Recently I received an email from a popular internet marketer who was talking about how much money people spend on getting ONE more product, ONE more coaching program, or ONE more sure-fire system. It reminded me that we all need to stop planning and buying and take action!
There was a time about two years ago when I was in three different coaching programs briefly at the same time. (Yep, that’s crazy pants.) They were all more or less marketing related, but they each had a different spin.
I got a lot out of each one, and always enjoy learning and planning, but I was so busy listening to the calls and doing all the homework, that I really didn’t take good effective action on any one of the programs. That is a lot of money and time invested for no return!
Inevitably many of us fall prey to the need to continually learn, and then we never get out there and put that learning into practice. Obviously, that was a problem for me.
Let me ask you:
- Have you invested a lot of time, money and effort into your continuing education all in the name of becoming better in your business?
- Are you subscribing to lots of newsletters, blogs, and podcasts and feeling a little overwhelmed?
- Have you listened to or at least downloaded every podcast and webinar you can find that remotely sounds like it might help?
Please. I beg you. STOP!
Quit wasting your time, money, and mental energy on all of this. It’s time to pare down to just one thing and take some action. You’ve got to stop the incoming information and process what you have and do something with it. Only in this way are you going to take serious steps forward in your business.
Here are some things you should do to stop bright shiny object syndrome.
1. Unsubscribe from every newsletter subscription that you aren’t reading on a regular basis
Do you even remember how you got on that list or who the author is? Does the information in the articles align with what you need right now? If not, then unsubscribe confidently and know that you can always get back on a list at any time!
2. Use it or lose it
Take 15 minutes and go through that stack of ebooks, free papers, or anything printed that you have accumulated from some source and see if you can’t just toss it all. And know that like to-do #1, you can always get another copy or find a better source. Most of what you have been saving can probably be tossed.
3. There now, doesn’t that feel better already?
Good. Get yourself a cookie.
4. Go find all those podcast and video downloads and go through the titles of them
Can you delete any of them? Can you copy them all to a flash drive and then delete them from your computer? Can you just copy them to your iPod or mp3 player and listen to them at least? I have listened to a lot of things just driving around town doing errands. When you find one that isn’t serving you, get rid of it!
5. Here’s the most important thing to do
Start with one thing you have learned from a course, coach, program, or system and implement it. Just one thing. That’s it. You’ve turned off the fire hose of incoming information and you are left with some great things that you want to begin doing. So get cracking! Set aside 2 hours each on two different days this week and work on that one thing until it is done. And no cheating. Make the time and space in your calendar and get to work implementing. That is the point, isn’t it?
Conclusion
Hooray! Now you have moved from planning to action. Doesn’t that feel awesome? And look at all the space you have created in your life and business because of all the clutter you removed. It’s so easy to get caught up in the next best thing, or those bright shiny objects. Your business will be bigger and stronger for you NOT being distracted, but instead, taking action on one thing at a time.
Rinse and repeat. You’re a rising star now. And when you need the next best thing, you can go get that one thing and not bring in 20 other systems, programs, or newsletters with it.
Do you have bright shiny object syndrome?
It feels like you’re talking directly to me! I have countless ebooks, mp3 training sessions, newsletters, etc–and I’m not actually getting anything done! :(
Tip #5 really hit home with me. I need to take the best bit of information from a resource and apply it to my business today…and then be done with it. Great advice.
I hear you Sage… I have a pile of books that I’ve bought that I haven’t even touched yet. Thanks for your comment!
Holly – we should have a book swap!
Totally – if only we lived closer =)
Hi Sage! I had a friend tell me that there isn’t enough time in our lives to read everything we want, nor to learn everything we want to learn, so we need to be okay with that. Isn’t that freeing?