susan earlam ~ horror author

Do you ever take on too much? Say yes to things that perhaps sound great on paper but then when you actually get down the nitty-gritty, they aren’t what you thought?

Perhaps you’ve been riding high on a success and thought if you said no, that you’d not be thought of in the same way? Or more simply, you just thought you’d be missing out.

I’ve given up two large projects recently, I had project overload or freelance overload even! I’m not moaning by the way, its nice to be in demand but I was swamped and realised they actually were not such a good fit for me. When I took a step back and weighed up the pro’s and cons of both, I realised both were heavier in the cons department… Something I couldn’t see until very recently.

I think if you’ve realised you aren’t the right person for the job you should tell the client as soon as possible, I personally hate feeling disingenuous, I also dislike letting people down. But if I’d not let these projects go I’d be overworked, stressed and miss out on other things that might come my way, in essence letting myself down.

As it is, I managed to tell both clients without burning my bridges (I think!!) and I’ve now got the head space to think about projects closer to my heart again. Some which have been sitting waiting patiently for my attention for up to a year! I can’t tell you how luxurious this is…

Thinking towards the future I hope these two projects aren’t something I regret quitting, but I’m a big believer in fate so in theory I wont!

So quit while you’re ahead, cut your losses and walk away with your head held high-only you know if something is right for you.

Have you ever walked away from or quit something that on paper was a great opportunity?