You have heard of Shiny Object Syndrome (SOS) right? The inability to focus on one task, having 10 irons in 12 fires. The two extra fires are always burning just in case you find extra irons laying around. Well — I have been told I suffer from it (by myself to myself yes…but doesn’t make the diagnosis any less worrisome), and been told it had no cure — but I tried to create one anyway.
Do you suffer from SOS as well? Maybe it can help you too.
The Symptoms
Do you find yourself suffering from any of these?
- Decision paralysis — “Sure I could spend time learning Spanish, but then I won’t be able to learn French!”
- Task switching — “I am going to learn the harmonica.” Turns out it takes time. “I took piano lessons as a kid, I think I will try that instead.”
- Bargaining — “As soon as I get caught up with work, I will make time to shop and eat healthy.”
My SOS flares up with #3 the most.
It has been a crazy week at work. I will have more time to work on my own projects next week.
The Diagnosis
Skip if you suffer from any of the symptoms above, or are already self-diagnosed with SOS.
Unfortunately, only you know if Shiny Object Syndrome is affecting your life. Do you have a ton of half finished projects lying around waiting to be completed? Be honest with yourself. How many things do you have in your mind that you want to do, but just can’t make the time for, or keep getting replaced by some new commitment. How long have you had that idea in your head that has never been made real or acted on?
My SOS was finally self-diagnosed after I realized I had 14 domain names, all with their own specific plans for a website/web app, and 2 of them had code deployed to them. 2!
The Cure
SOS is self-inflicted, self-diagnosed but luckily also self-cured.
The cure I have found for myself has been two elusive ingredients — consistency and accountability. And I bet yours will be same.
I am a developer and so naturally I went looking for these things in software and when I didn’t find them, decided to bring them in myself. What resulted was my two ingredient tonic called Chirty.
Work for consistency.
For you, it can be something totally different. But you need some way to choose one thing, and once you have decided on it, don’t change it. What I decided to do was commit for 30 days to doing that one thing, then I could change it after, but I absolutely had to stay on whatever I chose until the 30 days was up.
Hold yourself accountable.
You need a way to evaluate if you really are staying consistently focused. What I have noticed creating these streaks on Chirty, is that I am not nearly as consistent as I thought I was. The image above is from my most recent streak, and at day 3 I had already missed a day.
Even though it hurts, to force myself to focus on one idea and especially see how bad I am at it at the end of 30 days, it has been the best way I have countered my SOS. The web app above is live at Chirty.io and using the software was the main reason that happened.
Perhaps it has cured my Shiny Object Syndrome. Perhaps it can help you with yours.
