Like Butter Scraped Over Too Much Bread

 “I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.” ~Bilbo Baggins, The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

Have you ever felt like Bilbo Baggins, thin and stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread? I know I have. Too many responsibilities, time commitments, priorities. Too many items on my to-do list at the end of the day, too many requests unfulfilled, emails unanswered, words unwritten. 

But what if the answer isn't more butter, but less bread? 

In other words, what if the solution isn't staying awake longer and dredging up more energy to tackle the unfinished business, but instead, to cover less territory with our time? I'm talking about paring down the number of things we do so we can actually reach realistic goals, rather than setting ourselves up to come up short against ridiculously high expectations. 

I'm working on my new nonfiction book for women right now, title Free to Lean: Making Peace with Your Lopsided Life. The current chapter is about focusing on a few things rather than spreading ourselves too thin over many things. If you've done this in your own life--if you've cut out some good things to make room for the best things--I'd love to hear about it in the comments below. How did you get to a place where you decided something had to be cut from your schedule? Or, how did you know when to start saying "no" to requests for your time and energy? What difference did that make for you? 

Or, if you have a hard time saying "no," what are your biggest reasons for defaulting to "yes"?