This has parallels to professional life as well: 1. Working on too many projects at once. I joke with my team that "we're never short on problems". It's tempt

This has parallels to professional life as well: 1. Working on too many projects at once. I joke with my team that "we're never short on problems". It's tempting to hear about something interesting and want to be involved—or worse, feel like you should be involved. It's very hard to say no. 2. Taking on high-risk projects with factors out of my control. If there's one thing I'm good at, it's setting expectations. But combined with #1, handling too many projects mean you never have time to properly think (and mitigate) the risks. 3. Taking on too many students. You could flip this to "growing too fast," though that's not a problem I've personally had. There was a culture of mentorship at my previous company, which a pressure to take on mentees. Similar... 4. Wasted too much time courting companies for money. Probably an analog into the startup scene, but again, not a problem I've had. 5. Way, way, way too much travel. / 6. All the boondoggles. Forget travel, the core message here is opportunities. The author says, "I found it hard to avoid this trap because you think, well, saying no means you're not going to get asked to do the more important thing next time." Oh man, do I agree. And I agree that most of the time it's a moot point. But there's something to be said for "visibility" and there's a 1-10% chance that the one "boondoggle" you sign up for ends up yielding an opportunity you wouldn't have had otherwise. This is my major personal and professional issue, and I haven't solved it yet, either.