When Your Plate Is Too Full

Do you sometimes (or always) feel like you have too much to do and too little time to do it?

Consider an email I got from a student the other day:

“… as the semester goes by, the harder it is to keep up with school. The thing is, I know I’d be able to do it if I didn’t have any extracurricular activities. I have a weekend job where I teach youths, a youth group where I currently lead social justice, and I was just asked by someone to lead prayer group.

“Right now, the only way to do everything is to sleep less and work more, but I noticed that I can’t do much when I haven’t gotten much sleep. I wanted to take care of my body as well so I’ve been sleeping normally these past few days. Now I’m behind everything again; I have two big assignments due and midterms next week.”

To this student, and to everyone else who feels this way, I’d say this: your plate is too full. You have too much going on.

The only answer, unless you want your health to decline (and that’s not good for anyone), is to start saying No. Here’s how you do it…  

You have to say No to at least a couple things on your list: say No to prayer group and the youth group, so that you can say Yes to school and the job.

We have this idea that we can be great at everything, and succeed at all that we try. But we are human, and we have limits, and we have to let go of this idea of doing everything and doing it well. You’re either going to do a couple things well, or do everything poorly.

People who should listen to this show are entrepreneurs, Career coaches,