Choosing what to Pursue

Want to get into a VC firm, be a travel vlogger, launch your own start-up, AND create an inclusive online community? Let me be the first to crush your dreams. You can’t.

Well, not all at once anyway. This is by no means a challenge, so don’t try to do it all just to prove me wrong. What I’m trying to say is we all have big dreams and most of us get inspired or carried away by the new cool thing on the block. What you have my friend is the Shiny Object Syndrome.

Shiny object syndrome (SOS) is a continual state of distraction brought on by an ongoing belief that there is something new worth pursuing. It often comes at the expense of what's already planned or underway. It's rooted in that childhood phenomenon of always wanting a new toy, even if your current toy is just fine.

source: ProductPlan.com

So which one do you decide on? They all sound so cool and are things you want to do at some point! In fact, you’ve even started working on quite a few of them but get distracted and then how do you stay focused?

First thing you need to know is there’s no right answer. You will not go wrong either way. But it’s mentally much harder than that. Mentally, you feel like you’re missing out because once you’ve started working on one thing, the other ideas seem a lot more exciting. So what I’m going to tell you is simple: you need to pick something and in your heart be happy with that decision. There are steps to it of course:

1. Write down each one of your goals

2. Write down why you want each of the goals

3. Rate them on a scale of 1-10 on the different aspects you consider important.

   1. For me, those are: fulfillment, people’s energy, time consumption, and monetary earnings

4. Average out your 4 numbers and pick the one that’s the highest in value

5. If there are two that come out to be the same, take time to re-evaluate: why do you want to pursue each one. As you’re writing this paragraph, keep in mind how you feel.

6. Pick the one your gut tells you to. Don’t overthink it.

7. Trust your gut and circle down your reasoning, star it, sticky note it, write it in your notes app, add it to your calendar.

8. Now create a ‘distractions to avoid’ list and write down all the other options you were considering under this section. Moving forward, you will not look at anything related to these items.

If you’re anything like me, some of these options will keep coming back to you or worse: you’ll learn about new options that you want to pursue instead. Go back to your why and keep yourself aligned with your mission. When these options come up, add them to the same list of ‘distractions to avoid’.

A few reminders:

• There’s no right choice

• You’re not saying no to these options forever, just for the foreseeable future. It’s okay to let go.

One important note & caveat I want to add is this: evaluate where you’re headed every 6 months. If your current track isn’t satisfying the scales you created initially and you are no longer feeling energized, excited, or fulfilled, it’s time to look at your list of options again. Please only do this every 6 months and not every week.

From here onward, there will be a much harder task which is to stay focused & disciplined in the choice you made while at the same time being happy with your decision. I’ll write a bit more about that in a later section 😊

Always feel free to message me if you’re stuck between options. Happy to guide you through some self-reflective questions!