Is Your Problem Lack of Ideas or Lack of Commitment?

How Constant Information Scanning and ‘Foraging’ Affects Our Attention and Gets in the Way of Our Long-Term Goals.

You are not an island.

Ok, so maybe you are, but most of us are not.

We like to think we are the masters of our fate, but the reality is our environment has a tremendous impact on what we think and how we behave.

Most of us are highly adaptive, which is great — most of the time. But at the same time, it gets us into trouble.

We react more than we create.

Foraging

We constantly check the pulse of the world around us. Well, at least most of us do.

We watch trends, try to predict the next moves, and manipulate the future.

Become like an index fund.

If you’re into investing, you might have heard that in a longer time frame, boring index funds tend to outperform active trading.

Sure, some people will make great decisions some of the time, but they are just as likely to make enough bad decisions to offset the good ones.

Investing in ‘averages’ may not sound very sexy, but that is where the magic is: it takes a lot of human nature out of the equation.

And while it’s great to be a human, it’s got its downsides.

We want to be rational but are also emotional, and our emotions often cloud our judgment.

We are prone to many biases, such as sunk cost fallacy. There is also an opportunity cost involved.

It’s not easy navigating life among conflicting opinions and desires.

We suffer from FOMO; we don’t want to miss the boat, so we half-heartedly work on one thing while always scanning for something potentially better.

And as soon as we find something promising, we either start second-guessing what we are working on or ditch it entirely and go after the new (shiny) thing.

We constantly tweak our Twitter bios to match our newest interests; we let the likes decide what we work on.

We let the trends pull our strings. But that’s hardly leadership.

Creating meaningful things takes time.

Maybe you have an idea that you want to work on. You do it for some time, but it doesn’t seem to resonate with other people.

And since ‘building in public’ is all the rage now, you may be highly influenced by what others like and think.

It’s human nature to keep scanning our environment for better opportunities. While most of what we see is merely a distraction, sometimes there are real opportunities buried in the noise.

So, how to live life?

How to stay engaged in our pursuits, work on something consistently over a long period, and at the same time not miss out on too much of the new stuff?

It’s a balancing act, for sure.

Here’s my take:

Let’s get married!

Compartmentalize things. Designate some time and space for what you find important. Make sure you have a solid WHY, aligned with your values, behind your plan- date some ideas first, before you say “I do” to one. You want to listen to your intuition, your gut feeling. You want to feel something.

When you find something that you care about, don’t overthink it too much. There’s just no way of knowing before you test the waters.

This is your long-term commitment. When things don’t work — you have to. Instead of looking for a new, more promising thing, ask yourself why things are the way they are. Remember that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, you still need to mow it, and there might be moles ready to pop up.

Box it.

Set a time frame to explore things, and give the seeds a chance to sprout and root. Things take what they take, and us rushing them won’t help. It’s better to temporarily suspend your judgment and stop second-guessing your every move.

We tend to underestimate the time and effort needed to create something of value.

When you set your expectations right, you will be less prone to feel discouraged.

When you read that building is easy, and you can start making money online in 3 months, take it with a good pinch of salt.

Set your expectations right.

Is it possible for some? Sure. Is it likely? I don’t think so.

The problem is that when you get your information from social media, you only tend to see those who did make it, not those who didn’t.

Success draws attention, while ‘failure’ sneaks out of the room unnoticed.

When you understand that it is more likely to take much longer, say 2 years instead of 2 months, you will set your expectations accordingly and pace yourself better.

We are bombarded with stuff like “Spanish in 3 months” or “abs of steel in 6 weeks”, and then you compare it to where you are and feel like a failure.

When you hear someone say things that are almost too good to be true, ask yourself: how are they benefitting from saying that?

Decide on how much you want to invest.

There is a lot of wanting going on around us, but I suggest you start with your budget.

How much time and effort are you willing to invest in your project even if it doesn’t pan out?

Think of it as your casino money: you may win big, but you may lose all of it.

You don’t want to gamble with your kid’s college fund. But beer money? Why not.

There’s less pressure that way, and you will be less reactive.

The downside, however, may be less focus and less motivation, but if you manufacture some healthy deadlines and challenges (spicing up your marriage), you should do just fine.

Innocent flirt.

You may have a healthy marriage, but it doesn’t mean you won’t notice other people. And some of them will be very attractive.

It’s the same with your long-term projects.

Just remember that ‘opportunity makes the thief,’ and out of sight, out of mind, really is a safer option than constant self-control.

If you want to stay on track, it’s best to limit all the constant info grazing and foraging. It’s mostly empty calories, anyways.

Ebbs and flows.

It’s not easy to commit to something these days, given all the noise, options, and choices we need to make.

And even when you do commit, you will have some ups and downs along the way. It’s perfectly normal to feel discouraged sometimes.

When that happens, be kind to the human in you. Think about it as an opportunity for growth.