Shiny Object Syndrome: My Revolutionary Take

If you haven’t heard about it from someone else directly (a coach, perhaps?), you’ve probably read about it online or on social media… Maybe you’re considering signing up for my No-BS List-Building 101 Training, Be Yourself in Video online course, or a VIP Intensive with me, but you’re afraid that you’re just succumbing to “Shiny Object Syndrome” again.

So let’s let talk about how and why it’s not a factor anymore. We’ll touch on both a “practical” level as well as the emotional level. (But who says emotions aren’t practical?)

If you add up all the money I’ve invested in products and programs and “failed” business ideas over the years, it’s a fraction of the money that has been created on my entrepreneurial journey

I invested and lost nearly $250,000 in my first business. (#thanksdad #sorrydad)

The most I’ve ever paid a coach was $1,000 per month for 3 months. I spent $5k for a week of brain therapy, which was worth every penny. I have bought at least two courses I can think of off the top of my head that were over $1,000. I have probably bought another handful of courses in the $300-$500 range. And I don’t bat an eye about buying a product under $30 (unless it’s been at a time in my life when I literally didn’t have $30, in which case I just trusted that meant it wasn’t meant to be right then).

So I have invested some money in my entrepreneurial journey. And a lot of time watching course videos, listening to podcasts…educating myself.

Even if we say that I have invested $300,000 in my business education over the years (not counting paying contractors). The ROI has easily been 3 times that and growing.

I agonized for WEEKS about whether to make the investment of $97/month for a year in a program about webinars. Finally, I decided to do it. Do you know how much we made in my first webinar? Just shy of $20k. And then we did more webinars after that so we 10x or 20x or probably even 100x’d that investment by now. #worthit

I couldn’t have known for sure how that program would impact me. I could really just go off of hope and trust that if it is calling to me, there must be something in it for me.

Here’s the thing: When you are just starting out in business, you don’t know what’s gonna work. You don’t know exactly what you want or who you’re meant to serve. You’re like an SUV stuck in the sand spinning your wheels. It looks like you aren’t making progress or getting anywhere. It looks like you’re doing the same thing over and over again with different courses or programs and getting the same results, but you don’t have much of another option. You certainly aren’t going to get unstuck by NOT moving your wheels. And the truth is, you just need to get into a position where you get TRACTION and then you will be off and running.

And it’s hard to know what “thing” or combination of things is going to help you get traction.

Some investments have a longer cycle.

I am still reaping the rewards of a money program I signed up for 9 years ago.

The book I read 12 years ago is still influencing how I approach business and life and what I share with you today.

The podcast I listened to last month gave me confirmation on my approach, which helps me feel more confident in what I am teaching next month.

If I narrow my focus and define any decision as a bad decision if I do not double the financial investment in 30 days (or 90 days or whatever) I miss out on the more subtle ways that things impact me.

And every single one of them has done that.

“But, Wendy, my issue with Shiny Object Syndrome isn’t so much (or just) about buying new programs. It’s about where I focus my time and energy in my business, in the goals that I am setting for myself.”

Maybe this week you decide you are gonna launch a podcast, but next week you decide that’s a bad idea and are gonna write a book instead… only before you get to chapter 1, you realize that a group coaching program might be better, so you switch to that…until you remember you hate getting on calls week after week so you decide it might be better to start a youtube channel…lol…

Sound familiar?

Oh, honey…. you aren’t alone.

Until your business is hitting around $100k/year, it’s NORMAL and NATURAL that you are trying out different things. I’m right there with you since starting over after my separation. You and me, we are throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. This is actually a very important phase of our business where we are trying out several different approaches. This is how we find out 1) what our audience wants and 2) what we actually LIKE delivering. So it’s normal to throw a bunch of stuff at the wall.

But the spaghetti does actually have to reach the wall to find out if it sticks, you know?

And it’s true that sometimes we (me 📷) don’t give our projects enough time and effort to find out how worthy they actually are before moving on to something else.

But what I’ve found is that the things that I am truly excited about, I still get excited about down the road. And I probably always will. If it doesn’t make it to the wall the first time I throw it, I can toss it again the next time I pick it up.

But what I’ve found is that the things that I am truly excited about, I still get excited about down the road. And I probably always will. If it doesn’t make it to the wall the first time I throw it, I can toss it again the next time I pick it up.

And now I think of my business more like weaving a basket than building a tower.

In 2015, I signed up for a course on how to do a podcast. It was a great course and it was helpful in that it helped me realize, I did not have capacity to do a podcast at that point in time.

Flash forward to 2019, when I got super excited about guesting on podcasts and I even created this totally awesome “Why you want me on your podcast” pitch packet to send out. Only then I got sidetracked and never did the systematic pitching I had planned. I recorded 3 podcasts but only 2 got aired and I never did anything else with that pitch packet…

Until last month, almost 3 years later, when I hired someone to pitch me to podcasts again. Because it turns out that shiny object will always be shiny and, lo-and-behold! I had a podcast pitch packet. Although it was slightly outdated, it gave my assistant all sorts of good information to hit the ground running.

In 2020, I futzed around with developing a color palette for my website except, you know, I never actually created the website that year…. But flash forward a year to 2021 and–wouldn’t you know it?–I had that gorgeous color palette already waiting for me!

