Managing Your Shiny Ideas & Staying Focussed On Your Goals
You’re not short of ideas. No, you’ve got way more ideas than time.
But that’s the problem, you’re struggling to figure out which ideas are all that, and which are just a distraction.
Wouldn’t it be great to know which ideas could be needle movers and which are time wasters?
And, you know those shiny ideas, right? The ones that pop up, and you truly believe they’re your best ideas yet? We’ve all had them, and sometimes they really are breakthrough moments.
And sometimes?
They are distractions that arrive just as you’re about to step into your courage zone and do the thing - launch your new service/ product, release your first podcast episode, send your first marketing email.
Shiny idea syndrome: A tendency to chase something new, be it a new idea, trend, or goal, rather than to stay focused on what you’re doing.
I fell foul to the shiny idea for years.
In fact it took me ages to figure out how to overcome procrastination and the fear that lays beneath it.
I would get started with building a business, and when it got to the point where I thought ‘wow, this could really be something if I just… starting wholesaling, really put myself out there with my marketing, had the courage to approach my ideal client’ - without fail, shortly after I’d have another shiny idea and convince myself that the path I was on wasn’t the right one, and I had to do some mammoth project to get onto the right course.
Some of those ideas were indeed brilliant. Ideas, that took me to where I am now. But a lot of them were shiny ideas AKA procrastination and fear that cost me years, distractions from stepping outside of my comfort zone and making big things happen.
Here’s the thing - fear is the biggest thing that holds us back in business - but it’s sneaky, it’s clever, and it sometimes dresses up as ‘perfectionism’, ‘not being ready yet’ or indeed shiny ideas.
When it comes to avoiding discomfort, our brains are seriously sophisticated.
Your brain will do whatever it has to do to make you change course from heading outside of your comfort zone (red alert), to safely staying snug in your cozy, comfort zone. And your brain has so many tools at its disposal to keep you safely in your comfort zone…
Here's what goes on in my brain when I'm about to step into my courage zone...
“Let’s crack out the inner critic and tell her she’s not ready/ qualified/ good enough yet - that’ll keep her in her comfort zone.”
And when that fails...
“Let’s open the perfectionism floodgates - the thing isn’t ready yet, it still needs development, a tweak here, a tweak there.”
And when that doesn't work...
“Ohhh, let’s try a good old bout of procrastination - there’s that laundry that’s sat there and really needs doing, and then re-arranging the layout of the kitchen cutlery drawer - that’s very pressing.”
**And when all of that doesn’t work, you’re still ploughing headlong into your courage zone to do something a little scary… **
PING!
In comes a shiny idea. And it’s the BEST idea ever.
Maybe it’s to pivot your whole business, maybe it’s to create a plan for a new service/ product idea you’ve had, maybe it’s to start a different business all together.
Whatever that idea is, it’s your job to figure out whether it’s a ‘shiny idea’ or genuinely one of your best ideas yet. And for this I have a process.
How to separate your shiny ideas from your brilliant ideas
STEP 1 | Write the idea down on an 'ideas waiting list'
On my wall planner I’ve created a section that says ‘next quarter ideas’ - this acts as a sort of ideas waiting list.
Often when you have an idea and you write it down that will be enough for your brain to relax - knowing you’ve captured it and it’s not going anywhere.
STEP 2 | Scratch the itch
If that idea keeps coming back to nag you, it pops up constantly and you can’t stop thinking about it, and feel excited about it, spend some time sketching out the idea.
Journal out what it might look like, bullet point out how it could work and save it somewhere. See if that satisfies your brain.
STEP 3 | Jump on the idea
I’m all about being flexible with your plans and jumping on ideas when they’re not shiny distractions.
If your idea is still nagging you, you find yourself thinking about it constantly and you’re feeling a ton of energy to get to work on it - do it!
But my ‘rule’ is that it’s got to replace something else. In my course Make a Plan > Make it Happen I say, if you’re going to jump on a new idea, something else has got to give. Otherwise you end up spreading yourself too thin across too many projects, so decide what project or goal you’re going to swap out to free up time and energy for your new idea and get to work on it.
Rinse & repeat
Get into the habit of using this method to separate those ideas, which are in fact distractions from stepping into your courage zone and doing the scary thing.
After you’ve gone through this process a few times you’ll start to intuitively know which ideas really are good’uns and which are distractions. And then, you’ll be unstoppable!
Wanna tuck this in your pocket for when your next shiny idea strikes? Pin it for later:
