Ever Battled With Bright Shiny Object Syndrome? How Did You Overcome It?

by tonyna
30 replies
Hi Warriors,

So I will love to hear from great entrepreneurs in the room.

Have you ever battled with BSO and how did you overcome it?

BSO and stripping myself of employee mindset are my two biggest challenges at the moment.

How did you go about overcoming yours? Kindly share. Thank you
#battled #bright #object #overcome #shiny #syndrome
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  • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
    Originally Posted by tonyna View Post

    Hi Warriors,

    So I will love to hear from great entrepreneurs in the room.

    Have you ever battled with BSO and how did you overcome it?

    BSO and stripping myself of employee mindset are my two biggest challenges at the moment.

    How did you go about overcoming yours? Kindly share. Thank you
    How did I get over my bright shiny object syndrome?

    With experience, you learn that the reason the new object is bright and shiny...is because it's new to you.

    Nothing is as great or terrible as we think it is in the beginning.

    When I see an idea that has great promise, my first thought is "Is there a flaw in my judgement? What am I missing?".

    Great ideas are still great ideas...even after you take real effort to take them apart and find what's wrong with them.
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    • Profile picture of the author tonyna
      Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

      How did I get over my bright shiny object syndrome?

      With experience, you learn that the reason the new object is bright and shiny...is because it's new to you.

      Nothing is as great or terrible as we think it is in the beginning.

      When I see an idea that has great promise, my first thought is "Is there a flaw in my judgement? What am I missing?".

      Great ideas are still great ideas...even after you take real effort to take them apart and find what's wrong with them.
      Claude,

      My goodness....I never viewed BSO from that perspective before.

      Thank you for this profound statement....

      "With experience, you learn that the reason the new object is bright and shiny...is because it's new to you"

      Really grateful. I know what to do now.
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    • Profile picture of the author socialentry
      Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

      Nothing is as great or terrible as we think it is in the beginning.

      "What is Mao, what is Hitler, what is Stalin" -Alex Jones.
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      • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
        "Nothing is as great or terrible as we think it is in the beginning." Claude

        Originally Posted by socialentry View Post

        "What is Mao, what is Hitler, what is Stalin" -Alex Jones.

        Even these guys, are not what we imagine, after hearing a story about them.

        Think about yourself. If someone says something bad about you, even if it's true...the person hearing the story now has a very incomplete skewed vision of you as a person. Remember, tyrants are still heroes to many.

        And even our own heroes are seen as villains by others, no matter who they are.

        Take Alex Jones. I've never heard him speak and not sound insane. But...it could be an act, a performance. And I've never seen him interact with people he loves, or have a conversation with him. So, what do I know about Alex Jones? Nothing, except what I imagine him to be. Which is incomplete and wrong.
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        • Profile picture of the author socialentry
          Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

          Even these guys, are not what we imagine, after hearing a story about them.

          Think about yourself. If someone says something bad about you, even if it's true...the person hearing the story now has a very incomplete skewed vision of you as a person....

          Take Alex Jones. I've never heard him speak and not sound insane. But...it could be an act, a performance. And I've never seen him interact with people he loves, or have a conversation with him. So, what do I know about Alex Jones? Nothing, except what I imagine him to be. Which is incomplete and wrong.
          It can be argued that Hitler and Stalin are the most studied persons in history. It would be very unfair to historians to say we've heard only a story or two about them.

          But you are correct on up to a point: most assessments are gross characterization... but it is the other way around. Usually, most people tend to give the benefit of the doubt and the person's image grows worse as time goes by.

          And why not? The defense has a natural advantage:it takes damning evidence to make anything stick and there's no natural incentive to bring down someone. After all, if you say, a professional relationship with someone and you are confronted with a rumour that they are KKK members, it becomes at the very least, very awkward for all involved. If you're invested in the relationship, you would not be inclined to automatically believe it.

          This is true in particular for contemporary figures.Only a determined and well motivated entity can bring evidence to the forefront.

          Remember, tyrants are still heroes to many.
          And even our own heroes are seen as villains by others, no matter who they are.
          It doesn't matter.

          You're thinking mainly of a North American context. But care has to be taken, as for all intent and purposes, NA is an impregnable island-fortress. It is also remarkably stable relative to other continents.

          As a result, save in very rare cases (like being submerged in a sea of COVID-19), we are shielded from the consequences of our respective govt's actions so we have the luxury to be as critical or gushing as we please. Or as Shakespeare would put it:"The fighting is so fierce because the stakes are so low."

          Some stay in a state of blissful ignorance for 50+ years. There are American boomers who probably think Watergate is a Disneyland attraction.

          Most nations aren't in this position. In fact, most have been overrun at one point or another.
          In which case there are a number of questions that naturally arise when looking at one's past: how do you keep a nation that is much more powerful than your own at bay? If war does come, do you keep on fighting in the hope of a turning point that may never materialize? In particular: if help do materialize, do you close your eyes if it comes from the devil?

