Turning It Down from Eleven

I have a problem. I know it’s a problem, and yet I have a hard time with the problem anyway. (I suppose that’s pretty much the definition of a problem, but there you have it.)

I overdo things.

I’ll come up with a plan or an idea, and it’ll be a great idea. And then I’ll come up with something that makes that great idea or plan even better. And so I add that to the plan. And then there’s another idea that makes it all even more supreme and wonderfulicious. So that gets added.

Rinse and repeat.

The problem is that while any one of these ideas is fantastic in and of itself, when you throw them all together, it’s sort of like a great pepperoni pizza topped with the best chocolate ice cream you’ve ever eaten, plus a ground up copy of your favorite video game.

Not really greater than the sum of its parts.

And I do this is many many different parts of my life. There’s my writing, where my good ideas can spiral out of control and overwhelm a book. There are my hobbies, where I can let one thing that I’m interested in just dominate the rest of my life, and then suddenly abandon it to focus on something else. There are my goals, which I can pile higher and higher until I feel overwhelmed. Each one is a worthy goal, but I have a hard time saying “no” to some of them.

It’s one thing to recognize this, of course. It’s entirely different to do something about it. Some of this is just the status quo, and that’s okay. I mean, hobbies are there for me to enjoy. If I’m enjoying a different one more than an old one, what’s the harm? But other things are more problematic. With goals, I’ve had to make a conscientious decision to keep them in check. I’ve been doing it long enough now, that I’m able to see when things are getting to be too much. (Even if it sometimes takes me a bit too long to recognize that still.)

With writing? It’s still a work in progress. I think I need to do a better job of having an outline and sticking to it. I never have a problem of having too few ideas. If a book ends up being too light, I can always add more things in. Removing ideas once they’ve wormed their way through an entire plot, however–that’s difficult to do.

Anyway. Today’s post is just to say that sometimes it’s easy for me to overdo things. I need to look at that trait in myself, and do my best to hold it in check when it needs to be.

Unfortunately, the only way to do that is to practice, and that means getting it wrong sometimes.

Oh well.