Too Many Projects, Too Little Progress?

Hi there! It’s been quite a while since our last newsletter. The past month and a half have been a whirlwind with TEDx preparations, but I’m thrilled to share that it’s finally wrapped up. With that, new opportunities have surfaced, and today I actually want to talk about those new opportunities. But first…

Weekly Inventory Check

It’s been a while since we last did this, but October has ended, November has begun, and I hope you’ve taken the time to reflect on your progress. What worked last month? What didn’t? How can you improve this month? By now, I hope these questions have become second nature, helping you stay on track and iterate on your goals. If not, now’s the perfect time to start again.

Picking a Lane – The Struggle to Focus

November 8th, I had the privilege of delivering my TEDx talk to an audience of 300 people. It was an incredible experience, and the feedback I received was overwhelming. Many people came up to me afterward, suggesting that speaking is something I should pursue professionally. This sparked a new aspiration in me, but it also brought up an old struggle: my inability to focus on one thing at a time.

Over the past 6–7 years, I’ve explored at least a gazillion different ventures. From forex trading and building bots to planning gaming e-sports tournaments, creating content, starting a podcast and a newsletter, building websites, expanding my data consultancy, trying and failing to build a coaching practise and currently an AI startup. Add speaking to the mix, and you can see the pattern.

On the surface, it might seem like ambition, but to me, it feels more like distraction. I’ve been chasing shiny new ideas while leaving behind unfinished projects. If I had focused on one thing at a time, perhaps I’d have seen significant progress by now.

This realization hit hard. My year started with clear goals: financial, physical stability and family time. But despite maintaining my family routines, I didn’t save as much as I’d hoped, and I gained more weight than ever. Distractions led me off track, proving that trying to juggle too many things at once isn’t the recipe for success.

Successful people don’t scatter their focus—they build a strong foundation. Imagine constructing a building: you lay the base first and then build floor by floor. You don’t start on one side of the building end to end and then move to the other side and start again from the foundation. This is what I need to learn.

To put it into perspective, if my focus is on speaking and sharing ideas, I should start with the basics. Building credibility as a thought leader online, creating valuable content, and engaging an audience would form my foundation. From there, I could leverage that audience for speaking gigs, consulting leads, and more.

The takeaway from this week is clear: successful people pick a lane. They tackle one thing at a time, building a strong foundation before moving to the next big idea. While my brain fights this notion, I hope this newsletter serves as a reminder to myself—and to you—that staying the course is essential.

Want More?

1. This article emphasizes the critical role of early development in establishing a strong foundation for future success. It discusses how focusing on foundational skills during the early years can lead to better outcomes in later life.

2. This piece argues that embracing multiple interests can lead to creative problem-solving and a broader perspective. It suggests that having diverse passions can be more beneficial than focusing solely on one area.

3. This article explores the advantages of pursuing multiple hobbies, including enhanced mental health, personal growth, and creativity. It presents a case for the benefits of not limiting oneself to a single focus.

Thoughts to Leave You With

If you’re like me, stuck in a cycle of jumping from project to project, consider this a wake-up call. Maybe boredom isn’t the enemy; it’s the point where persistence begins. And those who push through are the ones who succeed. So here’s to sticking with it and seeing a project through from start to finish.

Thank you for reading, and let’s keep building, one step at a time.