What? Were you expecting a quick primer that would affirm your belief that you can do it all, AND teach you how to stay sane in the process? Yeah. Not gonna happen.
I’ve got news for all of you multi-tasking kings and queens out there in entrepreneurial la-la land – you can do it all…NOT! That is, you can’t do it all and be great at it, or even average. And if you can’t be great at something, why do it at all?
Many entrepreneurs think they’re good at everything, which is totally nuts – and physically impossible. It’s an occupational hazard born of often having to do everything because at first you are your company. That and you don’t have enough dough to order off the 99-cent menu, much less hire someone to help you out.
If you think you are good at everything, or even most things, you are seriously deluded.I hate to break it to ya, but you’ve got one, maybe two – and if you’re really special (I mean “special” in a good way here, not the “short bus” type of special), three – things that you’re really great at it. You suck at everything else.
All right, all right, maybe you don’t actually suck at most things, but just getting by will get you nowhere fast. The rock stars, ace quarterbacks, and geniuses of the entrepreneurial world are all successful in part because they know they have to focus on one or two strengths and hand the rest over to someone who knows their stuff – and loves it. Nobody ever achieved greatness by trying to do it all, and you’re not going to be the first, either.
So what are you great at? What is your best talent or skill? What do you have a passion for that can be sustained through long hours and relentless ups and downs? Find your one super strength and exploit it. Build your success around it, and leave the other stuff to those who can do it faster and better.
You can’t do it all, dummy. But you can hugely successful by being awesome at one thing. Doesn’t that sound easier than the one-man band you’ve been lugging around?
By Mike Michalowicz, Author of The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur
