We all do it.
Going along. Following our plan. Just like we drew it up and then…Wham!
A bright shiny “thing” grabs our attention.
In fact, it almost happened to me last night when I was looking on the internet for something and then I saw an article titled ‘The Next Thing in Blah Blah.’
It was like a reflex reaction. I was almost moving the mouse towards the link before I even knew what the article was about.
Most of us have a natural attraction to shiny things. Not just stuff that sparkles and glitters like jewels or gold but things that evoke an immediate desire to have them. Like a new iPhone or a 10,000 sq. ft. house or an 80 inch big screen TV or a Porsche Carrera.
We just want it NOW and we drop everything we’re doing when it comes into view.
The problem with shiny things is that they seem full of promise and hope but very often the feeling they create is very short-lived.
Especially when it involves marketing which is chock full of bright, shiny things.
I was speaking to someone recently about their marketing and it reminded me of the scene from Caddyshack where Judge Smails’s nephew Spalding is coming up to the halfway house rhyming off all the stuff he is planning to order.
‘I’ll have a hotdog and a cheeseburger and a Coke and french fries and a …’ Before he can get another word out, his uncle says, ‘You’ll have nothing and like it.’
The person I was talking to was going on and on about how he had to have LinkedIn and Twitter and Facebook and Pinterest and this and that ….
Why I asked him why he thought he needed to have all of them he said because everyone was doing it.
Really?
How ’bout a clear understanding of your marketing message and your target market and a way to reach them consistently?
Check me if I’m wrong Scotty but without that old, boring time-tested formula, I don’t think much else matters.
As a society, we are obsessed with striving for more money, success, possessions, status when what we really need more of is self-confidence and the belief that the plan we created will win the day.
Sure, tweak it here and there but stay the course and give your own thinking and strategies a chance.
The bottom line is, wanting shiny things is a lot like chasing rainbows and it rarely leads to happiness and fulfillment.
However, happiness and fulfilment are within your reach if you’ll only stay focused on what your gut and your experience tells you to do rather than let all the shiny things pull you off course.
