When To Say Yes (& No) To New Opportunities As A Creator

I'm a sucker for saying yes to all the new shiny things.

Over the last couple of years, I've said yes to a million things as a creator. New projects, platforms, launches, content, newsletters, communities and more.

• A friend goes viral with a thread on Twitter and I think I'm going to write threads every day from now on.
• Another friend is having success on LinkedIn... I better start publishing on LinkedIn.
• Someone else is popping off on YouTube... Time to start a Youtube Channel.
• TikTok is the future... better get over there and stake my claim with short-form video.

But once the excitement wears off and you're left with the reality of the work involved burnout can quickly come looming & before you know it you're overcommitted, failing & miserable.

So how do you take hold of new opportunities without burning out & overcommitting yourself? You set Your Creator Quota:

Decide how much time you have each week to spend on being a creator. Here's the thing, we all have limited time (even full-time creators) so be realistic about how much time you can spend in your creator role.

Work out how much time your current responsibilities take. I used Clockify for a couple of weeks to find out the real-time it takes for me to do everything I currently have on my plate.

When a new opportunity comes along, weigh it against what is in your quota. New opportunities come along constantly. Before you say yes, think about the true amount of time it will take up & if you have the time in your quota then add it in. If not, either remove something or dump the new idea.

Don't let the fear of missing out lead you to burnout as a creator. Set your limits and work within them... it will lead you to much more growth & happiness in the end.

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