It’s Time to Cut Out the Excess

We live in a world of excess, where overconsumption is the norm. With so many choices surrounding us, as well as a desire to try anything and everything we come across, we’ve made overconsumption a regular habit.

But this excess doesn’t just stem from consumerism and vigorous marketing tactics, it also stems from the belief that if we tackle our goal from numerous angles, then there’s a better outcome for us:-

If I use ten different hair products then my hair will grow faster and look better.
If I purchase the entire workout program and get all the gear, then my weight loss will be rapid.

Too Many Distractions

However, overconsumption and excess only serves as a distraction.

When you have too many choices that you want to indulge in, then you can never spend enough time exploring each choice. Instead you’ll get a taste here and a taste there, and you’ll realize at the end of the day that you are fucking starving.

Unfortunately, even when we realize that we are not getting optimum results for our time and money, we find it hard to make the necessary changes.

As a business blogger, one the most important pieces of advice I’ve gotten is to engage with my audience i.e. find out where they spend time online, talk to them, and position myself as a resource. This not only helps me learn my audience’s needs and struggles; it also drives traffic to my site.

So what did I do when I got this advice? Well, I joined every Facebook, G+, and LinkedIn group I could find. I joined Pinterest boards, Twitter, and StumbleUpon as well. EXCESS!

As a result of this ‘diversification’, I only spent a few minutes on each platform doing nothing more than browsing. I was wasting my time and I wasn’t giving value to my audience.

That’s why I made the decision to pull back. I left groups and social platforms that I couldn’t focus my time on, and I now spend time in the one or two groups with the highest potential. I can tell you that doing so has been a huge relief, but since it’s a relatively new decision I have no results to share as of yet.

But I can say that the sole G+ community I’m on gives me more engagement and social shares than the last 6+ groups combined.

While being everywhere and doing everything might give you a false sense of achievement, my advice to you would be to cut out the excess. Once you do this, you can build on the little you have and then scale as you gain popularity and credibility.

So how do you cut out the excess?

1. Make a list of all the products and services you are using to promote your business e.g. apps, tools, social media platforms, publishing platforms

2. Group together the products or services that perform a duplicate action e.g. one group for social media platforms, one group for productivity apps, one group for time management tools ,one group for publishing platforms

3. Compare the results of each product and service in each group set e.g. if you have a spot on HuffPost and Medium, figure out which publishing platform sends you more traffic, which one gets more shares, and which one gets more engagement

4. Once you have these results, choose the best (or two of the best) from each group and put aside the rest

5. If you still feel overwhelmed, repeat the process again with the products and services that made it past step 4

6. Focus all your energy on the products and services you have left. Exploit them to their full potential.

Final Verdict

I wish you the best with this endeavor, and I hope you see the positive outcome of cutting out excess from your life. Remember:

1. Excess choice and overconsumption leads to lack of focus and dissatisfaction
2. Get rid of the excesses in your life and focus on what will give you maximum yield

If you liked this article, share it with your friends and colleagues, and drop me a comment letting me know of your experience with overconsumption. Are you struggling with excess or have you already cut it out of your life?

Thanks for stopping by today, and I’ll see you back here next Monday.