What is good work costing you?

There will always be one more thing worth doing.

That’s why so many of us never get to our Great Work.

As a father, physician, and entrepreneur, I’ve battled busyness for years. There’s always an urgent task waiting or an exciting idea pulling at me. At one point I was overwhelmed. Every project fought for the same time and energy.

Then I came across a quote from gardener Elizabeth Roth:

“Roses that are left unpruned can become a tangled mess of old and new canes all competing for air and light.”

In other words, a rose bush can only feed so many buds. Our days are the same. Without pruning, good projects crowd out the great ones, and nothing gets the undivided attention it needs.

You have to prune the good to make room for the great.

The hard part is that the things you cut are good.

• If you’re a parent, your child could do soccer, piano, swimming, and coding. Each one is good for them. Which one could they master if you cut the rest?
• If you’re a writer, there are dozens of authors worth learning from. You could skim them all or study one line by line. Which one would teach you the most?
• If you’re building a business, you could ship a new feature, chase a partnership, or start a podcast. All three would help. Which one would you bet the next six months on?

So the next time one more good thing shows up, ask one question first:

What will this cost my Great Work?