Not Enough Bandwidth

I don't know about you, but I feel like I just don't have enough bandwidth!

wordnet.princeton.edu defines "bandwidth" as

'a data transmission rate; the maximum amount of information (bits/second) that can be transmitted along a channel'

What I mean is, there is too much information trying to come in and go out. I am

• checking out a new market for my psychic/coaching services
  
• learning several new types of software,necessary to my work
  
• channeling every morning with a friend, and
• representing the seller as a real estate broker on a short sale.

All of these take time, and all, except the channeling, require learning.

Perhaps you are in a similar predicament -- you're working, and trying to stay on top of things there, worried about your job or business, and so learning new skills or ways to market your services, not to mention taking care of a home and/or family. Do you feel overwhelmed? Or, like me, do you just have a problem setting priorities? Because priorities are necessary whenever you have limited resources, like bandwidth.

The first thing to remember is how much you are trying to do in how little time. So forgive yourself for not getting it all done right now. Take a deep breath.

Remember, there is a difference between urgency and importance. Urgent things have to be done now or calamity ensues (does it really?). Important things will make a huge difference in the quality of your life down the road. What is really important here? What will make the biggest difference in your life down the road?

When I think about setting my own priorities, they look like this:

1. Things that will keep me healthy (e.g. sleep, exercise, good food, maintaining good relationships), because without good health, I can't do anything else
2. Things that will bring in money today, including keeping my on-going commitments (scheduled clients and classes)
3. Things that are are most likely to most positively affect the bottom line in the future
4. Everything else (like bookkeeping)

Within these broad categories, there is still a lot of room, for a couple of reasons. First, the answer to the same question can vary day to day. Is is more important to my health to sleep a bit more or to exercise today? Today, the exercise is more important. But last Saturday, after I'd been out ridiculously late on Friday night, the sleep was more important.

Second, in some cases, things are out of your control and you're working with probabilities. The commission on the short sale is not insignificant -- but it's very iffy. The buyer and the seller have agreed on the price, and both of the shorted lenders have signed off. (This took a full 30 days.) But the buyer has to approve the inspections of the property, which are scheduled a mere 4 days before the lenders' approvals expire, and close within those 4 days, 2 of which are Saturday and Sunday -- or we begin all over again with the lenders, and this time, they could reject the agreement. So how much sense does it make to put a lot of time into this?

The standard business school way of evaluating an iffy proposition is to multiply the expected return from a positive outcome by the percentage chance that that outcome will happen, and use that to compare outcomes. What's the percentage chance of success? This is where intuition comes in -- you make an informed guess. (Or you can call me to 'look' at it with you.)