Shiny Object Syndrome – A Time Thief in Disguise!
I have to admit that I do not always wish to point out my own weaknesses, but this time I can neither hide from the internal turmoil that I have nor neglect to mention what has happened these past few months… Um, year??? The Shiny Object Syndrome struck!
My last effort to post a sequence of ‘Lessons’ for budding stall owners who want to Learn How to Start a Market Stall, began well and now that we had reached the financial planning and recording stages it was a little more difficult to explain in a clear manner.
Enter center stage… Research!
The Shiny Object!
Well, my research was on track. I worked through Single and Double Entry and also the Income Statement and my next lesson was/is to be about the Balance Sheet. As you may/may not have noticed… it is/was still in the writing stage.
So what is taking so much time?
To be honest the research took me to some interesting places. A balance sheet is a way of seeing in a snapshot of how well your business is doing at a point in time and to get it right means you know how to improve your business overall.
I decided to go full out and replicate this balance sheet over my entire business stretching back to 2012 and began entering receipts, income data and such.
I wish I could say that I have reached the end to that, but unfortunately, I came across an anomaly that needed further investigation and that led me to ‘research’ a little further.
I could go on, but I would imagine you are getting the gist of my current progress.
It has been a year and nine months – YES that long since I wrote the previous lesson and I am only just getting back to the original lesson I had begun.
So what went wrong?
The Syndrome
There is a syndrome called the Shiny Object Syndrome and it takes us all at some point or other. Even this morning I have been procrastinating and wandering the vast hallways of my home (all 2 meters of it) trying to avoid getting the final notes completed on my lesson.
The simple explanation is, as the title suggests, we go after the things that are shiny at that moment. Like when you wanted to get the latest mobile phone. You researched it, compared the deals, waited for the shipping of it, its arrival, ripped open the parcel and dived straight into the box.
Out came the phone and then for the next hour or two you played with it. Transferring all your data, getting the home screen just right, downloading updates etc.
By the time the next day came the shine had worn off a little and by the end of the week you were just happy with a new phone. In a month, it didn’t even feature as anything special. That’s how we all are with anything.
See how nothing else mattered either. You didn’t consider the time it would take, the effort, the research. You were solely focused on that one thing until you got it…
Then it all changed!
Another Shiny Thing?
A new coffee maker has just been released and you have to have it. A new series of Game of Thrones is being released or you just thought trying out the juice diet was going to make everything great, so you had best start looking for a juicer!
As humans, we go after the latest and most shiny object in our lives. We devote hours to it, we get distracted by it and when we attain it, the shine loses its appeal and we are in search of the next shiny object.
This post goes a little way to encouraging you all that surely a year and nine months (I shudder repeating that) is what the Shiny Object Syndrome can deprive you of.
Yes, I have achieved other things, I have started and grown in different ways, but I have not completed the task I set out to achieve.
There is also the time it takes to get back into the mindset. Remember where we left off and even how we labelled items. Everything is slowed down again!
Although this is a message for you to be aware, it is rather a wake-up call to myself to get back to what I know I need to do.
Stay Focused – Through the Tarnish!
Focus, keep the goal in sight of a completed lesson series and work towards a website that helps marketers and budding entrepreneurs a real leg up in the world of business.
It will to be prudent to notice that the Shiny Object Syndrome is a time thief. It robs us of the big victories and the ability to be all we want to be in this world.
Rather focus on the motivation for doing something and stick at it. No matter how tarnished it becomes!
Look out for the next lesson… The Balance Sheet… it’s going to be posted today!
