One-track mind.

Q What do you do when you're working so much toward achieving a certain goal that it starts to distract you from other aims your already in progress?

--C. Rodgers, Los Angeles

A It's good that you are determined to work hard to realize your aims. However, there is such a thing as doing too much. Many people take on worthy causes, projects and tasks when they know they really can't handle more work. Striving toward something feels good, and when you achieve it, it feels even better. But if you're not careful, you could be left feeling overburdened.

"So many times, [people] experience frustration, fatigue and failure because their `plate is too full,'" explains motivational speaker and author Jewel Diamond Taylor in her book Success Gems! Your Personal Motivational Success Guide (Quiet Time Publications, $12). "Choose the project, goal or activity that is most important to you right now. Once you choose, make a commitment to that decision."

You should only take on the amount of work that you can do well at the office. Similarly, you should only work on as many goals as you can achieve without burning yourself out. Otherwise, you may find yourself--and the desire to achieve any of your objectives--running out of steam.

--R.D.C.

Mail your self-empowerment questions to In The Know, BLACK ENTERPRISE, 130 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10011, or send an e-mail to [e-mail].