How Shiny Object Syndrome is KILLING Your Potential!

Hey Friend!

Is Shiny Object Syndrome KILLING Your Potential, Your Success, & Keeping You From Growing Your business? Today we are going to go deep into eliminating these distractions to make sure you can stay on top of your game as an online entrepreneur.

Listen to me step on my soapbox and school you on why this has to stop, how to stop, and what to do so that you stay laser-focused on your business, niche, and who you serve. The secrets to how I beat shiny object syndrome and never looked back.

I pray this blesses you!

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION:

(00:00):
Hey friends. Welcome to this super quick, super fun, very necessary bonus episode today, where I’m going to give you some tough love. In the past 72 hours, I have heard from three of my clients that they are dealing with shiny object syndrome.

(00:23):
They’ve been like, Stef set us straight. We just want to do all the things we want to follow all the coaches. We want to talk about all the things and you got to help us help ourselves. So I figured why not do it here? Because if three of my clients are dealing with this, maybe you are too shiny.

Object syndrome be gone. We’re going to have a word today about focus, intentionality, why we cannot let shiny objects syndrome disease infect us. How to make sure that it doesn’t.

(00:56):
And if you have it, if you’ve caught it, how you can remedy that ASAP.

(02:47):
So here y’all are trying to grow a business hanging out in quarantine. You’re probably on the old IG a little bit too much, listening to podcasts, and in this high consumption arena of life when you’re trying to build and make our businesses profitable or scale them. Correct? Are you nodding? Yes.

(03:21):
So you are consuming, trying to learn. You’re Googling. You’re finding different coaches that are helpful, and you’re putting all of these ideas into your mind. And you know what? I think that that’s okay for a while so that you can learn, but there comes a point where you have to discern what you’re actually going to do, and then you’ve got to stick with it and you have to stop looking up. You have to stop.

(03:48):
If you guys stay in this heavy consumption all the time, it’s just distracting you from ever actually making progress. That’s what shiny object syndrome is. It’s actually a disease of distraction. Okay? The definition from entrepreneur.com. Shiny object syndrome at its core is a disease of distraction and it affects entrepreneurs specifically because of the qualities that make them unique.

(04:20):
Entrepreneurs tend to be highly motivated, right? They’re not afraid of new projects. They’re like a small child chasing after shiny objects. They lose interest, start chasing the next thing. Okay?

So this could be whatever. The next podcast episode that literally has nothing to do with your avatar. This could be a new freebie, another program, course, a coach that you’re hiring, or changing up your IG layout for the hundredth time.

(05:01):
I just started doing that. So, you know, no hate, no shade. But you guys get what I’m saying right now. Do you feel me? You are so easily distracted and you don’t even recognize or realize that instead of growing your business, you’re diluting it. Instead of actually making progress. You’re starting over every couple of weeks because you’re starting with something new and different.

(05:31):
You’re never actually going to have success and make money in your business because you’re confusing your avatar. Every time you open your mouth, you got something new. You’re going in a different direction and all over the dang place. Is anybody raising their hand right now?

(05:52):
Please know, you’re not alone. Know that 99% of entrepreneurs, at some point in our transition into “success” we have faced or are currently dealing with this shiny object syndrome disease. So you are not alone.

(06:12):
The first thing we have to start with, okay, let me start here is I first want to give you permission. Okay. The number one thing we have to do is know that we do have permission to learn. I’m not saying that we should never try something new or different, but what I am saying is that you have to have a very focused mentality.

When you head out into the interwebs. When you go out looking for the next best coach, when you go out and start consuming all the different podcasts from all the different people, you have to be intentional about it.

(06:49):
Because in the day and age that we live in, we are ADD. All of us. We have the kids and the, this and the that, and we’re cooking and we’re doing, and we’re learning. We are not intentionally praying over the choices that we’re making on a daily basis, let alone in our businesses.

(07:10):
So let’s just stop. Okay? So here we go. Here’s what we’re going to do. We are going to stop and we are going to start all together from one place. You ready? This place is Lola.

