Do you tend to over-commit?  Do you struggle with staying engaged? 

I sure do.

And sometimes, I fall into the trap of telling myself that it’s okay to renege on some commitments because they’re “small,” or “ancillary” – they’re not “big” commitments.

But here’s the thing.  There are no small commitments.  There are no ancillary commitments.  There are only commitments, period.

Now, how committED I am to each of those commitMENTS…that may be a different story.

For me, I find that engagement is a key to commitment, to me following through and fulfilling a commitment.  The trouble is, when I’ve committed to too many things, I struggle with staying engaged in all of them enough to move them forward.

I just made a quick list of the major projects I’ve got going on right now.  Ten of them.  (Yes, that’s 10 major projects.  It doesn’t include the non-major projects.)  And for each project, I estimated the number of days per week those projects deserve my full attention in order to move them forward.  And the result?  Nineteen days per week.

As I said, I tend to over-commit.

So how do you stay engaged and keep commitments…when you feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day (or week) to do what needs to be done?

Delegate. 

Don’t drop stuff…but do “let go” of it having to be a certain way.  For me, that means building up a group of like-minded, trustworthy folks who are headed the same direction, and who can step in and work some of these projects.  People that I can check in with once a week and get a heading check on the project…and otherwise just trust that it’s happening as it should.

So…anyone out there up for a challenge?