Less Is More

So lately I've been struggling with something, and I'm sure it's happened to all of us at one point or another - I just don't seem to have enough TIME anymore!  I'm a creative soul, so I'm always busy with all sorts of projects.  I'm currently working full time (12 hours a day), raising a family, writing novels, writing music, recording music in my small home studio, playing online poker and live poker in a League twice a month, I have this blog, five websites, Twitter and Facebook. 

The last couple of months I've found myself being stretched in all directions.  I want to keep writing on my third novel, but at the same time
I'm busy with a string of online poker satellites.  I want to spend more time in the studio, but my full time employment keeps getting in the way.  In the same breath I also want to be more involved in my daughter's life, spend more time with my wife, and get to see my estranged family once in a while.  It seems as if this is a constant juggling act - and I find myself doing little bits of everything ALL the time, instead of one thing MOST of the time. 

I've realised that this is stupid.  What's the point of giving 10% of your attention to 10 different things?  You will never become a master at any of them.  It makes more sense to SIMPLIFY.  I read an interesting article from a Home Studio website I subscribe to, and in it they were talking about how recording artists arrive and expect 24 to 48 tracks on each of their songs.  The engineer points at an old-school console and says:  "You have 16".  When they protest, he asks them who their favorite musicians/bands are.  They mention guys like the Beatles, Led Zeppelin - and then he reminds them that those great tunes were recorded on less than 8 tracks most of the time! 

Wow.  This blew me away.  It's so true.  We spend our lives COMPLICATING things for no good reason.  Life is quite simple, really, if you remind yourself of the fact. 

At the moment I'm the guy who thinks that 48 tracks are going to produce that magic hit, the big poker score, the best-selling novel... it's not.  I'm just going to be left with a crap load of half-finished, poor quality products or results instead.  I need to get back to 8 tracks again.  That should be more than enough!

So in conclusion, I proclaim the following:  I will no longer stress about twenty different things, instead, I will focus my attention on TWO at a time only.  It might be writing and poker.  For two weeks, that is all I will do when I'm not commited to my family - one or the other.  After two weeks, I will focus on the studio only.  After that - my websites and blogs.  You get the picture.  I don't want to give up ANY of the above, if you're thinking that's an easier solution.  I love them all.  I just want to pay more attention to each of them individually.  I'm sure you can relate.

I'm hoping this is enough to bring everything back into focus again... it just has to be.  No man can keep going at 100km per hour without some sort of idea where he's headed.  With any luck you're in the same boat and can relate.  :)