(07:29):
Now, if you guys are new around here, who is Lola, Stefanie? Lola is my avatar. You guys are my Lola. What does that mean? Well, gosh, Lola is aspiring to grow this passive business online. She’s interested in podcasting or she’s a beginner podcaster. She wants to have passive income fueling her business.

She wants to create courses. She’s probably dabbling in coaching, which means she needs the resources to help manage her time. Still be a present, faith-fueled mama and wifey. She needs to understand online marketing. Okay.

(08:08):
Then she needs to get out of her own flipping away. Cause Lola, a lot of the times is her own worst enemy. She’s overthinking. She’s analysis paralysis. She be the queen of shiny object syndrome. Okay.

(08:23):
So that is my avatar. Because I know her so exceptionally well, like I get you guys so much. I have been you. I’m in your brain. I talked to you guys in my groups every day. I’m in the DMs with you guys every day. I’ve worked with hundreds of clients at this point. I know what you guys are struggling with. I get it.

(08:47):
So when I go out to create content for you, that’s where I start. Hear me. This is where I start from you, Lola. So what I want you guys to do is get back to grassroots in your business right now. Turn off all the people that are infusing new information, new ideas, all the shiny things into what you should be doing. Get back to grassroots. Start with your Lola.

(09:21):
Who is your avatar at the core? What are her highest pain points? What do you think they are? If you only have one person following you, great, go ask that person. What’s going on with you Boo Boo? How can I help you? Serve you? What do you need from me?

(09:37):
Then you start to create content for Lola. Don’t look up, guys. What does this mean? This means when I create, I was asked by three of my clients to help them with shiny object syndrome in the last 72 hours.

(09:52):
I didn’t go Google shiny object syndrome podcasts. Who’s talking about this and what are they saying in 27 steps to shiny objects? No, because I don’t want to be influenced. I don’t want someone else’s content coming out of my mouth if you know what I’m saying. We have got to be raw, real, authentic, unique.

(10:17):
This marketplace is so oversaturated with everybody copying each other. I feel like when I go into the world of coaches, no offense because I am a coach, but look I go into this “coaching industry” and everybody’s saying the same thing. Yuck. I’m not about it. I’m not even about what they’re teaching.

(10:41):
So I dare to not even look up and to, to coach to my own drum, right? I want to play to my own beat, speak to my own heart, Holy Spirit leading what I teach you guys about, and Holy Spirit working through me, flowing through me. When I opened my mouth behind this microphone, for you to know that everything I say is mine. I’m not just mimicking some other coach or podcaster out there.

(11:12):
You have got to add value. That is true, real, and authentic.

(11:20):
So for me, it means getting back to Lola and not looking up. What do I mean? Okay, don’t look up. Are you guys hearing this right now? You with me? Because this is so critically important, don’t look up.

(11:35):
So once you’ve got inspiration in your heart, and you know. Let’s say your avatar is named Mary and you know that Mary is struggling with losing that last 10 pounds. She’s a busy mama. She’s a busy wife. She can’t seem to meal prep. She’s so confused with health and wellness. It’s overwhelming. She’s of the diet rat race.

(11:55):
You already know this because you’ve probably been her. You’re not called to be who you are and teach what you teach by accident. Nor are you under-qualified nor do you need to go and research like crazy what someone else says about it to give you permission to get up and speak up.

(12:14):
No girl! Sister, hear me. You get to speak up about the stuff that you know. You are qualified. Don’t look up. Get behind the mic with what you know that you did. That step one is what did you do? Start sharing it and helping your Lola or your Maria or whatever their name is without looking up.

(12:38):
Create authentic, real, true content that helps transform her life. I’m going to go so far as tell you, you may need to unfollow people on Instagram. I sure have. I don’t even scroll. You guys think I’m kidding? I do not scroll Instagram at all. I get in and post my own stuff in stories. That’s the only reason I show up there. I want to engage with you guys in the DMs. Once or twice a week, I post in the feed and that is it.

(13:14):
I don’t want to be distracted. I just want to do me. What else? I unfollowed every podcast I was listening to except for Elevation Church because Steven Furtick has it going on. You know what I mean.

