I am a scatterbrain. Ever heard somebody say to you “just focus on one thing and do that really well,” yeah okay um, I have heard people say this, but I prefer the bull at a gate, all things up in the air, flying by the seat of my pants, it’ll do, way of working. I am quickly coming to the realisation, and this might have just been aided by that pesky Pinterest, but I have a lot of varied interests. As a consequence of being so awesome at many a thing, it means I have not only accumulated a lot of knowledge on arts and crafts, ways of learning and teaching, cooking, gardening, relationship advice, the inner workings of at least 5 major retailers and hospitality chains in Australia, but that for some odd reason, I just don’t ever seem to forget ANY of it! What on earth do I do with all this tidbits of information? And further adding to my quandary, is how do I learn to focus on just one task at hand, one system of knowledge at a time?
Scenario number 1: This blog, which was kindly and thoughtfully set up by my Husband last birthday, and as my birthday rolls around again, I am forced to reflect on what I have achieved over the past year, but here is my problem. Basically, I looked back over the many words and images I have used to represent my blog, and in doing so, I have realised just how scattered and varied the topics have been. I mean I realise this represents my scatterbrain side, but seriously, DIY furniture restoration, crafts, markets, photographers, cooking, gardening, my thoughts and feelings and ramblings (kind of like now!). My ambition always seems to come from this curiosity about everything I see, read, hear, experience, but I wonder does this miss the point in maturing a hobby or passion? Am I going wide rather than deep into my interests, and if so, does this mean I would ever be any good at really developing these interests into say an actual career outside of what I already do?
Scenario number 2: As a child I was encouraged to do as many things as I wanted, I took up Gymnastics (did alright, won a few ribbons – boobs happened 
). So I picked up Tennis- turns out they wanted me to train more because I was getting good – meh. Basketball, Netball, Softball, Volleyball, Horse Riding, Musicals, Choirs, Art Club, Drama, Derby - I all did each and everyone well, won awards, represented town and state, did my best, had fun, but then I was like…mmm could I be doing something else? What else haven’t I tried? It was like the challenge had evaporated so my mind was like, “well, I guess you won’t be needing me anymore!” *Stretches, yawns and walks away to look at something shiny. Every year I clean out the closets and a million different relics from hobbies past, present and future come tumbling out at my feet. I ask myself do I have ‘stick-to-itive-ness’? You know the one, the ability to stick to a project and see it through to completion. On the whole I usually find the time to push on through and finish things, but I then wander off and try something else. Don’t get me wrong, I do my homework when it comes to doing things properly and I do manage to finish a hell of a lot, a lot of the time. But is it just too much, am I sidestepping the commitment to these things and instead gorging on the Hors d’oeuvre experience of a hobby?
Great, I seem to be aware of my ‘problem’, but how on earth can I possibly begin to fix this issue of ’stick-to-itive-ness’? I already make a whole lotta lists to combat my obsession with doing a long list of projects simultaneously, so we can tick that strategy off the list… Perhaps choosing only a few projects and putting more time into them? The less is more approach might help me focus. Focus…Focus…mmm. I wonder if switching between website tabs like I just did between sentences is part of my problem?
I know how this feels (Of course I am not ADHD – I can focus extremely well on tasks for very long periods of time and miss many important meals and events just to get things done). So, I guess I need to prioritise, continue making lists and someday I think I will just naturally ‘stick to’ a particular hobby on my own. Whilst that seems okay in theory, I think I know myself too well to ignore that niggling feeling in my gut that says, “You are always up for something new, always!”
Do you know what kind of worker/hobbyist you are? Do you have 1 hobby and 1 ambition for your job, or are you constantly swapping and changing like me, unable to fix upon that one thing you could do forever and instead you chase butterflies? I would really love to know I am not alone in scattering my hobbies far and wide.
Siren x.
Recent Comments