Time is a resource
If there's one thing I don't have enough of, it's time. And by that I mean time for all my projects, for everything that interests me, for everything I would like to learn. I love learning new things. Definitely a great skill and practically indispensable in my job as a software developer. But sometimes it's also a curse.
I always try to organize my time as well as I can. Sometimes it works more or less well.
But even if you have 5 projects and divide your time perfectly, you've also split your attention and focus into 5 parts. Nothing half and nothing whole. You jump from one project to the next and are always 50% focused on the next project. Focus? An illusion.
And although I know all this and am aware of it, I fall into this trap again and again. Because this time it must be different. But it's not.
I believe that this one thing is the reason why projects are not fulfilling, don't work or simply fall by the wayside.
Time is the most valuable resource we have. Doing one thing, and really only one thing, and concentrating all your focus, energy and attention on it. That moves you forward. Is inspiring. Brings better results. And most importantly: more fulfilling.
Do one thing deeply
Our brain can do many things, but one thing it cannot do. Multitasking. It is said that women are better at it than men. And that may be true. But it's still bad.
The ability to concentrate fully on one thing is becoming increasingly rare. In a world full of distractions, short-form content and hype, we are trained to concentrate on 100 things at once. There is endless content. You can learn anything at any time and there's a video or blog post for everything.
It is both a curse and a blessing. But this skill of doing one thing with everything you have is incredibly powerful. It may sound like a fortune cookie saying, but you really can do anything with it. It's a superpower.
There is no perfect
One trap I often fall into is the fact that I believe that if I only do one thing, I have to do it perfectly. It has to be worth it, right? Bullshit.
Of course you should always do your best, but it's always much more important to do something than not to do something because you're afraid of not doing it well enough. Perfection is the enemy of done. Very common in my profession.
Just do it.
Summary
I wrote this blog mainly for myself. Of course I hope to help others but I personally struggle with this issue every day.
I love learning new things. There are countless things I would like to learn, projects I want to do.
But trying to do everything at the same time only leads to me not getting any of it done. It's a vicious circle.
Focus on one thing. Don't split your attention and energy. Bundle them. Quality over quantity!
Top comments (1)
Great post! Maybe you could add a small code snippet or example to show how focusing on one project improves results, just to make it even more practical.