Why You Shouldn't Handle More Than Three Projects at a Time
By Mark Silver
As I write this, my wife Holly, myself, and our assistant Kate are planning to meet in a
couple of hours. And why? So we can put a bunch of absolutely amazing and
wonderful ideas on the back burner, and do nothing about them.
It's probably not such a surprising idea for you, that you're supposed to prioritize
your projects, and only focus on a few things at a time. If you're new to the concept,
like I was when I was trying to keep 20 projects all going at once, and driving myself
insane in the process, let me 'splain just briefly.
If you give in to the pressure that you need to get lots and lots done all right now, it's
much more likely you'll end up spinning around, getting much less done, and getting
it done with a lot less quality. And you'll find your business hasn't moved forward
nearly as much as you'd have liked.
If you just focus on three major projects in your business at a time, and put the rest
on the back burner, you'll actually get them done, so you can move on to other
things.
You'll think you're moving more slowly, but after a year or two of focusing on only
three projects at a time, adding a new project when another completes, you'll see that
your business is making a lot of progress.
Focusing on three is the smart thing to do.
But, just because it's 'smart' doesn't mean that you or I will have the will power to
resist the flood of urgency that wants us to keep adding to the pile.
Does your project have a soul? Everything, absolutely everything comes from Source,
and has a spiritual essence to it. This most obviously applies to humans, animals, and
plants. But, it also applies to things, and even ideas.
Things like projects. I know it's strange to imagine it, but projects really do have a
spiritual essence.
Let me put it to you this way: if everything, everything comes from Source, if it didn't
have a spiritual essence, how could that project exist?
Pick one of your business projects right now, and take a few moments to see if you can
connect to the spiritual 'essence' of the project. For instance, this home study product
we're working on, if I take a few moments in my heart, I can become aware of a sense
of its 'beingness.' Kinda hard to put into words, but it's there.
I wouldn't exactly call it a 'soul,' but it is an expression of Divine Reality, and so it's
definitely akin to that.
How many close, really close, friends do you have? You've met a lot of people in your
life, I'm guessing. At least in the hundreds, probably in the thousands. Yet the number
of acquaintances you have, people you know better, is much fewer.
And the number of real friends and loved ones, the ones you see on a daily or weekly
basis? I bet it's a pretty small number.
Your projects are intimate friends of your business, but are they intimate friends of
yours? If you just barely give them the time of day, glad-handing from one to another
as if in a large party, what kind of a relationship will you really develop with your
projects?
Will you discover the unexpected depths, the breadth of opportunity? Will you really
be able to attend to all the details, issues, and questions that your project brings up?
If I handle a project only as series of tasks that I need to get done, not only do I
disconnect from my heart, but the whole project feels a little dull, lifeless. I tend to
miss the miracles available.
For instance, I had a project of creating strategic alliances. At first, I was just trying to
list out potential strategic alliances, and approach them. I did have my heart open, but
it still felt rather mechanical.
It wasn't until I really looked at the whole project of "strategic alliances," and came into
a deeper relationship with the essence of it, and found a quality of beingness that
included openness, generosity, and sincerity, that the project took on a life of its own.
Suddenly, instead of pushing boulders uphill, strategic alliances starting sprouting up
seemingly spontaneously. Whew! How much better is that?
Keep Projects Intimate. If you try to keep too many friends in your inner, inner circle,
then you get to know none of them well. The same with your projects. Your business
projects have tons of undiscovered miracles within them, if you can only really open
your heart, and get up close and personal.
This is why I'm asking you to please, please limit the number of active business
projects to about three, and put the rest of them on the back burner.
Is it really that simple? Well, kinda. Let's take a look.
Keys to Project Intimacy.
• Pick just one project.
With that one project, take a moment in your heart to see what's your true relationship
to it. Not your ideal relationship, but what's true now? Are you grumpy, scared,
nervous, tense, angry?
What if it was okay to feel that way about the project?
Example: Strategic alliances... ewww... scary. It's kinda like cold calling, and do I really
have to force myself onto people? Emotions/sensations: fear, overwhelm, resentment.
• What's the deeper relationship?
When you take time in your heart to connect with the essence of the project, what
quality of relationship is there?
Example: Strategic alliances... resting into my heart... remembering times when people
were really happy to help promote the business. Asking in my heart what is the Divine
quality of relationship? Qualities: sincerity, generosity, love.
• How many can you honestly handle?
If you were going to have deeper relationships with your active projects, how many
can your heart honestly handle?
List out all of your projects, and pick the top three to six. Go through this process with
each of them, and then just honestly sit with each. How many of them can you really
handle, without becoming overwhelmed?
Trust your heart here. If you can handle three, that's it. Trust that the rest will wait
patiently on a back burner until it's time to get to them.
Sometimes you want to have as many friends as possible, but there are just so many
intimate dinners or tea-parties in a week that you can get to. Limit your projects, and
get intimate with those that are active. There will be plenty of time later to get to the
others, and, in the meantime, the intimacy you build with each project will really get
your business going.
About the author: Mark Silver is the author of Unveiling the Heart of Your Business: How
Money, Marketing and Sales can Deepen Your Heart, Heal the World, and Still Add to Your
Bottom Line. He has helped hundreds of small business owners around the globe succeed in
business without lousing their hearts. Get three free chapters of the book online: Heart of Business.
