You and me? We have different definitions of “easy”

A few years ago, I did a freelance project that involved working with craft bloggers and reviewing their content and products. I can’t tell you how many times I read something along the lines of:

• “This is a quick project. I did it while watching Downton Abbey, so it’s easy.”
• “These cookies are easy to whip up.”
• “This project is so easy you can do it in an hour.”

Can I just say, there was not a single one of those projects that I would call easy? Or a single project that I could do while watching television? Every single one of them would require hours of my concentration, and even then, wouldn’t turn out remotely close to what their pictures looked like.

In fact, there were multiple projects where I didn’t even know the meaning of the all the words. And all those supplies that are “common” to have on hand? Yeah, I definitely don’t have a glue gun. Finding scotch tape is a craft project all on it’s own in my house.

BUT…

Whip up a work back schedule to ensure a project is completed on time? Write a recap to ensure all team members are on track to hit their deliverables and are aligned coming out of a meeting? Throw together an editorial calendar for your social media, or your blog? Create an Action Plan so you know where you’re going? Yep, those are my idea of easy. And take very little time at at all.

Formatting some spreadsheets and ebook content? That’s an easy project to do while watching television, for sure.

While my easy is not your easy, we all have something that comes naturally easy to us.

Unfortunately, for a whole host of reasons, many of us spend too much time trying to do someone else’s easy and end up feeling like failures. Don’t do that.

Don’t get bogged down by what’s doesn’t come easily to you.

Focus on what is easy. Realize that you do have skillz and work hard at those. (I know, I know. We’re big on skillz in our house right now. Apparently in pre-K, jumping skillz and adding skillz and digging for fossils skillz are all a really big deal.)

And every now and then? Stretch yourself and try one of someone else’s “easy” projects. You might be surprised at the satisfaction you get from it. Or you’ll have learned something you definitely never want to do again.