Sometimes coaches say, “If you want it, you have to commit and go all in: put it on a credit card if you have to, show the universe you’re you’re really serious!” and what they really mean is “I hope you buy this because I need your money to cover my expenses.”

Yes, I too need to make sure my expenses are covered this month, but I am not writing this article to say “Shiny Object Syndrome Doesn’t Exist So You’re Safe: You Can Buy My Product!”

Barf.

I am writing this article because I am tired of hearing people use Shiny Object Syndrome as a weapon against themselves.

Let me ask you this: If everything was working exactly as you wanted in your business, do you think that Shiny Object Syndrome would still be a problem for you?

I know that, for myself, I have found it much easier to say no to a lot of things because I am happy with what I am already doing in my business. And when I find myself interested or drawn to something, it’s because it represents the possibility of a valuable addition to my life.

I recently signed up for Simone Seoul’s new training called “How to Not Gaslight Your Coaching Clients.” I’m not overly worried that I am gaslighting people. Yet I know that if there are ways I am inadvertently falling into some dubious marketing/coaching BS, Simone will help me get even clearer and more integrous about my approach.

Was I planning on signing up for a training last week before I heard about it?

No.

Did I say yes to a new training that appeared on my horizon?

You bet I did–quickly, easily and confidently.

Because I see how it adds to what I’m already doing.

Because I am not giving up on any of the other things that matter to me in order to say yes to it.

But it hasn’t always been this way, this has been a process…

You may not know that I studied judgement & decision making in college. I worked at both University of Chicago and Columbia University in the labs that studied how and why people make decisions, when they are irrational, and how we can help people make better decisions.

For all that, I still spent at least a half hour in the cereal aisle in college trying to decide what kind of cereal to buy…the cheap one or the one I really wanted that was $1.40 more expensive. 📷

Thank god I got over that.

I don’t eat cereal much anymore, but now I just pick the one I like, lol. So much easier!!

One thing that has helped me feel much more confident in my decision making in the past 6 months is getting a human design reading done by my friend, Amanda French.

I have heard about Human Design (HD) many times over the years and every time people tried to explain it to me it felt way too complicated and overwhelming for me to get.

But she simplified the f*ck out of it in her reading, and helped me realize that because of my type (Generator) I get instant yes-or-no gut reactions as soon as I am faced with a decision. And that I can and should TRUST those reactions.

This was groundbreaking for me. Because up until then, I would dismiss that initial “Yes!” feeling and then spend weeks or months mentally debating whether or not to say yes, trying to weigh an analyze.

After she first gave me the reading, I had a series of events that helped confirm to me the importance of listening to that initial response.

The thing is, I dismissed that feeling BECAUSE it was just a first response, when in reality, I needed to value it because it is that initial moment of an opportunity opening up, when I get the clearest glimpse of what direction to go in next.

It is a totally different schema for making decisions and it’s been really liberating. I am not an expert on Human Design but there are books and websites or, if you want the fast easy way, you can just email Amanda at afrench515 at gmail dot com, tell her I sent you and ask for an audio reading.

I highly recommend that be your first step if you’re brand new to Human Design. (I don’t get a commission or anything on the referral, I just found her reading very helpful!)

Let me ask you this: When you stop at the gas station to fill your tank, are you ever feeling like the gas is a “shiny object” you shouldn’t be buying?

Of course not, because you need it to get where you’re going.

But, that little keychain they have on the counter of the gas station? Now that could fall into the realm of Shiny Object Syndrome…. Unless…

Unless it happened to be a tire pressure gauge that you buy on a whim (a.k.a. intuitively) and it comes in handy a few days later when you notice your tire is low.

It’s hard to know what’s your intuition and what might be a “waste” of time and money.

I want to tell you that investing in your education is never a waste or a shiny object to ignore.

But then I think of all the people I know who have college degrees up the wazoo (or yoga teacher training certifications and reiki certifications and sound healing certifications, and…you get the picture) and still never feel qualified to actually build a business.

It’s not really up to me to decide whether they should go after that next qualification. But it’s up to them to decide if they really want to build a business or actually prefer to be a perpetual student.

If you are ALREADY putting yourself out there in ways that you feel GOOD about doing to build your business, I am less worried about Shiny Object Syndrome being an issue for you.

The problem happens when you DELAY taking productive action because you think the next new Shiny Object is going to be the answer.

Keep taking action. Add fuel as you go.

Did you ever notice that Shiny Object Syndrome = S.O.S.?

Maybe, instead of seeing that next new opportunity as a superfluous investment, you remind yourself that your interest in it is actually a call for help.

A sign that you want something more or different than what you already have going on right now.

What if, when you felt drawn toward something, you asked yourself:

I know right now not to invest in something that’s going to require a lot of work or a large time investment because I don’t have the capacity or desire. A 1-2 hour training? Sure. A 12-14 hour course? I’m not sure there’s anything I want to do in my business right now that makes sense for me to invest that amount of time in. So those things are an easy no.

Anyway, this article is a work in progress. I have already put probably 3-4 hours into it and at this point, I just wanna be done with it and get your feedback so I’m gonna send it out and look forward to revising and amending it in response to your feedback.

Please leave a comment below and let me know what your biggest ah-ha was from reading this article, or what challenges you have that I might not have addressed.