Feeling pulled in too many directions? Here’s what I’m learning about prioritizing multiple passions, finding focus, and trusting God’s timing along the way.
For a long time, I’ve had an existential struggle about how to categorize the different parts of myself and move forward in the best way possible.
What do I mean by that?
It’s a complex combination of things that involve me as a person, as a business owner, and as a “side hustler” (meaning, I have a side hustle).
As a person, I am a Christian, wife, daughter, sister, aunt, friend, cat mom, and church member. I want to fulfill all those roles with excellence, for the glory of God.
As a business owner, I help small businesses with annual revenues of $250,000-$5 million improve their digital marketing through story-based content and strategies that make their business solutions appealing to their ideal audience. I want to do that with excellence as well, for the glory of God. And the flourishing of my business and that of my clients.
My side hustle is Middle Age Adventures, a content brand that exemplifies life as a 40+ person on a journey of urban homesteading, health, fitness and fitting in outdoor adventures when possible. This brand aims to share the journey in a humorous way whenever possible.
The heart of the struggle
As I’ve grown as a marketer, I’ve “felt like” I “should” use my growing knowledge and experience to build a personal brand around my marketing expertise. Position myself as an expert, and opportunities will come my way. Or so the thinking goes.
“Build an email list!” I often tell clients and colleagues, but I don’t do it consistently myself.
I know all the things I should do to build a brand. But when it comes to doing it for marketing, I just don’t have the heart or passion to.
That passion for creating content and building a brand is vibrant and alive in Middle Age Adventures (MAA). That is the stuff that excites me.
Applying the lesson (and another obstacle)
Given that I know where my true passion lies, it’s evident that I should prioritize building MAA. I know this, and I am working towards it.
As a marketer, I know that picking a niche for content is the quickest way to build an audience and let the social media algorithms work to my advantage. Yet another example of a thing I know but am hesitant to put into practice.
One of the things I love about MAA is the variety in different focuses. Between health, fitness, cooking, urban homesteading and adventure, I get to touch on all of it. I’m leaning into the urban homesteading angle to start, however.
I’ve always had a thing about variety. It is a greater creative joy for me to create content about all the things that fascinate me.
Thus, my knowledge of best practices (pick a niche) and my natural bent not to are at odds.
Where the rubber meets the road
Where I get tripped up in execution is picking one or two things and working on them consistently.
For example, to focus on MAA stuff, the primary goal is to build my YouTube channel. But I also should be posting non-video social media content for FB and IG.
But I’m a writer first and foremost. I’ve been blogging since 2008, and I don’t want to give that up. However, it also dilutes my efforts to build my YouTube channel.
There is a way to do both, and even tie my efforts together there. I’ve got ideas, but I’m slow to execute.
Not to mention that doing my actual client work for Summertime Communications takes up the majority of my time. I need to spend a significant amount of time each week networking and promoting my business to maintain an open pipeline of new clients. Gotta rank the revenue-producing activities first.
Untangling the web of prioritizing multiple passions
It boils down to this:
- My business attention is divided among three things: my business, my blog, and my side hustle of Middle Age Adventures.
- All three of those things have different audiences, therefore different approaches that are not easily combined.
- To somewhat align these things, I shifted my business focus to middle-aged (40+) entrepreneurs as my target clients, rather than a specific industry — though home service contractors are my primary focus if I have to pick one.
- Ultimately, my efforts are diluted. Since all three things can occupy all my waking hours, deciding how to prioritize them is the challenge.
It seems like an identity crisis, which makes moving forward harder. All these different projects, or versions of me, are competing for the same 168 hours in a week. That’s to say nothing of my personal life, including family, friends, housework, and volunteer work.
I heard a marketing leader I follow on LinkedIn make a compelling case to someone else who was contemplating a similar struggle: What do I do with all these diverse aspects of myself?
I wished I’d saved it to quote directly, but it was something to this effect:
“All the different experiences you’ve acquired are making you into the person you’re supposed to be. Don’t look at them as disparate pieces, but as parts of a whole. All serving a unique purpose toward the value you bring to others.”
That was what I needed to hear. A professional version of, “It’s all working out exactly like it’s supposed to.”
If you’re struggling with a similar issue regarding juggling multiple passions, does that help bring you any clarity?
Takeaways and action items on prioritizing multiple passions
For me, as I navigate next steps, this is what I need to do.
- Carve out regular time to write, record video and edit. This is a big one, and something I often punt on in the busyness of life. I need to set a time to create and stick with it. How about you?
- As I consistently do #1, I will gain more clarity on how to move forward. I’ll see what content sparks the most joy and brings the most eyeballs.
- As clarity increases with consistency, I will regularly evaluate results and analytics (I am a marketing nerd, after all) to bring an informed approach to moving forward.
What I’ve been doing is puttering. Inconsistently doing a little this, a little that. Then, skipping creation for weeks at a time when my schedule gets full.
What I need to do is take regular action to create.
I certainly don’t have all the answers to the quandaries I’ve laid out. While I wish an answer would float down from heaven, it won’t.
I need to start with the fundamentals above and go from there. The answers will reveal themselves as I take action. Not as I ponder the options endlessly.
Ultimately, taking imperfect action is preferable to no action 100% of the time.
I’ve given you a front-row seat to my struggle, and I appreciate you taking the time to read this.
Can you relate to the struggle of being pulled in too many directions, not sure how to prioritize? I’d love to hear from you.
