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Copyright, Marsha D. Egan, CPCU, PCC, CEO of The Egan Group, Inc., http://inboxdetox.com . Marsha is a certified executive coach and professional speaker, specializing in leadership development and workplace productivity. You can reach her at marsha@ marshaegan.com

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The Peanut Butter Theory

Envision the last time you enjoyed a piece of bread, spread with a nice glob of peanut butter… mmmmm. Just the right amount of peanut butter made that fresh piece of bread the perfect snack!

But what if you had that same amount of peanut butter, but had to make snacks for six active kids? Do you think any of them would enjoy that snack? Probably not – just not enough peanut butter on any of the slilces to make any of them taste any good.

So how can peanut butter relate to coaching? Because the analogy works. It is what I call the Peanut Butter Theory… it relates to how we spend our time and what we sometimes refer to as “spreading ourselves too thin.”

Let’s look at that tablespoon of peanut butter as your energy, time and focus. We all have a finite amount of it. And let’s look at the slices of bread as representing the projects or the work you have on your plate or tugging at you to be done. They may not be finite – they could be endless!

Using the Peanut Butter analogy, then, the person who has judiciously accepted only as many projects as he or she can do – and do WELL, most likely has been able to spread that glob of peanut butter on only enough bread to assure a tasty slice. And boy does that taste good.

And then there is the other person – the one we all know – who can’t say no, takes on much more than he or she can be physically capable of, and who can’t give the proper energy to any of those projects, or if he does, the others suffer. It’s like having only one tablespoon of peanut butter for many slices of bread. Either none of them have enough peanut butter to make any slice tasty, or one slice gets the most and the other slices are void of any flavor at all.

This is not really about work. We are talking about things you can elect to do, projects you agree to do, volunteer efforts, and things you do for friends and family. Who knows why people continue to take on more projects than they know they can handle, but many people do. Even though you intend to say no, you end up agreeing to take on more and more. And most times, when this happens, we see the peanut butter theory start to take hold.

What many people don’t realize is that in their efforts to help others by taking on all this extra “stuff,” they can actually hurt their careers or reputations by not being able to give tasks the right focus, energy, or time. Continually missed deadlines may cause others to mention the trend. Incomplete or shoddy work can cause people to lose faith in your abilities. Failure to deliver the result can cause a loss of trust. And even if these are in your personal life, you never know when someone could translate it to your career or profession.

It is better to devote your energy to a few projects where you can really do a good job at it rather than to take on much more than you can handle, “hoping” you’ll be able to magically find the time to do all those extra things. By carefully assessing the work and energy you’ll require to give your best effort to a project, you will be able to decide if you have enough peanut butter to get great results. By standing back, and looking at all you have on your plate, you should be able to very quickly assess whether you have enough peanut butter to go ‘round.

And if you don’t, just say no. Remember, no one will be happy with only a smidgen of peanut butter on that slice of bread – especially you.