“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”

We’ve all heard that age old idiom. It means, in short, if you have a certain number of “eggs”, it would be safest to put those eggs in different “baskets” and not put them all in one basket. To put all your eggs in one basket would be to risk losing all of your eggs in case you were to drop that one basket.

Simple enough.

It’s a model most businesses assume as well as individuals personally investing money or resources. It’s also a model that many parents instill into their children, guiding them to be good at many things and broaden their abilities and responsibilities.

Growing up I remember my youth pastor encouraging me to put as many “tools” in my “toolbox” as I could – consistently grow and learn and produce skills that will later benefit me down the road of life – a jack of all trades. This is what I’ve become. And as frustrating as it can be at times, I’ve found that this has helped me more than hurt me.

All of these things are good – investing, growing, learning – we shouldn’t limit ourselves and our growth to one or two things but rather broaden the aspects of life and knowledge. But there are certain times, times that cannot be predicted only experienced, where this model simply does not work. And I, of course, found this out the hard way.

Right off the bat, I thought it would be beneficial to work on having a successful website, and a podcast, and work on other potential branches of Rethink Monthly – a women’s publication, a teen publication, etc – and soon found that I was spreading our resources and time and energy too thin. I was spending too much time on other “great ideas” and not devoting my time and energy into making the best possible publication. Don’t get me wrong, I was pouring a lot of energy into it, it just wasn’t my entire focus.

Sometimes, I believe, we need to put all of our eggs (resources, time, energy, money) in one basket, one that we are passionate about and one we want to see succeed. I believe, in these specific times, when we devote everything we have to developing our product, we will see results eventually. It might not be today or tomorrow but eventually it will pay off and then we’ll be able to use its success to build and branch and develop other ideas.

As I’ve let these other “great ideas” fade for the time being, I’m sure I’ll have plenty of time in the future to develop them once again.