          And then if victory comes, what do you do with the puppet the invaders have installed? What about your fellow citizens who have helped the enemy? Do you show unearned clemency or do you line up the guilty against a wall and shoot them? What happens if the one who collaborated is your son-in-law? Your friend? Comrade? Lover?

          People are not nearly as uncompromising in their beliefs and deadlocked in their peer groups as most on this forum believe. At some point, it just becomes deeply unpractical to be so.

          I think (most) learned people with ties to Eurasia ask themselves variants of these questions at least once. I think most will agree to less-than-ideal solutions with much-less-than-perfect individuals.

          This very much discourages the taking of "extreme" positions:
          you cannot on one hand, pursue a deal with someone and then on the other, say he is a mass murdering cannibal.
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          • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
            Originally Posted by socialentry View Post

            It can be argued that Hitler and Stalin are the most studied persons in history. It would be very unfair to historians to say we've heard only a story or two about them.
            We are not historians. Most of us, on nearly every subject, know only a smattering of knowledge. And that smattering of knowledge is assumed to be the whole picture. And that's why opinions are nearly always wrong.

            Opinions are based on incomplete knowledge. Otherwise, it would be knowledge, not opinion.

            In fact, all arguments I've ever heard were because at least one person (and usually both) have very incomplete understanding of whatever they are arguing about.

            And when we have an incomplete understanding, our imaginations fill in the spaces. And that's why we think we know something when we do not.

            Anyway, I don't disagree with the rest of your post, it's just beyond the scope of my point.

            But I think your post, and your last one makes a valid point about how some assumptions about people (or offers) are in reality much worse than originally thought, but can also be much better than originally thought. And I neglected to point that out.
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  • Profile picture of the author Odahh
    Originally Posted by tonyna View Post

    Hi Warriors,

    So I will love to hear from great entrepreneurs in the room.

    Have you ever battled with BSO and how did you overcome it?

    BSO and stripping myself of employee mindset are my two biggest challenges at the moment.

    How did you go about overcoming yours? Kindly share. Thank you
    here is the simple shift .. and it doesn't require stripping out beiefs or mindset .. just a little tweak in perspective .. as an employee ..you earn the highest wage you can .. and then live the lifestyle you can with what is left after taxes .

    now figure out the lifestyle you want .. and build a businesses that can shift as many of the costs of the lifestyle you want into legal business expenses ..that are uncurred to generate profits ..

    from earning a wage to making profits ..that the basic mindset shift ..

    as for shiney object syndrom..i move from one part of the country to the other every year or two ..so my personal effect are kept to what i can put into a suitcase or carry on..and once covid is handled around the world ..i want to move from country to country every six months to a year .. so the shiny objects i look at fit into that intent . but now im thinking a nice comfy live aboard yacht would be great for that
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  • Profile picture of the author Matthew Stanley
    .i want to move from country to country every six months to a year
    I need an Odahh travel blog
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    • Profile picture of the author Odahh
      Originally Posted by Matthew Stanley View Post

      I need an Odahh travel blog
      i go by the hangover as a nickname /public persona and will use what ever socia media to promote recipe book and eventually a spice company ..there is hundred of thousands of recipes that are easy to deliver in hard copy form ..and online in many different forms..

      so there is almost endless amount of content that can be produced ..

      thats the raw concept
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  • Profile picture of the author Serene Carmen
    Hi there

    I experienced BSO when I started. It's made worse by the fact that there is so much information available.

    I'm not sure it's a problem necessarily, if you are able to control what you act on. For me it meant when I started out I learnt about everything from dropshipping to starting a lead gen agency. This allowed my to choose what I wanted to focus in on, play to my strengths and figure out which I would enjoy the most.

    I find the easiest way, is to commit to only working on one thing at a time. Everytime you find another bright shiny object add it to a list, its a list you will get to later, once you've made what you're working on now work. Jumping around from one thing to another is one of the easiest ways to self-sabotage.
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  • Originally Posted by tonyna View Post

    Hi Warriors,

    BSO and stripping myself of employee mindset are my two biggest challenges at the moment.

    How did you go about overcoming yours? Kindly share. Thank you
    Unless you have someone else doing the work; you are the employee. And a pretty bad one by the looks of it.

    You are also the boss, right?

    You should fire your employee self.

    Or maybe fire your boss self for not creating the assignments for your employee self to work on.

    You want rid of BSO's and employee mindset. Maybe if you had an employee mindset, you wouldn't have time for BSO's. If you're a good employee that is.

    Here's the reality: You are a bad employee in your own business because you are a bad boss. If your employee self is all over the place, then obviously the boss has no idea what business he is in. It's the first thing you should fix.

