Often I find myself wrestling with the tension that I have more ideas than time. There are many great things I want to do and build and ship and start, but I just don’t have the time to do them. However, I’m finding that the real problem is not my lack of time — it’s my lack of focus.

Ideas > Time > Focus

More ideas than time, but more time than focus.

This is not exactly a revelation. But the above equation has helped to put it in perspective for me. What I want it to be is this:

(Ideas > Time) + (Focus > Time)

More ideas than time and more focus than time.

If we have more time than focus it means we’re wasting time. Time is the only thing in that equation that we have no control over. And so it should be seized for all it is worth. I do not want a wasted surplus of time due to a lack of focus.

Does this mean I spend all my time “focused” on work? Not at all. I don’t have the energy for that. And neither do you.

What it means is that I’m being proactive and intentional about how I spend my time. It means I’ve establish some awesome default behaviors to fall back on when my focus and energy run out during the day.

* * *

For more thoughts on this, check out this video and article combo that I put together about “How to Get it All Done” when you’ve got too many awesome ideas.