(13:30):
I need to hear only the things that helped me grow and be inspired, but not really in my niche because I don’t want to be a copycat. I think it’s the lamest thing in the world on the planet to be copied, and I was recently copied. So I’ve got a little bit of a bone to pick here, but it’s not a good look. Okay? There are 1,000,001 ways to show up here. And there is only one unique you and one unique voice that God’s asked you to have.

(14:09):
I think I know that the enemy uses distraction and shiny object syndrome or disease as a way to keep you from shining as just you. He uses it as a way for you to infuse all the little pieces of all the other people that you learn from to really hide who you are and what your messages and the way that you want to teach. Right?

(14:40):
He makes you feel inferior. So you think you need to go teach and show up like someone else. He makes you feel like their way is the only way. None of that is truth, none of that is real. So unfollow all the people, maybe directly in your niche that are making you pivot and mold who you are and what you’re saying. Just do it.

(15:06):
Now for those of you going, but if I’m not learning and following these people, I don’t know what to say. And I don’t know what to do. Then I’m lost. Listen, there is a difference between doing market research. Head on into Google search, or if you’re smart, Duck Duck Go cause they don’t track you.

Pinterest or wherever, do some market research on the topics you want to talk about or on your avatar to come up with some triggers or some hot points that you think they need to learn. But then get out and go create it in your own way.

(15:47):
If you do talk about something that is someone else’s, right? Like I just read you guys the description of shiny object syndrome from entrepreneur.com. You must give credit where credit is due.

(16:02):
So it’s cool if you’re like I listened to this amazing podcast about meal prepping. She had three steps in there that I think was genius. I have the same market as her and I want to use her three steps on my podcast instead of tweaking them and pretending they’re yours. Just use her three steps and reference her, give her credit, tell people to go and follow that podcast.

(16:29):
Now I’m guilty of this. You guys, when I started blogging, I totally went out and tried to find stuff that people liked and copied it in a way, in a sense. I didn’t give credit where credit was due. I ended up getting in big trouble for that. Four years ago or whenever I started blogging. It was a hard lesson to learn.

(16:51):
But what I thought I was doing was I thought it was good for my business. I thought, this is how we should grow is we should do what everybody else is doing. No, you guys here’s the secret. Write this down. Don’t do what everyone else is doing, what doesn’t immediately set your soul on fire, and follow the latest, coolest, fanciest marketing ads.

(17:22):
It’s not about any of that, but it’s about you speaking directly to your Lola, your avatar every week. One person, one set of problems. One micro niche. Get it together , girl.

(17:46):
We have got to solve one thing. If you don’t know what your micro niche is, we have got to get a clarity session because you will never excel if you’re in a huge sea with a million other people talking about a million things.

(18:02):
One thing, one problem, one avatar. Then don’t look up for six months. The clients I work with one-on-one, my elite clients, when they listen to me, which they do because I’m on them and they don’t look up for six months, they are seeing massive results in their businesses. Massive.

(18:28):
They are seeing hundreds of new podcast downloads every week, thousands of dollars in the bank over 48 hour periods of time, and growth in people hiring them for coaching, but they all have one thing in common. So if you guys want to know, and you want to have that type of success and you want to see that type of transformation in your own business, here it is.

(18:52):
They are not looking up. They’re not getting distracted. They are showing up consistently with one message cohesively over and over and over and over for free. Serving, solving, transforming pretty much on a podcast, just like this or wherever they show up. They’re not pivoting, going everywhere, on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, podcast, YouTube, and Facebook ads. It’s not working. Start over. Tiny offer. Big offer.

(19:19):
No, stop it. Remember, stop. Just stop. Start from grassroots. Who needs you and why? How can you show up? Unfollow everyone you need to unfollow. Get laser focused on your specific avatar. Then you speak to that avatar over and over again. I recommend doing it on a podcast because this is how you guys hear me show up authentically for you multiple times a week.

(19:52):
Just me. Just Stef. As raw as I can be for you. As real as I can be for you. With no one else’s voices blowing through me. No other coaches have influenced me. It’s just me here sitting, sharing my heart with you. Like we were at coffee.

