If you don’t bite off more than you can chew sometimes, how will you ever know how much to bite next time?
So, I was looking at my travel schedule last night, and Nora could just tell I was exhausted just thinking about it. Its NYC -> Philly -> London -> Amsterdam -> Phily -> Munich -> Croatia -> Instanbul -> Philly -> San Diego (Driving to open our new office) -> Philly -> Boston -> San Diego. That is over a course of 8 weeks. Its exhausting, but Nora and I are “Hitting it Hard” before she won’t be able to travel with me as much due to her work.
So I sit thinking, OMG did I just bite off more than even I can chew, AGAIN? Answer is probably. Will I get through all of this? DEFINITELY!
In looking at this crazy schedule I got to thinking…its good to bite off more than you can chew sometimes. You learn a LOT about yourself. So go for it (once in a while).
The key when you bite off more than you can chew is you MUST continue to get everything done or else you risk breaking trust.
So go for it. Here are just a few things you will learn.
1 – You will learn your breaking point.
Its good to know that as early as possible. For instance I know I can work off of 4 hours of sleep, 2 nights in a row, but never more than that, how did I learn it? Its critical to know your breaking point, we all have it, go find it.
2 – You will learn to delegate.
There is something about looking and saying “This is too much, but I don’t want to change course” that causes you to look around at your team, identify the people for whom you can share your load with, who care as much as you do, and will be rock solid. People who don’t
delegate well don’t have enough work! Load them up until they say “UNCLE” then have their back to show them that when they ask for help, they’ll always get it.
3 – Your team mates will develop new skills & grow professionally.
See that is the beauty of delegation! By sharing your load with others who are often eager to help, you get to see them grow professionally and personally and being a part of someone’s path, even if they leave is very fulfilling. I learned a whole new way to manage my inbox, by this method, and it helps me feel less stressed every day.
4 – You will place a MUCH greater premium on your time.
Which means those whom you share it with realize that they matter to you.
5 – Leaders in your company will emerge.
Good people want to help, you just gotta let them.
Leaders see you holding on to too much, and if they have a long term track record of performance will see you struggling and they will help. It never ceases to amaze me at how hard people will work to help me out before I even need to ask. I think this happens for several reasons, but I think its important that you have broad shoulders, no leader wants to help someone who poorly prioritizes their time, who isn’t willing to go the extra mile, and doesn’t consistently goes the extra mile.
6 – You will learn that you are better & stronger than you think you are
Once you decide to stretch yourself thin and stop playing it safe, you see that you got through something super difficult just fine. You might decide to never do it again, but you gain confidence in YOURSELF! Knowing that you “did it" regardless of what that challenge to yourself it.
Once you get through biting off more than you can chew, take a break. The goal is to get some level of light at the end of your tunnel even on the way into the tunnel. So for me, its mid may. Up until then, its MAD hustle. Its super important when you have bitten off too much, to be able to look objectively at your situation and say I gotta put something in place to bring light to the end of the tunnel.
After a little bit, go bite off more, each time you do you’ll learn more about yourself, I have found that I’ve learned the most about myself when I have gotten in over my head.
All the while never lose sight of what really matters, if my wife wasn’t able to travel with me on much of these trips, I wouldn’t do them, or I’d be home a HECK of a lot quicker 🙂