Clay Myers-Bowman

Boats and castle-like house in Oslo, Norway.

I’ll admit this: I’m overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information and resources available to me as a consultant to nonprofit organizations. And it’s getting harder and harder to make choices.

My strategy? I end up paying attention to less. I can keep it up for a month or two, but then I miss a few days of Twitter, LinkedIn, or the latest and greatest blog writer, and it seems like the whole world has changed. Disconnect for a week? Game over, man. I might as well create a new identity and start over.

I’ve been contemplating this problem since my annual planning retreat last week. After making a list of all the things I did last year, I realized that in order for me to be successful, I’m going to have to focus my time and energy on fewer projects and spend less time being distracted by shiny new things. Tough work for a trailblazer, I know.

So I started by removing a bunch of bookmarks in Firefox, my web browser of choice. I also started whittling down the number of people I follow. Not un-friending or disconnecting from anyone on social media, but highlighting, at least in my mind, what (and who) brings me the most value.

That has led me to consider discontinuing MY blog. I mean, does the nonprofit world need another blogger? I doubt it.

From here, I hope to further refine what I allow to get my attention so that I can focus more on “doing” and less on “being”. Sound familiar?

What’s your strategy? How do you cope? When is enough enough?