How to Use Shiny Object Syndrome to Your Advantage

Have you ever been told to focus, but you just can’t seem to get it together?

You’ve got too many ideas swimming in your brain. Or perhaps you are always really good at pointing out inefficiencies or improvements that can be made? Or maybe you just bounce from one thing to the next leaving a wake of half baked things in your stead. Sound familiar?

Chances are that if you answered yes to any of those questions, somewhere along the way someone told you that you were being disruptive, distracting, and wouldn’t amount to anything if you couldn’t figure out how to sit still and follow through. Ugh, talk about a Debbie Downer. 

Well, I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is: This propensity to chase shiny objects, ideas, improvements, etc. is actually one of your greatest assets as an entrepreneur and when harnessed properly it can lead you to tremendous success.

Now for the bad news: Your teachers were partially right. If you can’t learn to focus down on a few of those things, you will be running around in circles and this will be your biggest roadblock to success and traction in your business.

So now that we got both of those out of the way, I am sure you are asking, “Great, so how do I harness this new super power for success and impact?” Well, I am glad you asked. Here’s how…

First, create a system or place that will be your idea “catch-all” or “idea inventory.” 

A place where, when a moment of inspiration strikes, you can jot your idea down and store it in your catch-all. This is really important because, first, it gives your squirrels some time to simmer down since you listened, but second, it allows you and your team to prioritize your ideas and make sure they are moving the ship forward, not distracting and getting your ship off course, which leads me to point number two here in a second.

Evernote, Asana, and Trello are all excellent options to help you create your idea inventory.  I personally use Teamwork and I lovvvveee it! Try them all out and see which one works best for you and your team’s flow. 

Second, appoint someone on your team master of ideas.

This person should excel at helping you corral & prioritize ideas and then once you have narrowed them down, they will create a follow-up plan with the right people and processes in place to see the ideas come to life.

1. 1. Sorting your ideas can become a type of game! Ideally you and your idea master should start by sorting your ideas into three categories: Small, medium, and large.
      • Ideas that you and your team can do quickly and that will have a big impact on your business go in the small category. 
      • Ideas that need a bit more noodling and more people than you have on your team go into the medium category. 
      • Ideas requiring true planning and a ton of moving parts go into the large category.
   2. Once the ideas are sorted, triage your thoughts. Decide if the idea is a must have, need to have, or nice to have.
      • Must haves are things with a direct correlation to revenue, something where if you don’t get it out the door, your business will suffer. Think promo plans.
      • Need to haves have a positive impact on your business, but that impact isn’t easy to monetarily correlate. This is more likely a blog post or content creation that you have not yet been able to draw a line from published to profits.
      • Nice to haves contribute little monetary value. An example of this might be new headshots for the team. While it would be nice, it is not necessarily something that is urgent and important on the matrix so it can be deferred to a time when it won’t distract the team from their goals.

The key here is to have someone objective who is not emotionally tied to any of your ideas that can triage, sort, and prioritize them to make sure they truly align with the current goals and trajectory of your business.

Third, ship that sh*t!

This is the part that gets most entrepreneurs. They have the idea, they build out the idea, and then it just sits on a shelf collecting dust.

Well to quote Bob Newhart, “STOP IT!”

Seriously, I know sometimes it is hard to get our babies into the light. I mean what if people don’t like it or are mean to our ideas, blah blah, I get it, but guess what, the worse case scenario here is that it flops and you know what, I love flops! They are like the first pancake, you see why it didn’t get fully cooked, adjust, learn, and have the most perfect, yummy second pancake. BOOM!

Now go forth, corral your ideas, and ship some epic you know what!