I was thirty pages into a book I was enjoying and decided to call it quits by immediately returning it to the library. Looking at the books in my hold queue, I canceled my position in line for them with some trepidation, but also peace.

My interests are too varied and too wide, but encompassing of my primary strength (according to the Gallup strength finder) of Input. The two strengths that followed were Learner and Intellection. In other words, I’m a polymath.

While my nature makes it easy to fall into the trap of casting a net too wide and losing focus on what principles matter to me, the deluge of inspirational videos online serves the same purpose. It’s easy to see the top influencers in any field and decide this is the path you want to take.

The path starts, you do it for a bit, then move on to something else when a new moment of inspiration hits.

There’s also a plethora of tools available, each promising to make life a little easier if one is willing to master their intricacies. In the workplace, this is compounded by the endless requests to use certain tools for the sake of communication or workflow.

An entire day can get wrapped up in just these tools without getting any real work done.

Real progress can only be made when you eschew the excess in your life and obsess over a focused loci of importance. The value of saying no becomes an ally to your growth and personal sanity.

As for me, if it doesn’t help my growth as a writer or a teacher… it will be ignored.