My name is Cheryl and I'm a compulsive dabbler. There, I said it. Recently when discussing one of my businesses my husband said, "if you're just going to dabble, it's not worth it". I of course bristled, became defensive, and told him that I have a plan, a bigger picture, and that he'd have to trust me. But then I started to think about it and realized he's right, I am a dabbler. And not just with my businesses, but with my life in general. My girlfriend Randy has always said this about me too: that I'm always changing gears to try out something new.
Today while taking a walk, I started to review in mind all the areas I dabble. I decided to share the highlights in case there are other dabblers out there who can relate.
Some Areas I dabble:
- Hair color - have been every color under the rainbow (except I think green).
- Eating healthy
- Cooking healthy - or just cooking for that matter.
- Exercise - scheduled 3 sessions at the gym this week but only made it to 1.
- Blogging - as evident by the long gaps between blog posts.
- Social Networking
- Dog training - my dogs are a mess!
- Parenting - my kids are a mess (well, not entirely).
- Housework - I have definitely lowered my standards over the years!
- Yard work - my weeds are very happy about this one.
- Writing - my terrific book idea still isn't done because I keep dabbling in other areas.
- Home-based business. Started 3 in as many years!
- Publishing - I'm an awesome, author-focused publisher, but haven't put the time in to creating a model for my business that is both profitable and sustainable.
- Direct Sales - Loving my jewelry business; it's pushed in ways I never thought possible! Still, though I know what needs to be done to move it from the dabbling phase in to the established business phase, I can't seem to push myself hard enough to make it happen.
The problem seems to be that I'm always encountering something new to learn about and I love that. But constantly shifting gears and trying out new paths, results in an ongoing unfocused state and feelings of being incomplete and unsatisfied. Don't get me wrong, dabbling has it's good points too. Much of what I am passionate about doing now I never would have discovered without my need to dabble. But why can't I seem to move beyond dabbling? I know I'm capable so I'm not sure what's stopping me.
Any other compuslive dabblers out there who have overcome this problem? I'd love to hear what you did to stop treading water in certain areas of your life (big or small). Is there a support group for people like us: Dabblers Anonymous?
You might be a dabbler but it is part of your charm and what makes you so interesting! Don't ever change, it is one of the many things I love about you
Posted by: Randy | May 11, 2010 at 04:30 PM