A LETTER FROM CHRIS SUAREZ

DECREASE YOUR SURFACE AREA

This week in a conversation I had with good friend and mentor, Brendon Burchard, he shared something that landed differently for me. He had probably shared this with me more than once or twice in the past, but sometimes it is the circumstance or the conversation in your head at that moment that causes things to be heard differently and to land differently.

I was hosting a call with him for business owners across multiple industries. We titled the session “Don’t Quit”. I wanted to share the four most common reasons that I find most entrepreneurs decide to quit:

Distraction

Impatience

Helplessness

Fear 

We quit because we find something shinier that pulls us or distracts us away from what we set out to do.

We quit because things are just not happening fast enough. We lose our patiences with the process.

We quit because we believe we no longer control the outcome we were looking for. We feel we’ve lost agency over our future.

Or we quit because of fear. We are scared. It could be any of the hundreds of fears that can creep up from time to time.

In response to that list, Brendon shared that oftentimes we quit because any of those four can lead to discouragement.  Why?

“If you get wildly dispersed in focus, you increase the surface area of discouragement.”

The more we spread our focus out, the less likely it is that we succeed in any one thing that we are looking to accomplish. Yet usually, as we become more and more successful, opportunities present themselves. And so we take them. And we begin to work on multiple projects. We begin to take on responsibility for multiple initiatives. We may even be leading multiple companies. If we are not careful, as we disperse our focus, we begin to increase the surface area of where discouragement can set in. When we were once delivering incredible results at what we were “the best” at, suddenly we are mediocre in many things, and wondering why we aren’t winning at any of them.

Do you find yourself discouraged? Overwhelmed? Thinking about quitting? It may simply come down to how many things you have said yes to. Your focus is dispersed. 

Begin by going back to what you know you are good at - not what you think you might be good at. Return to what made you successful in the first place. Optimize there.

Next begin eliminating, stepping out of, or sunsetting projects that you have started, but don’t quite remember why.

Finally, commit to a schedule reset. Review all standing appointments and all current commitments of your time. The easiest way to do that is to clear your calendar of all recurring appointments. Then rebuild back your calendar strategically based on what you have decided to optimize for. You will be left with only the most important. 

The key is to begin to decrease the surface area of what you are working on in any given day or week or month. Slowly the thought of quitting will disappear.

Chris Suarez