By Mark Silver
As I write this, my wife Holly, myself, and our assistant Kate are planning to meet in a
couple of hours. And why? So we can put a bunch of absolutely amazing and
wonderful ideas on the back burner, and do nothing about them.
It's probably not such a surprising idea for you, that you're supposed to prioritize
your projects, and only focus on a few things at a time. If you're new to the concept,
like I was when I was trying to keep 20 projects all going at once, and driving myself
insane in the process, let me 'splain just briefly.
If you give in to the pressure that you need to get lots and lots done all right now, it's
much more likely you'll end up spinning around, getting much less done, and getting
it done with a lot less quality. And you'll find your business hasn't moved forward
nearly as much as you'd have liked.
If you just focus on three major projects in your business at a time, and put the rest
on the back burner, you'll actually get them done, so you can move on to other
things.
You'll think you're moving more slowly, but after a year or two of focusing on only
three projects at a time, adding a new project when another completes, you'll see that
your business is making a lot of progress.
Focusing on three is the smart thing to do.
But, just because it's 'smart' doesn't mean that you or I will have the will power to
resist the flood of urgency that wants us to keep adding to the pile.
Does your project have a soul? Everything, absolutely everything comes from Source,
and has a spiritual essence to it. This most obviously applies to humans, animals, and
plants. But, it also applies to things, and even ideas.
Things like projects. I know it's strange to imagine it, but projects really do have a
spiritual essence.
Let me put it to you this way: if everything, everything comes from Source, if it didn't
have a spiritual essence, how could that project exist?
Pick one of your business projects right now, and take a few moments to see if you can
connect to the spiritual 'essence' of the project. For instance, this home study product
we're working on, if I take a few moments in my heart, I can become aware of a sense
of its 'beingness.' Kinda hard to put into words, but it's there.
I wouldn't exactly call it a 'soul,' but it is an expression of Divine Reality, and so it's
definitely akin to that.
How many close, really close, friends do you have? You've met a lot of people in your
life, I'm guessing. At least in the hundreds, probably in the thousands. Yet the number
of acquaintances you have, people you know better, is much fewer.
And the number of real friends and loved ones, the ones you see on a daily or weekly
basis? I bet it's a pretty small number.
Your projects are intimate friends of your business, but are they intimate friends of
yours? If you just barely give them the time of day, glad-handing from one to another
as if in a large party, what kind of a relationship will you really develop with your
projects?
Will you discover the unexpected depths, the breadth of opportunity? Will you really
be able to attend to all the details, issues, and questions that your project brings up?
If I handle a project only as series of tasks that I need to get done, not only do I
disconnect from my heart, but the whole project feels a little dull, lifeless. I tend to
miss the miracles available.
For instance, I had a project of creating strategic alliances. At first, I was just trying to
list out potential strategic alliances, and approach them. I did have my heart open, but
it still felt rather mechanical.
It wasn't until I really looked at the whole project of "strategic alliances," and came into
a deeper relationship with the essence of it, and found a quality of beingness that
included openness, generosity, and sincerity, that the project took on a life of its own.
Suddenly, instead of pushing boulders uphill, strategic alliances starting sprouting up
seemingly spontaneously. Whew! How much better is that?
Keep Projects Intimate. If you try to keep too many friends in your inner, inner circle,
then you get to know none of them well. The same with your projects. Your business
projects have tons of undiscovered miracles within them, if you can only really open
your heart, and get up close and personal.
This is why I'm asking you to please, please limit the number of active business
projects to about three, and put the rest of them on the back burner.
Is it really that simple? Well, kinda. Let's take a look.
Keys to Project Intimacy.
• Pick just one project.
With that one project, take a moment in your heart to see what's your true relationship
to it. Not your ideal relationship, but what's true now? Are you grumpy, scared,
nervous, tense, angry?
What if it was okay to feel that way about the project?
Example: Strategic alliances... ewww... scary. It's kinda like cold calling, and do I really
have to force myself onto people? Emotions/sensations: fear, overwhelm, resentment.
• What's the deeper relationship?
When you take time in your heart to connect with the essence of the project, what
quality of relationship is there?
Example: Strategic alliances... resting into my heart... remembering times when people
were really happy to help promote the business. Asking in my heart what is the Divine
quality of relationship? Qualities: sincerity, generosity, love.
• How many can you honestly handle?
If you were going to have deeper relationships with your active projects, how many
can your heart honestly handle?
List out all of your projects, and pick the top three to six. Go through this process with
each of them, and then just honestly sit with each. How many of them can you really
handle, without becoming overwhelmed?
Trust your heart here. If you can handle three, that's it. Trust that the rest will wait
patiently on a back burner until it's time to get to them.
Sometimes you want to have as many friends as possible, but there are just so many
intimate dinners or tea-parties in a week that you can get to. Limit your projects, and
get intimate with those that are active. There will be plenty of time later to get to the
others, and, in the meantime, the intimacy you build with each project will really get
your business going.
About the author: Mark Silver is the author of Unveiling the Heart of Your Business: How
Money, Marketing and Sales can Deepen Your Heart, Heal the World, and Still Add to Your
Bottom Line. He has helped hundreds of small business owners around the globe succeed in
business without lousing their hearts. Get three free chapters of the book online: Heart of Business.
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