Too Many Plates Spinning

I have too many plates spinning. You know what I am talking about right? That guy who would be on talk or variety shows spinning plates on sticks and you would hold your breath waiting for one to drop. It rarely did.

For fun, here is a video of this weird feat.

Well in my life right now I have a lot of plates spinning. My life has been so simple lately. I would work out first thing in the morning, coach or work on marketing or networking for my coaching business, eat dinner, and relax. Just a few plates spinning. 🍽️ 🍽️

Of course we need to downsize to move in the fall, but we had time for that.

Then 1 year turned into 6 months, the community garage sale was around the corner, and you realize that 6 months isn’t that much time.

🍽️ 🍽️ 🍽️ Another plate started to spin.

We had to go through the house looking for things that we could sell.

Then a marriage proposal and a plan to get married in Hawaii. Super excited and happy, and,...

🍽️ 🍽️ 🍽️ 🍽️ 🍽️ At least 2 more plates are spinning now, if not 3 or 4.

Then I had an idea to create a pre-built workshop for people who want to “figure out what they want to be when they grow up”. And wanted to start brainstorming how to get more speaking gigs.

🍽️ 🍽️ 🍽️ 🍽️ 🍽️ 🍽️ 🍽️ Cue the sound of plates crashing.

Did you realize you haven’t seen a blog post in almost 2 weeks? That is the first plate that crashed.

In the past when I had too many plates spinning, I would purposefully take one down. I stopped volunteering in the classroom. I delegated more at work. I would work a little longer until I could stop the plate just to make sure nothing dropped. But I always knew when it happened. All of a sudden, I felt like I wasn’t doing anything well and I was bouncing back and forth between tasks, without completing any of them. In the tech world, we call that thrashing. It is what your computer does when it doesn’t have enough memory.

So here I am. Spinning all of those plates and attempting to keep them from crashing around me.

So what is a person to do in this situation? Here is my experience:

PRIORITIZE: The wedding is happening.The move is happening.The speaking gigs can wait.The workshop can move a little slower. Perhaps I can network a little less.

DELEGATE: Maybe a wedding planner can help. Perhaps it is time to bring back the cleaning service.

COMPROMISE: Maybe I will work a little when I am on vacation, since it will be two weeks. Are two blog posts a month good enough? I will still work out - that is a non-negotiable.

FIND EFFICIENCY: Can I shop online for things for my wedding. That can save a lot of time and it doesn’t have to compromise quality.

PRACTICE SELF-CARE: I still need to look after me. So a periodic massage or a get-together with my friends needs to stay on the agenda.

If you find yourself with too many plates spinning and are struggling to find your way through it, coaching may be for you. Schedule a free coaching discovery call to explore how coaching can help you interact with the world in a more positive way.