(20:10):
I think that that matters to you and you guys appreciate that for me, right? I think that you feel seen by me and I know I hear it from you guys all the time. My clients, all of you that are up in my DMs, you were craving someone that was going to stop lying to you. Stop telling you all the things you had to do in order to be successful. I started telling you all the things you had to stop in order to be successful, right?

(20:42):
I am not telling you guys. There’s 1,000,001 ways to have success. I am telling you there is one way and it’s to have one voice, your voice. It’s to show up for one person, your person with only one influence, God. With only one person propelling the words that you need to speak and preach.

(21:07):
Guess what that is? Holy Spirit. That’s right. I’m gonna leave you with just a couple of verses. I’m going to pray over you. Proverbs 4:25, let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you. If you guys didn’t hear me, hear the word. I said, don’t look up. Scripture says, don’t look up.

(21:35):
Here’s another one. Proverbs 4:27, do not turn to the right nor to the left. Turn your foot from evil. If you did not hear me say the devil is using distraction to keep you from doing God’s incredible mission for you here on earth, hear the word. Do not turn to the left or to the right turn. Turn your foot from evil. Don’t go there. Distraction is evil. Literally right here.

(22:12):
Another one 1 Corinthians 7:20, each man must remain in that condition in which he was called. Mic drop. I mean, to me what this verse means, and I know there are so many interpretations of verses, but I always just take what first comes into my heart.

What I saw here is that we have been called for one thing. We have been created with special spiritual giftings. All of us, you included. We must remain there because God didn’t call all of us to do all the things that everyone else is doing.

(22:58):
That’s the enemy’s perfect distraction. That’s the perfect facade. He called you to do what he created you for. So do it.

(23:08):
Then finally, 1 Timothy 4:16, pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching. Persevere in these things. For as you do this, you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you. Let me say that again.

(23:28):
What did we just hear directly from scripture? That when we pay attention to ourselves and who we are teaching and what we are teaching (your avatar), we start to ensure salvation for ourselves and those who hear us, because we’re actually making a difference for the kingdom.

(24:03):
Guys over and over again in scripture, God is saying don’t look up, stop getting distracted. Stop again. Bring it back home, back to God, and back to Lola’s. Bring it back. Rein it in girl. Unfollow all the peeps, get off IG on the weekends. Get off IG completely. I don’t care. You’ve got to stay focused and you’ve got to stay true to who God asked you to be.

(24:32):
If he also asked you to be a mama and a wifey, some of you, we got to also be that right. We got to also love ourselves and have self care. We have so many things we have to do. Being distracted is the least of them.

(24:45):
So I know you can do this. I am here with you, for you. I would love to pray over you, whatever you need. Let me know.

(25:05):
I know that so many of you need clarity right now. You need help with what to do in the one area that you’ve been called to do it. It’s all right here inside your soul, inside your heart. But sometimes we just need permission. Sometimes we just need someone else to come in and take an inside look at what we cannot see. I would love to be that coach or mentor for you. I would love to help you. That is what I do.

(25:33):
My spiritual gifting has clarity for Christian mompreneurs. So if you need me, I am here. I am here to support you. Email us at support@stefaniegass.com. I want to help you with a breakthrough call.

(25:58):
Lord, I lift up every person listening to this episode right now. I pray God that you give them divine clarity over what you need and want and will them to say, speak, do, teach, and show up for here on this planet.

(26:16):
God, I ask that you help them eliminate distraction, help them get rid of the lies of the world, and turn to the truth of the word. I pray God that you take their hand and guide them forward with such clear direction. Provide them the right mentors, coaching, podcast episodes, and the truth that they need to fuel and feed their souls.

(26:45):
Let them see truth about distraction, social media, and idolatry and all the things the enemy is using to keep us from doing your incredible work here. Experiencing the provision and the favor that you have for every single one of us. You are so good. We trust you. We have faith in you, God. We’re grateful. In Jesus name, amen. I’ll meet you guys back here soon.