shiny objects | David M Masters

Mastering Focus: The Key to Unlocking Success, and Abundance

In the pursuit of success and abundance, the ability to maintain focus emerges as a fundamental cornerstone. Let’s examine the detrimental impact of distractions, the power of focus in achieving goals, and practical strategies for cultivating this essential mindset. Supported by real-world examples and psychological insights, we delve into the transformative potential of honing one’s focus.

The Pitfalls of Bright Shiny Objects:

Bright, shiny objects or distractions often distract individuals from their path to success. Despite possessing various essential traits, the article posits that focus is the driving force behind them all. Real-world examples, such as the experiences of successful entrepreneurs, underscore the impact of focus in navigating challenges and achieving remarkable outcomes.

The Fear of Success:

Contrary to the widely acknowledged fear of failure, the fear of success is a powerful and subtle force that operates beneath the surface. Many individuals unknowingly grapple with this fear, preventing them from reaching their full potential. Understanding the fear of success requires delving into the comfort zones people construct throughout their lives.

Comfort Zones and Resistance to Change:

Individuals naturally seek comfort and familiarity in their lives, establishing routines, income levels, and social circles. The fear of success arises when the prospect of leaving this established comfort zone becomes daunting. The article highlights how ingrained habits and lifestyles create resistance to change, hindering personal and professional progress.

Procrastination as a Sabotaging Mechanism:

Procrastination often serves as a self-sabotaging mechanism fueled by the fear of success. Individuals may find themselves distracted and delaying crucial tasks, ultimately hindering their progress. The article draws attention to the paradox where individuals desiring success inadvertently sabotage their journey by succumbing to procrastination.

The Power of Unconscious Fears:

The fear of success operates at a subconscious level, making it a formidable obstacle to overcome. Many people remain unaware of this fear, complicating efforts to address and conquer it. The article underscores the significance of awareness, acknowledging that half or more of the battle lies in recognizing the hidden fears that impede personal and professional growth.

Rooting Out the Fear:

To combat the fear of success, the article advocates for heightened self-awareness. Individuals are encouraged to identify and confront the subconscious barriers that prevent them from embracing success. By recognizing success-related fears, individuals can dismantle the mental roadblocks and pave the way for transformative personal and professional development.

Identifying Long-Desired Goals:

Take a moment to reflect on what you have yearned to do or learn for an extended period. Whether it’s acquiring a new skill, pursuing a hobby, or mastering a particular subject, this exercise encourages individuals to delve into their aspirations that have lingered in the background.

Examples:

Learning a Musical Instrument: Perhaps you’ve always wanted to play a musical instrument, such as the guitar or piano. Despite the desire, the lack of focused effort might have hindered progress in acquiring this skill.

Mastering a Programming Language: For those intrigued by the world of technology, mastering a programming language could be a longstanding goal. The exercise prompts individuals to consider whether the lack of focused learning has been a barrier to achieving proficiency.

Learning a New Language: Many individuals aspire to become fluent in a new language. However, the absence of concentrated effort in language learning may have impeded progress.

The Power of Focus:

The exercise emphasizes that the inability to accomplish these desires is not due to inherent limitations but rather a lack of focused dedication. By redirecting attention and energy toward specific goals, individuals can unlock the potential to achieve remarkable outcomes in surprisingly brief timeframes.

Data and Supporting Evidence:

Research indicates that focused learning enhances skill acquisition and proficiency. Studies have shown that concentrated efforts on a single task or goal lead to more effective learning outcomes.

Moreover, successful individuals often attribute their achievements to unwavering focus on their goals. Examples include entrepreneurs who mastered a specific skill through dedicated focus, demonstrating the correlation between concentration and success.

The Need for Strategic Time Management:

In the hustle and bustle of daily life, assessing how time is allocated can be a revelatory exercise. This reflection brings attention to the often unnoticed moments spent on non-contributory tasks, urging individuals to consider the impact on their progress, success, and overall income. Examining this phenomenon unveils the necessity for strategic time management to enhance productivity and achieve meaningful outcomes.