    You get rid of BSO's when you have more important things to be working on, in the business that does ???????

    It's difficult enough to solve a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle with no picture on the box to guide you. Even more difficult when you are trying to solve it with pieces from many other shiny puzzles.

    Start with the picture. Then think about the pieces.
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    • Profile picture of the author tonyna
      Originally Posted by Declan O Flaherty View Post

      Unless you have someone else doing the work; you are the employee. And a pretty bad one by the looks of it.

      You are also the boss, right?

      You should fire your employee self.

      Or maybe fire your boss self for not creating the assignments for your employee self to work on.

      You want rid of BSO's and employee mindset. Maybe if you had an employee mindset, you wouldn't have time for BSO's. If you're a good employee that is.

      Here's the reality: You are a bad employee in your own business because you are a bad boss. If your employee self is all over the place, then obviously the boss has no idea what business he is in. It's the first thing you should fix.

      You get rid of BSO's when you have more important things to be working on, in the business that does ???????

      It's difficult enough to solve a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle with no picture on the box to guide you. Even more difficult when you are trying to solve it with pieces from many other shiny puzzles.

      Start with the picture. Then think about the pieces.
      Declan,

      Your words are like a refining fire, purifying the dross in me.

      Thank you for spilling it as it is and not holding back.

      I am going to be better for these words. Thank you so much Sir.
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  • Profile picture of the author Diego Aguirre
    I realized how little I had progressed with all the things I was doing.
    For example, I was mediocre at X and moved to Y (while still doing X) and was not really moving forward, then I saw people having success doing JUST X and then some others having success with JUST Y while I was so busy trying to do X, Y AND Z all at the same time... I decided to just focus in one thing and make all the possible mistakes in ONE thing.
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    • Profile picture of the author tonyna
      Originally Posted by Diego Aguirre View Post

      I realized how little I had progressed with all the things I was doing.
      For example, I was mediocre at X and moved to Y (while still doing X) and was not really moving forward, then I saw people having success doing JUST X and then some others having success with JUST Y while I was so busy trying to do X, Y AND Z all at the same time... I decided to just focus in one thing and make all the possible mistakes in ONE thing.
      Diego,

      You painted the perfect picture of what is happening to me right now.

      Hence, I have decided to strictly focus on X for now. The hard-hitting words and advice I have
      received has given me enough brain and mind reset.

      And I am truly grateful for all of you.
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  • As a princess, natchrly I got ishoos here.


    Best advice I gaht is: arrange yr bling so's it don't CLASH.
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    Lightin' fuses is for blowin' stuff togethah.

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  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    arrange yr bling so's it don't CLASH.
    Exactly! Sort out the bling in your box before you add to the collection.

    Too much 'stuff' is just trashy - you can't wear it all at once.


    Years ago I had a rule for myself - no buying of any new IM materials/products/'bling' until I had read/tested/used any and all products purchased the previous month. Stick to that and you'll save money.
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    My ducks are absolutely not in a row. I don't even know where some of them are...
    ...and I'm pretty sure one of them is a pigeon.
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    • Profile picture of the author Odahh
      Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

      Exactly! Sort out the bling in your box before you add to the collection.

      Too much 'stuff' is just trashy - you can't wear it all at once.


      Years ago I had a rule for myself - no buying of any new IM materials/products/'bling' until I had read/tested/used any and all products purchased the previous month. Stick to that and you'll save money.
      i think i have bought 10 IM product in the last 10 years ..and those where products endorsed by people i was watching on YouTube ..

      i focus more on digital marketing/e-commerce than the Information Marketing/internet marketing stuff ..how people sell real products ..or develop audiences that they monetize ..and that audience monitiztion thing is what the gurus in IM do to make their money .

      as for bright shiny object syndrome ..in that stage people are consuming content to feed a dream ..and get what they want from that dream ..and that is fine ..90 percent of Imers who make a living in IM would be unable to earn that living without this group..yet the desire to abuse and insult publicly is astonishing
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    • Profile picture of the author Diego Aguirre
      no buying of any new IM materials/products/'bling' until I had read/tested/used any and all products purchased the previous month. Stick to that and you'll save money.
      That's exactly what I also did
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  • Profile picture of the author Chrissy777
    (mod edit to remove quote)

    Hi Tonyna,

    I know exactly what you mean, I suffered from it for a very long time! I would start something and then some new product would come along promising the world, so I went on to that one! The persuasive copy got the best of me many times. Time and time again I was disappointed!

    My breakthrough came when I realised there is no 'quick fix', you have to put in the work, and focus just on one thing, something that's been proved to work, and be consistent, and work at it until you are successful!

    Good Luck.
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  • Profile picture of the author SBR
    This was something I battled with at the beginning a lot. The reveal of something new, the promise of a "change your life" opportunity etc. However, something I came to realise later was that no matter how good the opportunity and how well it is presented, there is a common underlying theme to all of them.....they all require extra investment and time.

