Being independent and autonomous, not foolish.

When asked to describe myself I would always point out something that has become very obvious to me, I've acknowledged and accepted it. I am a jill-of-all-trades. That's fab, I mean, what can you not do as long as you're willing?  Unfortunately, this multi-tasking bit habit comes with quite a trade-off.


Exhibits A, B, and C. See the mix of pride and self-deprecation in my words here:

Facebook:

Here, there, everywhere. This today, that tomorrow. Doing this in the morning, another thing tonight. Little of this, little of that. This-slash-that-slash-that, too. Jill of all trades. Multi-tasking. You know the story.

Blogger:

a superwoman wannabe perennially dodging the imminent danger of crashing ... finally making time, with the help of two loves -- coffee and writing -- to get to recharge and hopefully do a better balancing act.

Twitter:

Writer-PR Consultant-Coffee Addict-Book Lover-Wife-Mom, among others. Not in any particular order.

I know it, so I don't really need to come to terms with it. What I discovered I needed to do was use it to my advantage, so I don't fail. I learned this the hard way, and till today, I continue to struggle with the natural urge to do everything, and I still have to hold back and say no when someone asks if I'm up for a job or a task.  


Top 5 situations where I attempted to be Superwoman:

1. Hands-on baking business
2. Managing my own wedding
3. Parenting
4. Working on a PR account
5. Accepting a project that goes beyond my areas of expertise

Clearly, I have a trouble saying NO.

Top 5 painful and humiliating consequences:

1. low quality of work output
2. stress
3. taking too much coffee but needing a lot of vodka
4. light sleep, horrible nightmares, so of course I became cranky
5. anxiety

The biggest lessons I learned:

1. I am not Superwoman. Clearly. She is a comic book character anyway.
2. I should focus on 3 top skills I love and am excellent at.
3. Delegate the rest. I can use what I know about those areas to monitor quality or have a good grip on what is happening.
4. While I should not stop learning new skills, I should make these work around what I already have.
5. Multi-tasking can be fun as long as the multi part stays manageable.

Yesterday, I almost accepted another project that will require me to do graphics as well as write. While this is something I can do -- slowly -- I quickly reminded myself of my resolution. Delegate, delegate, delegate! I can choose between being able to deliver work, and being able to deliver excellent work. I now choose the latter. There are a lot of slices in my pie, enough to share.