In search of shiny new silver objects

So many people seem to be looking for a shortcut in business — the next new marketing technique, the new app or the new growth methodology etc.
As soon as one quick fix fad fades another takes its place.
There are more top tips than anyone has time to read, view or learn.
But that doesn’t stop people latching onto the next shiny new silver bullet.
Of course, you have to ask the question with all the shiny new silver bullets on the market why are there not tens of thousands of hugely successful high growth businesses and highly productive entrepreneurs running them?
That’s because they don’t work & I know because I have tried l loads of them
I have tried personal productivity tools and approaches, business growth frameworks etc. I have bought books, e-books, video guides, templates, courses…
Yes, there’s always some value that comes from taking on anything new. But never to the level of the need or the promise.
Why is that?
I decided to research my own thinking and motivations when I take on a new approach and also why I failed to get the full benefits.
The answers were interesting and more complex than I thought. My key learnings were:
- Bridging the knowing-doing gap
- Consume less and do more
- Don’t be a victim of your robot brain
- Its never just one thing
- There’s nothing really new it is just shinier
and finally the real truth — there are no shortcuts
Bridging the knowing-doing gap
I’m guilty of this and I know that many other business folks are in the same boat. We get access to the books, courses, videos. We consume the vigorously and we imagine how better the business will be….and then nothing happens.
People intuitively know what needs to be done in most cases. Many of the issues in business are fairly straightforward — need more sales, need more profitable sales, need new customers, need to engage people etc…
But the doing still doesn’t get done.
So what reasons (or excuses) did I give myself:
- Need to research other approaches
- Need to get the perfect circumstances in place (right time, people, budget etc etc)
- Need all the right information
- Before I do this I need to this other thing
- Not able to engage others in the need for this activity
- This will be next quarters big project…the quarter after that….
It’s really just procrastination.
I realise, with hindsight, that I was absolutely brilliant at post-rationalisation — I had the best ”I didn’t because” repertoire. If I really wanted to trump any reason for not doing anything I could roll out the “I’m a perfectionist..”.
If it was that important it would get done. But the promises to myself are not enough to make things happen. I actually had to physically do something, even 1 small steps was often enough momentum.
Consume less do more
I couldn’t help myself, “Just one more youtube video and then I will have this nailed”, I would convince myself that this was real work not goofing around.
Oh and that Facebook ad that’s talking directly to me about a new way of getting more clients would be a great addition to what I learned about building a personal brand and what I’m learning about not taking no for answer……
So much to learn and no time to actually do anything.
Get back to basics, consume less and get things done — I ended up learning more by doing something that I ever did from constant ‘learning based procrastination’.
I’m not saying don’t spend time learning, the lesson for me was to ensure that what you learn directly deals with solving as a problem and then apply the learning -take action, apply the learning.
So now when I’m doing any form of reading, learning etc I keep a ‘learn to action’ log which keeps me honest in what am I actually going to do with what I am learning.
Don’t be a victim of your robot brain
The search for shortcuts is natural. Our brains are wired to look for energy-saving opportunities.
I realised that my search for a holy grail was a way of not having to think through a problem — I knew what the problem was I just wanted the solution. No thinking required!
Ugh, how dumb!!
I realised that for every shortcut I looked for I couldn’t get fully engaged in the implementation. The reason being I hadn’t really thought through the issues, options etc — I found when I had ‘owned’ the solution I was far more effective in getting things done and getting others onboard.
It was almost as if when I took the part-baked silver bullet I was expecting this to carry forward the conviction that it was the right thing to do. Rather than looking into the issue and working through problems, the pros and cons and developing the solution based on clearer thinking.
It’s too easy to assume that someone else’s ideas will be a perfect alternative for your own thinking.
The other brain paradox here is that the robot brain will feel pretty pleased with itself that it’s saved all that thinking, plus new learning will give your brain’s reward mechanism a positive hit — all this sabotages you owning your own solution.
It’s never just one thing
This was a key learning for me — that however good the silver bullet looked it wouldn’t cover everything that needed doing.
I learned, a bit like the robot brain point above, that you need to look systemically at issues/opportunities. It’s oversimplistic to think that putting videos on youtube (however good they are) will be the single answer to your digital marketing goals; getting the best to do app for your phone will not solve your productivity issues.
For example I realised for me that I had poor personal productivity practices and I always thought the new app would help — it never did — I needed to be clear that I had everything I’d committed to captured; I needed to know what was important; I needed to not multi-task; I needed to block off distractions — none of this had anything to do with an app
Can you think of any situation where your solution just didn’t cover all the bases that you needed for a good implementation?
Again this is why thinking through issues and ensuring that all bases are covered is far more effective than a piecemeal implementation of the latest and greatest fad.
There’s nothing really new they are just shinier
There’s a lot of material that is in reality re-packaging of advice. It’s just shinier than the old advice — it may now be a 12 part online course rather than a book. The essence is still the same. So you need to be very focused on what you need to look at. Again I would say I probably knew the answer I was just plain lazy looking for something that would get me there without having to think too hard.
So what have I learned through all this:
- There are no shortcuts
- If it’s important enough, own it and think it through; its hard but worth it
- Do more consume less
- Learn and apply in real life
- Above all keep moving forward
