I’ve stopped applying for Seth Godin programs–the internships and weekend seminars that sound amazing and have an application to fill out with a very short turnaround. The ones I used to get all excited about and that many people would forward to me and I would drop everything to apply for, only to get a mass rejection e-mail. I will on occasion stretch myself and apply for something that seems slightly out of reach, but I’d hate my own strong and unique voice to get drowned out by the thousands of voices around me. I work hard to bypass the line, to be sought after or to circumvent the traditional maze I used to go through.

I don’t like being on the other end, either. I don’t like having to turn down work because I am so swamped, or to have to choose between equally amazing projects because I don’t have time for both. I recently sent a query to HARO (Help A Reporter Out) and was instantly submerged with phone calls, e-mails and text messages from publicists. I was saturated. I wasn’t even able to politely decline after I’d found the sources I needed, and I’m usually so good at making time to get back to everyone as a courtesy.

I used to think I’d want to be the person inundated with a zillion requests rather than one application in a pile of zillions. But now I think my ideal scenario would be resonance–to only have as many offers as I could handle, exactly when I needed them, rather than too many or too few.

What’s your ideal scenario?