Recently, someone I know struggled with the fact that she has too many interests. There are too many things that she would like to try and be good at. The list she summed up counted over 15 hobbies & projects.

Rather than being a positive perk, this characteristic causes her stress. She already feels she does not have enough time left on this earth to try everything. I am pretty sure she will be around for another 50 years.

I suffered a similar overwhelm a while ago, but was drawn out of it by a simple piece of advice. The advice is that you can only reasonably excel at 5 projects at the same time. Wishing for more is plainly unrealistic, so do not try. Focus on at most 5 things. Grow these 5 things and appreciate the progress you make there.

My current 5 projects are: crocheting, trailrunning, socializing, looking for a job, and this blog. I say current because I evaluate if each project still fits my identity every now and then. If it does not, I swap it out and try something else.

Two things to mind about this approach:

1. Don’t swap too frequently. Make sure you genuinely tried to become good at the project you choose, so that you can confidently say if it fits who you want to be or not.
2. You can do other things too. Just do not expect of yourself you will be great at them. And don’t take it up in your weekly planning as a recurring activity.

I have found this advice super helpful and it really helped me think of what I can reasonably achieve in the time I am given. Hope this helps you too!

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