good at only 5 of them, you’re doing too much.
If you’re doing things on your own because you’re too lazy or too cheap to find help (for Internet-based jobs, help is relatively low-cost), you’re doing too much.
If you’re spending an entire day doing something that would’ve taken someone else 13 minutes, you’re doing too much.
Here’s the real problem with doing-too-much disease: every minute spent doing too much is a minute you’re NOT doing something you’re good at.
Said another way: it’s another minute when you’re NOT putting your maximum value into the world.
If you’re not a graphic designer, your graphic design work does not create value for anyone (not even you) — because you’re not good at it.
Yes — more skills can give you more options. But not random skills: get more skills under the umbrella of your best abilities (i.e., if you’re really good at basketball, learn to dribble and shoot and pass as additional skills— don’t learn soccer).
And yes — the more things that you know about, the more opportunities you’ll see. But some opportunities should be left where they’re at. If I have $10 in my pocket and I see a Burger King, that doesn’t mean I need to get a Junior Whopper with fries.
You’re really good at only 3-5 things. Do them!
Just because you can do something doesn’t mean that you should.
I explain in my book Work On Your Game how to develop skills strategically so you never fall victim to the doing-too-much disease — which means your time is used efficiently, rather than haphazardly.
Order your copy of Work On Your Game here: http://WorkOnYourGameBook.com
Make sure to take the following MasterClasses related to this very topic —
#1176: How To Discover What You’re Naturally Good At
#1177: Insight: The Key To Going From 1X To 10X
#726: Needed: People Who Are Actually Good At What You Do
#728: You’ve Been Lied To: Hard Work Does NOT Beat Talent
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I’ve created a FREE 14-day trial for you to experience the Game Group for yourself, which includes over 1,500 hours of my BEST material since 2005.
Get started with your free trial here: http://WorkOnMyGame.com/GameGroup