Uncovering Time-Consuming Habits:

This exercise prompts individuals to introspect and evaluate the daily activities that may not contribute significantly to personal or professional advancement. Common culprits include:

Excessive email checking.
Extended Skype conversations.
Scrolling through social media feeds.
Indulging in humorous videos.

While these activities may offer short-term entertainment, they can become significant time sinks, hindering overall productivity.

Examples:

Social Media Engagement: Studies show that the average person spends a substantial amount of time on social media platforms daily, with the potential for it to impact productivity negatively (Reference: Insert relevant study on social media usage and productivity).

Email Overload: Excessive email checking and prolonged engagement in email correspondence have been linked to decreased productivity in various professional settings (Reference: Insert relevant study on email-related productivity challenges).

The Toll on Overall Achievement:

Continual engagement in non-contributory activities throughout the day has a cumulative effect, resulting in exhaustion and minimal accomplishment by the day’s end. The prevalence of these habits can impede personal and professional progress, ultimately hindering success.

Data and Supporting Evidence:

Studies on time management consistently emphasize the importance of focusing on tasks that contribute to long-term goals. Research indicates that strategic allocation of time to meaningful activities enhances overall productivity (Reference: Insert relevant study on time management and productivity).

The concept of accountability further reinforces the need for strategic time management. Engaging with an accountability partner has been proven effective in maintaining focus and achieving specific tasks within set deadlines.

The Time Audit: Evaluating Productivity:

Conduct a time audit, tracking daily activities contributing to progress, success, and income. Note your tendency to engage in unproductive tasks like checking emails or browsing social media. Be more accountable to yourself and, consider an accountability partner, focus on tasks that genuinely propel you forward.

Have I Got a Deal for You…

You know what I’m talking about… You’re working along, building your business, following your path, executing your mission, doing your thing, and all of a sudden you run across an inspiring individual who presents you with the deal of the century, as he says,

“Have I got a deal for you…”

Oh, this deal is so great, a real ground floor opportunity. You’re presented with “facts and figures” mixed with optimistic speculation, and it sounds like such a good deal. You’re reminded of all the rags to riches stories you’ve heard throughout your life, and you’ve though, “If only I’d been in the right place, at the right time.”

The pitchman assures you, “This is your chance to hit the big time, all in one fail swoop.”

You think about how hard you’re working, how diligent and faithful you’ve been to your own project, and sometimes, you must admit, it’s seems more like work than you thought it would be when you first signed on.”

If this opportunity worked out, it needn’t require all of your focus. You could just basically dabble in it for a while and use the financial windfall to fund your real project, pay for what you need to get to the next level, or answer your true calling.

Plus, you’ve made sacrifices. Sacrifices who have also cost those around you, the people you care about. You’ve been working late hours, not taken high quality vacations, or spent the kind of time you’d like to with family and friends.

This opportunity would make the world right; and it only costs $X.xx amount to get started. Not unlike any of the headlines of stories you’ve heard about others who made a modest investment, taking a chance on something unfamiliar to them, and they became rich beyond their wildest dreams.

If your payroll was $27,000 and all you had was $5,000, would you withdraw the $5K and risk it in an all-or-nothing gamble in Vegas? (Okay, maybe not a good example, because Fred Smith did that, and ended up saving a young FedEx from extinction.)

I know, you’ve heard a multitude of lucky gambles, and you might try something that bold, and end up losing it all.

This is nothing new, people following their path, diligently doing the work to build their thing, being faithful and earnest, often suffer from Shiny Object Syndrome, with the hope that some miracle will help them enjoy the fruits of their labor, without all the labor.

There’s nothing wrong with being involved in more than one project at a time. In fact, it’s one of the best ways to build your holdings exponentially. Keep in mind though that for those who have done so successfully, proceed with caution in succession. That means they,

Get One Done

They complete one project, and get it to a place where it is self-sustainable, then consider adding another project or property.