    Investment into tools/resources in addition to the price of the shiny object itself and also above all, investment of your time to learn something new.

    So logic kicks in, simple questions come into play. If I have bought 5 shiny things already and each has required me to spend more time learning, re-learning and spending more money on new specific tools/resources to make each shiny object work, is the next shiny object going to require me to do the same? Answer: YES.

    How valuable is your time? Can you you really afford it? Did you follow all instructions and do everything to make the previous shiny objects work? If so, why are you looking at another (there are only so many hours in a day)?

    I guess what I'm saying is just stick to one thing and make it work. Too many people get distracted too easily, hop from one thing to the other, get information overload and end up not moving on anything. As a result, you feel what you purchased didn't work so you look for the next shiny object that will "get you results super quick" to make up for the time you felt you've wasted on the other shiny objects you didn't make work.

    A good rule of thumb to follow is to stick with something for 30 days (60 days max.), if after that you don't see the results you're looking for then you can probably say it doesn't work only if you've followed all instructions and done everything asked.

    If something new presents itself to you always remember no matter what it is, it's going to need investment on top of the upfront price you pay as well as investment of your time aswell. Unfortunately, there are no quick button shortcuts or quick push button solutions out there - they don't exist.

    Be laser focused, stick to one thing and make it work, keep the 30 day rule in mind and ask yourself the next time you see the next shiny object do you really want to take on extra costs, are you prepared to invest more money and invest more of your time into something new? - Because if you do buy that new shiny object, that's exactly what you'll have to do!
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  • Profile picture of the author DougBarger
    Tonyna,

    I am certified as a business success coach just so you know that I am qualified to provide you professional advice on this topic.

    Get clear on your mission. Get it refined down to a mission statement. Get clear on your values. Once you're clear on your mission in alignment with your values you can do an inventory at any given moment . Ask yourself if what you're doing is taking you closer to your goal that is in alignment with your overall business objectives. If the answer is no, then don't waste any more time on it. If the answer is yes, then you can keep doing it.

    After some practice, you'll develop this kind of focus like a skill that will serve you well for the rest of your life. This one simple exercise automatically allows you to overcome both bright shiny object syndrome and the employee mindset simultaneously.

    Enjoy!
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    => Stay tuned...

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  • Profile picture of the author Wizardofwisdom
    Originally Posted by tonyna View Post

    Hi Warriors,

    So I will love to hear from great entrepreneurs in the room.

    Have you ever battled with BSO and how did you overcome it?

    BSO and stripping myself of employee mindset are my two biggest challenges at the moment.

    How did you go about overcoming yours? Kindly share. Thank you
    It's a great question - and thanks for your candour in asking it.

    It seems to me that what those two issues have in common, if I may say so, are struggles with self belief.

    I bought hundreds of BSO's at one time, (not all at once!) and eventually realised that my thought process behind the behaviour was that I didn't believe that I was good enough or knew enough or had whatever I though it took to make it online. (I'm currently on track for my first 6 figure year, so I can say with confidence and pride that I'm over it!)

    I did the same with the day job. I almost let it kill me - mentally as well as physically - before finally letting go. Again, the thought process was, "But what if I don't make it on my own?"

    You absolutely can - and you can stop wasting your time and money on things that are just excuses to procrastinate ... which in the end will eat up your life! Procrastination is the cancer of time!



    Hope that helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author CruxisKnight
    You overcome it by continuing to keep learning until everything is a repetition to you. To me Shiny Object Syndrome is a stage that everyone goes through. Because everyone goes through the beginner stage. Everyone. And as a beginner you see everything new as a shiny object. So keep learning and don't give up.
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  • Profile picture of the author Haroon Ballim
    Shiny Object syndrome is almost a certainty when initially getting involved in Internet Marketing . Sometimes it can go on for years .


    The best way I think to avoid Shiny Object Syndrome is to focus on one particular area that you would like to specialize in and keep your focus . You will get better and better all the time .


    Sellers will always try to entice you to buy their product with great copy . the copy often being far better than the actual product . Ignore the scarcity that sellers like to create . Buy only if you really need it at the time . Not thjis could be something I could use in the future . That only leads to taking up space on your computer .


    Focus on your speciality and Become a seller not a buyer
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  • Profile picture of the author Mr Blip
    Just face it and don't panic. Always stay uplifted, we don't have much time on this planet left.
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  • Profile picture of the author TobiMDD
    I simply bought all these shiny objects, hated the vendors, hated myself for being such a stupid piece of sh** and well here I am. I learned from it.



    This is how i freed myself from the vicious circle..


    I guess the biggest shift comes when you are ready to accept that you have to work for it no matter what any hyped up sales page promises to you..
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