Reclaiming splintered focus

Jake had 17 projects on his mind that he wanted to complete. He made a list of them before our coaching call and emailed the list to me with a note that said: “I feel a little overwhelmed.”

Of course you do! I thought, as I scanned through the list. Jake’s expectations for himself were sky high. When I asked him what he needed from the session, he was clear:

“I need to understand my priorities.”

Jake was a highly creative person with many ideas. And he hated being told that he couldn’t do them all — so as a rebellion, he was absolutely hell-bent on doing them all.

Before we started in on his list, we talked about the context of his life. Jake had 3 children under the age of 6 and his wife worked as an attorney. Jake ran his own media consultancy and ended up working about 25 hours per week, although he was often the fall-back parent when a child was sick. When we looked at Jake’s capacity, it was clear that he didn’t have a lot of time for his many incredible business ideas after he cared for his family, himself and his existing clients.

But Jake’s business had taken a hit the year prior and with prices rising, he wanted to make sure there was momentum. He felt like he needed to do all 17 things to make sure he had a steady stream of clients coming his way in 2024. The list included a podcast, newsletter, video push on LinkedIn, increased presence on Instagram, lots of networking, and beyond. Oh, and he also desperately wanted to work on that book he’d been…