Everyone struggles with indecision.
Personally, I have for years.
But what changed for me was realizing I was too scared to commit to any one thing. And as soon as that clicked, I started to understand that overcoming indecision wasn't that hard—I was just approaching it the wrong way.
Here's what I now ask myself whenever I'm overwhelmed by what path to choose:
If getting a breakthrough in any specific area requires me to close every other open door, which one would I choose to focus on?
We've been told to "keep our options open" and to "never keep all our eggs in one basket".
Here's the thing, though: not having all your eggs in one basket, does not mean you must start with no eggs and ten baskets… Instead, you should fill the first basket and then move your attention towards filling the second one. Then the third one. And so on…
You may not realize it but "keeping your options open" is having a toll on the impact you can deliver.
I know because this has been my problem (professionally) since 2019.
Ever since I left clinical medicine, I've spent my time turning what used to be my side-gig into a full-time gig.
But instead of fully committing to consulting independent medical practices –which is what I enjoy most–, I began taking other gigs that came my way. Two years later I find myself with a medical marketing agency, a podcast production company, a coaching practice, and consulting.
I'm way busier than I wanted and none of my businesses is having the impact it could be having had I spent the time to build them one at a time.
This has kept me playing much smaller than I should and frankly, dissatisfied with my professional life.
So for 2023, I've made the decision to not take any more clients for our agency or for our podcast production company.
Since our team and processes are in place and working well, I can keep both businesses open at their current size without having to spend more than a few hours per week. And making the decision to no longer try to grow either one, has already freed up a lot of mental bandwidth to focus on growing my consultancy.
This decision has also massively simplified my content strategy for the next year by narrowing the list of topics I'll be exploring.
So if you'd like to follow along on this journey, make sure to follow me on Twitter where I will post my daily essays, a weekly thread, and some other tweets around medical marketing for independent doctors.