If you do not do this, it may be the death-blow to your otherwise successful career.

We all love entertaining the idea of shiny objects, or imagining how the grass may be greener on the other side of the fence, and there is no doubt that spreading your investments over a wide range of cyclical investments can add incredible stability to your organization and increase your efforts exponentially. But you can’t put the cart in front of the horse and expect a prudent outcome.

Your horse is what you’re tending to now. Take care of your horse until it is healthy and able to be profitable enough to cover its own expenses, caretaker and vet bills. Then, you can think about taking on another horse, creating, inventing, or investing in something “shiny” to add to your holdings.

You will get many opportunities presented by folks taunting, “Have I got a deal for you…” Thank them for sharing, and stay focused on your dream. Don’t put your dream at risk by being distracted by other opportunities that might end up in the loss of everything you’ve work for.

You got this.

Shiny Objects Everywhere

Ever get distracted by shiny objects? Those things that are newer, better things or processes that garner your attention with their sheer brilliance, clever packaging, advertising or have the possibility of garnering the support and love from your family and/or peers are indeed so shiny.

They immediately distract you and pull on strings deep inside you and you imagine how magnificent it would be, “if I only had” that, or one of those, then my life (family, or business) would be complete.

Only, more often than not, the shiny object does not meet your expectations of fulfillment following obtaining the thing you sincerely desired and believed it would help you to achieve the sought after feeling. So, the search is on for the next thing.

This not only applies to products, but relationships, education, programs, services, technology, social networks, investment and business opportunities. You can find shiny objects in any segment of your life and in most cases, the shiny object is a distraction, interrupting your otherwise focused progress in your life.

Because, let’s face it, even if you have the best (insert anything) once you get used to it, you start looking for something else a bit shinier.

It’s never more apparent in our society in relationships which have become somewhat disposable due to the social impact of the acceptance of the idea of disposing of something old (or has lost its sheen) and replacing it with something new is actually a good thing. Certainly, it makes sense from a profit standpoint, because in most circumstances transitioning in relationships creates additional cash-flow supporting our economy.

As it occurs to you, you might think, “Oh, so it’s a profit deal.”
Pretty much, that’s the truth. We owe a debt to the economy for encourage the deterioration of the family unit as well as other relationships, personal and in business.

And if you think it’s easy to abandon a relationship when it gets boring as you seek an alternative, think about how much more difficult it is to stay focused on a particular business interest, especially if you’re starting from ground zero.

That’s why most new businesses fail in the first one-to-three years. Two-thirds of the entrepreneurs throw in the towel and never try again, because the whole affair was a bust, leading to a lack of self-confidence, as they find safety and security restrained to their more convenient everyday life, yet always wondering, “What if…” things had gone differently?

Then there’s the other third of the former business owners who are endlessly in pursuit of the next new thing. They are often distracted by shiny objects in business opportunities, programs or systems, even prior to successfully completing the projects at hand. We call them serial entrepreneurs.

On and on it goes for them, one thing after another, never finishing one thing and they’re off to the next. Although this is an inefficient method of business building, unfortunately one percent of serial entrepreneurs breaks through (even if accidentally) and makes a fortune.

This success story spreads through the serial entrepreneurial community quickly, encouraging the remaining seekers to increase their shiny object pursuits even more. The energy created from the success of the one percent that it even attracts otherwise healthy business owners (as well as people who have never even thought of starting a business) to start looking for shiny objects too.

A shiny object can be a tool, or a destructive distraction.

Think about taking a little extra time and thought prior to jumping ship, or investing in your next shiny object and ask yourself,

“Does this support my highest and best?”

If you have a clear set of defined goals, you can use this list to quickly qualify any shiny object.

Will it be a tool?

Will it be a destructive distraction?

Stay on track and don’t count yourself as one of the accidental one percent, instead purposefully honor your purpose and mission, so that when you’ve become a member of the one percent, you know you can rest assured, it was no accident and your success is honorable and well deserved.