Tell me if any of this sounds familiar to you?
- You see a colleague start a second business, and it appears to be going well.
- You see a colleague start using a new software that seems to do cool stuff.
- A peer in your industry raves about a new course they just signed up for.
- You go to an industry event and come away with 100 new ideas that are amazing.
- A new piece of equipment comes out that appears to perform better than what you already have.
- You hear of a company that has experienced massive growth because of “one simple change”.
- You hear a peer in your industry explain that focusing on a certain social media platform is yielding huge returns.
- So-and-so hired a vendor to handle such-and-such, and so have a bunch of other people, and the vendor is more awesome than your current vendor.
- The hottest new business book is more impactful than the one you’ve been trying to finish for the last two months.
- A new influencer is making moves in your industry, sharing their best tips, and wants you to join their group, subscribe to their podcast, and follow them on social.
I see it all the time with home service business owners- they leapfrog from topic to topic, project to project, focus to focus, never truly completing the thing they were JUST working on (that, a few weeks ago, was so important that they bailed on the PREVIOUS project or solution they were working on).
“Shiny objects” are almost always just that- distractions. There’s a solid chance you have one or two things going on in your business RIGHT NOW that deserve almost 100% of your attention. Anything else is most likely a distraction.
Here’s how you avoid the trap of Shiny Object Syndrome:
- Get VERY clear on your business’s biggest 1-3 problems.
- Make a pact with yourself that you won’t act on ANYTHING new until you reach a significant solution to those 1-3 problems.
- Get someone to hold you accountable to that commitment (coach, mentor, spouse, team member, etc.)
- Repeat steps 1-3.
Staying focused on what you do best, going wide and not deep, is the surest way to see your goals through to their completion.
