Overdiversifying and Spreading Yourself Too Thin

Tired Cat

I’m tired.

It’s 5:42am right now and I don’t have to be at work for another three hours. I’m tired and I feel like I’m not getting anything done. It’s not that I haven’t made a list—oh I have a list—it’s just that my list is too long and I’m trying to get too much of it done at once.

Diversifying one’s income was one of the first things I learned when I began blogging about money—and it’s a great tip—but right now I feel like I’m overdiversifying myself, my income, and my life.

Here’s what I have on my plate right now:

I write the Cubs Fan Report on the weekends (write most of it at night, get up at 6:30am Sat & Sun to polish up)
I write a weekly article on Wisebread
I try to write at least once a week here on The Writer’s Coin (used to be every day)
I try to write once a week on Applied Analytics
I try to write one guest post a month on another site
I’m doing case studies for three different “clients” to drum up business for Applied Analytics
I’m putting together my first ever product launch—the Making More Money guide, which is all about geting a raise at your current job or getting a bump by switching jobs
I’m trying to get people to answer my super-fast survey to make the product launch awesome
I’m going through Chris Guillebeau’s Empire Building Kit (daily emails, lessons, videos, etc.)
I’m doing Ramit’s Earn1K program, which is basically a college course without the boring parts
I have a full-time job
I am a full-time husband to M, who rocks it
I am expecting my first child in September, which is a full-time job in terms of anxiety, stress, and decision making
We moved into our new place three months ago and there’s always stuff that needs to get done/bought
I play two games a week on a baseball team here in the city

Damn!

Writing all that down kind of sums it up, doesn’t it? It’s pretty hard to be laser focused with this much stuff on my plate—that’s pretty obvious. But I also feel like I need to tackle it all at once before September hits, because I don’t know how I’m going to get anything done when the baby comes.

[note to self—add one more bullet: email other bloggers who have kids to ask how they did it and what tips they have for me]

I’m run down right now. The weekend, which is when I’d typically catch up on my sleep, had now become an exercise in sleep deprivation. Last weekend I took a nap in the middle of the day for the first time in years.

Fear not! I’m not just complaining here—I think this is going to be cathartic for me. Writing all this stuff down makes it pretty obvious I need to prioritize and attack one step at a time if I want to get any of this done.

First thing’s first: I’m going on vacation for a week. Taking a break is crucial and I think this is the perfect time. I can step away from the pressure of producing and publishing (and working!) and just think about these projects, where they fit in, and what I want to take on first.

You know how they say you should write posts that are useful to your readers? Well this one is useful to myself, so thanks for listening.

Image by dominiqs