We live in a world where we are constantly overstimulated. By advertisements, messages, people, and much more. There is rarely a minute in our day to day lives when our attention is not being vied for. Because of this our focus is usually flying from one place to the next. Millions of bits of information pass through our mind each and every day.
Here is a prime example of this go to your local gym and there is a fifty fifty chance that the people there are texting compared to working out. While I no longer work out in a gym because I have one at home I well remember these people. Do a set then pop up and send texts. Maybe walk around. Get a drink of water then send a text. Then do their next set. Or the people on the treadmills sending e-mails and watching reality TV while they “worked out”.
These were usually the same people who were never in that good of shape and didn’t improve that much from visit to visit. Contrast this with a boxing gym that I boxed at. Using a cellphone in there was unheard of. Any kind of electronics was unheard of. I’m ninety percent sure that the owner would have thrown you out if you had you mind on something other than boxing while you were at his gym. Not surprisingly despite being a small gym it has had some great fighters come out of it and fight on ESPN.
The Shiny Object Syndrome
Maybe you have heard about something called the shiny object syndrome before. Essentially it is where you are naturally attracted to things that gleam or shine. Put a man in a room filled with coal and a single diamond and the diamond is going to stand out. That was what the world was like at one time. Now however our world is like being put into a room filled with jewels of all different colors and types. Sure ninety percent of them are fake but they still gleam like they are real.
Our minds and eyes are pulled every which way. Making it hard to determine what is good from what is fake. This affects us not only in our purchasing decisions but also in our decision making processes. While the shiny object syndrome can be annoying and something to watch out for when being an consumer it can be even worse when you are a producer. Becoming a victim of the shiny object syndrome can spell death for you business. Let me explain…
Shiny Object Syndrome and Business
Let’s say you wanted to make money aside from working at your job. Let’s say you are an martial arts instructor but also love writing fiction. So you decide to join your two passions and begin writing fiction books that utilize your knowledge of martial arts. So lets say you produce a book and it does alright and while working on your second book you hear this from a friend “Hey you know Kindle isn’t really the place to be making money anymore, what you should do is start a blog with affiliate products. You already know the best gear so see if you can get deals with them”. So the instructor goes and does just that.
So he sets up a webpage and begins some affiliate marketing. He starting to make some money off of it when he reads a post by a martial artist blogger he follows and looks up to. The blogger talks about how he is making tons of money running self-defense courses on the weekend aside from his normal classes. So the instructor decides to open up a weekend course where he teaches the basics of self-defense. He starts the course up and begins seeing some money from it.
What’s the problem here? This instructor has no focus. He keeps jumping from one thing to the next instead of focusing and really drilling down on one thing. While there is nothing wrong with doing all three of those things if you constantly jump from one to the other you aren’t going to be getting much of a return from them.
Focus
You must focus on what it is your doing. If you’re writing books about fitness don’t jump into another niche because someone said it was profitable. Don’t leave ship just because you think the grass is greener on the other side. Some people get caught up in this cycle indefinitely and then wonder why they are still broke. You must buckle down and focus at some point. If you really hate something and know that it is not you then by all means get out of it. But if you find yourself constantly jumping from this to that something needs to change.
Pick one thing. I don’t care what it is and drill down deep into that one thing. Focus your efforts on one particular area until that area is where you want it to be. And then you may look into other areas but not before. You must focus and stay consistent if you want success. You cannot keep jumping around. Learn to discipline yourself to stay with something. Otherwise you’ll never get where you want to go, and no one wants to live like that.
If you have any questions you would like to see answered in a future post send them to me at charlessledge001 (at) gmail (dot) com. If you found value in this post then I would encourage you to share this site with someone who may need it as well as check out my books here. I appreciate it. You can follow me on Twitter here.
-Charles Sledge
