Ever get started on a project and find that you’re coming up with a million different (and brilliant) ideas that are simply teasing you for your focus?
No, it’s not your ADHD or ADD kicking it.
It’s shiny object syndrome.
But you may also have heard it referred to as “shiny penny syndrome”, “chasing a squirrel”, or something similar.
And that’s because it’s attractive to chase after, but otherwise really deviates you from your primary goal or objective.
You do not have time to fall into this trap anymore.
With the wide adoption of AI, virtual assistants, and automation, you will certainly fall behind if you do not have an effective strategy to avoid shiny object syndrome.
Don’t be that person this year!
Discover just how we’ve avoided this syndrome from copy baristas who are constantly coming up with different recipes for success.
What Is Shiny Object Syndrome?
It’s all in your head…but really! Shiny object syndrome (SOS) is a psychological concept that illustrates our ability and tendency to get distracted by all the new ideas that we come up with while attempting to focus on something else. This concept is not only detrimental to making progress, but also stops you from seeing results as quickly as you want. All of which often leads to imposter syndrome. You may even start to doubt whether the project you’re working on is really the one you need to focus on. Is that idea good enough for your focus?
SOS is not something bad. But it is something that needs to be managed before it spirals out of control – taking time and resources away from your bottom line.
How Shiny Object Syndrome Distracts Entrepreneurs From Reaching Their Potential
Specifically, entrepreneurs often face SOS. It is the ultimate roadblock from you reaching your fullest potential in the timeframe you envisioned without all of those distractions. This looks like…
- Falling behind on your content calendar
- Scrambling to prepare for meetings
- Trouble managing big ideas and essential next steps
You may also encounter decreased productivity, analysis paralysis, imposter syndrome, and procrastination. If you have any experience as an entrepreneur, you know each SOS means money, money, money.
Don’t you deserve more for all the hard work you put into your business?
From our perspective…Yes, you do!
Our Proven Strategy To Avoid Shiny Object Syndrome
But knowing what to do about your shiny object syndrome can be a distraction in itsself. At FocusCopy, we are big on creating systems because…
- We’re constantly coming up with new ideas
- We need to be productive and focused on the deliverables we’re writing for clients
- We have a whole host of other challenges we need to battle, including writer’s block
However, there’s one strategy that we’ve refined, not only helping us focus on the task at hand but also to generate better, on-brand ideas for the copy we’re writing for our clients.
Want to access our systems? Now, you can inside Copy Systems – our monthly membership where you implement every system we’ve developed over the years so that you can be more efficient and effective in your marketing efforts. Discover what’s inside here.
1. Get Focused On What You Want To Accomplish
First things first, you need to determine what you want to accomplish. This could be something as simple as…
- Create your Q1 content marketing plan
- Generate 52 email newsletter ideas to write about over the course of the year
- Launch that new offer you’ve been dreaming of for 5 years
Once you get clarity on what you want to accomplish, it’s time to focus.
2. Create Milestones To Reach That Goal
The best way to focus is to build out the milestones needed to reach your goal. Depending on your objective, there may be 1 or 50 different milestones. Whatever it is, break it down into manageable, bitesize pieces.
We love to do this inside of ClickUp – our project management tool. We create a space or list – depending on the magnitude of the project. Then we break it down by milestones. Finally, we list every single task that needs to be checked off for us to pass through that milestone victoriously!
Bonus: implement a reward system for how you’re going to celebrate your progress. That could be as simple as your favorite latte from a local coffee shop or awarding your team with a bonus.
3. Designate A Brain Dump Process
Finally…And what really addresses the shiny object syndrome challenge…Designate a brain dump process. You as an entrepreneur have so many ideas – some brilliant, million-dollar ideas and some not-so-hot ideas. But when you let your brain spin when you’re supposed to be focused, you neglect your potential. That’s why we’ve developed a brain dump process.
Your billion-dollar ideas don’t show up in the middle of dramatic distraction. They show up when you have the business and personal discipline to make space for your creative mind to flourish.
– Robin S. Sharma
Remember, your ideas aren’t the enemy here. Your distraction is.
What Is A Brain Dump?
A brain dump is simply a place or document where you dump all your ideas for you to revisit later when you’re ready to tackle them.
How Do You Organize Your Brain Dump?
Depending on your role in the company, it may look different. But as an entrepreneur, here is how I organize my ideas: by “department”.
Inside our ClickUp, I’ve broken out each “department” or area in my business into a “Space”. From there, I have a Doc for that area’s brain dump. This is especially useful for departments that require a lot of infrastructure (i.e. product development, operations, sales, etc.).
For marketing purposes, I’ve created “statuses”. Only when I’m filling in our content calendar do I actually evaluate any of my ideas. You would be surprised at the number of marketing concepts that I either delete, edit, or merge to meet our FocusCopy standards.
When Do You Revisit Your Brain Dump?
Only on Fridays or pre-scheduled ideation dates do I actually revisit those ideas. And to vet each idea, I’ve created a process to evaluate each concept.
- Does this align with our brand?
- Will implementing this idea reach our annual strategic goals or even a quarterly goal?
- Do we have the resources to execute this idea?
- When is it feasible for us to implement this?
- Does it feel right?
At the end of the day, you know your business the best. So trust your instincts when evaluating your brain dump.
Ready To Create A Process To Filter Through All Your Ideas Before Getting Distracted?
Is shiny object syndrome ruling your life? Distracting you from what’s in front of you? Pulling you from your goals?
If you said “yes”, it’s time to implement a process to filter through your ideas before getting distracted.
And, you can find the exact process we use for all our clients and our business inside of Copy Systems. Don’t wait to implement proven strategies to make your copywriting, marketing, and sales that much more efficient. Let’s create something brewtiful!
