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Do You Suffer From Shiny Object Syndrome?

March 18, 2013 By 15 Comments

Shiny Object Syndrome

Do you suffer from shiny object syndrome?

Are you easily distracted by “shiny” new ideas?

Are you constantly starting new ideas only to move on to the next one as soon as it gets hard?

Do you only ever make it through 50% of a fitness program, before ditching it for the bigger, better, coolest program out there (only to do the exact same thing 50% of the way through).

Well, chances are you have shiny object syndrome. Don’t worry, it’s not fatal, but it can cause you to run in circles while feeling constantly busy and never quite achieving anything.

Never fear, as a former sufferer, I’ve beaten this incapacitating sickness and I’ve got you covered.

Shiny Object

What Is Shiny Object Syndrome?

Shiny Object Syndrome (Objectivius Shinium Syndromus) is defined as the attraction to objects that exhibit a glassy, polished, gleaming or otherwise shiny appearance. Something as simple as a reflection in your peripheral vision may easily distract your attention. Over time, you’ll find that your attention to said object is directly correlated to it’s shininess and your attention fades as the shininess wears off.

How Do I Know If I Suffer?

Here’s a list of characteristics associated with shiny object syndrome. Keep in mind: this is not an exhaustive list, and this isn’t the end all be all, but it is a start.

  • You have 100 domain names and no built-out websites.
  • You train for 2 or 3 big races a year, but always end up having something else come up at the last minute and don’t do the race.
  • You have 20 business ideas on paper, but no businesses.
  • You go to hackathons and startup weekends, but you never build a product.
  • You work change workout routines every two weeks, because you gotta keep yourself on your toes and there’s no reason to stick a workout regimen for more than 3 weeks…ever.

You constantly start things, but never finish them.

Is this you? Well, you’re not alone, MILLIONS (probably closer to BILLIONS) of people suffer as well. You don’t have to go through this alone.

How Can I Prevent It?

So, you want to prevent SOS? Here’s a step by step guide to avoid and prevent this very real and contagious condition.

Start

Chances are you’re probably already good at this, but it’s important that you need to do this anyways. You can’t stop if you don’t start.

So freaking start already.

Keep Going

Victims who suffer from SOS often find themselves continually “starting” things – doing the easiest possible thing to constitute “starting.”

Unfortunately, too many sufferers of SOS get caught in the starting spiral which looks something like this:

Start –> Start Over –> Start Again –> Keep Starting

Don’t get caught in the starting spiral! Keep going and then you have to do something really, really important.

Decide

This is where most people screw up. They don’t mean to really, but often this mistake is made more through neglect than intentionally.

The mistake made is the lack of decision. They never decide what they’re going to do.

This frequently causes indecision, paralysis and uneasiness of the future, since you’ve left it up to chance.

The failure to make a decision is often followed by bouts of procrastination, followed by guilt of said procrastination, followed by even more procrastination.

To cut of the head of this ugly beast, simply watch this video and follow the instructions.

The #1 Productivity Hack In The World

[click to watch video]

Make a decision. Decide what you want to do, then decide to do whatever it takes to actually do it.

Commit
This follows the decision immediately so much so that it’s not always recognized as a separate fact.

The main factor here is action.

Do you follow your decision up with action or not?

You’ll find that as soon as you take action on a goal, you’re committed.

If you decide but never do anything about it, you might as well not have decided to do anything at all (because you’re not really doing anything at all), you’ll find shiny object syndrome will continue to ravage every aspect of your life.

Embrace The Suck

If you’ve miraculously made it this far, guess what?

Things are going to suck. Like really suck. Like make you want to go back to the starting days. You’ll long for the shiny happiness of shiny objects and the happiness it brings.

If people ever make it to this point, this is where they give up…

You know…because it’s hard…and hard things aren’t meant to be done. And you’ve got a really good story on why it’s hard – why it’s impossible.

OF COURSE ITS HARD

[click to watch video]

If it’s worth doing – it SHOULD be hard. IT’S MANDATORY.

If you quit here, you’ll never really be cured of SOS and you’re doomed to it’s lifelong sentence. However, if you decide to embrace the suck, you’ve got a chance to beat this terrible, terrible disease.

Keep Going

Yup, this again. it’s that important.

Once things suck, it’s not enough to embrace the suck and lean into the pain.

YOU HAVE TO KEEP MOVING FORWARD.

Make forward progress – no matter how slow. As David Goggins likes to say: Find a door, go through it and keep going.

Push through it all, and keep going.

FINISH

This is crucial.

FINISH. Work to an end point. Don’t leave something half-way done. FINISH IT OUT.

Now, this doesn’t mean everything is going to be a smashing success, but it does mean you’ll have a finalized product.

  • If you’re building a product, get an MVP out the door. Don’t settle for a bunch of a code and a few unfinished web pages. FINISH THE THING.
  • If you’re doing a fitness program, finish the 4/6/8/12 weeks it’s prescribed for. Don’t quit half-way through. If you skip a day, or screw up the diet once, don’t let that derail you. FINISH.
  • If you’re running a race, get across the finish line. If you just tap out at the 3 mile marker on a half marathon, why even sign up? Run, walk or crawl if you have to, but cross that finish line.

Once you do, you’ll find that the shiny newness of a project doesn’t really compare with seeing it through to the end. Sure, it’s a quick and easy high, but the payoff of doing something for the long haul is not easily beaten. Once you do this, there’s only one thing left to do.

Repeat

Once you finish your project – really finish it – chances are you’ll repeat some version of this:

“That sucked…but it was totally worth it.”

You might even want to do it again. So go. Do it again. And again. And again. You’ll realize that it’s much more rewarding than the cheap thrills of “starting.”

The real key to beating SOS is continually repeating the process as it’s quite easy to relapse into speculating on small mirrors and other shiny reflective items.

Shiny Object Syndrome

So, you might have shiny object syndrome. It’s okay. It’s not a permanent condition and it’s not fatal, but you do have to treat it.

Remember:

  1. Start
  2. Keep Going
  3. Decide
  4. Commit
  5. Embrace The Suck
  6. Keep Going (Again)
  7. FINISH!
  8. Repeat

Do what you say you’re going to do. Finish what you start. Make it happen. Get after it.

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I’m back in Chicago catching up from a busy couple weeks of travel & sxsw. As I’m catching up, we’re allowing for a little bit more time if you still want to submit your 2013 New Years transformation entry.
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photo credit: Images by John ‘K’

Filed Under: Adventures, Kicking A**, Personal Development, Strategies

The #1 Productivity Hack In The World

February 12, 2013 By 17 Comments

productivity

Everyone wants to be more productive and get more stuff done. Productivity advice comes in droves and it seems everyone has their little piece to add. A popular video has been circulating the past year or so with Richard Branson on how he doubles his productivity.

Richard Branson’s Take on Productivity

[click to watch video]

Richard Branson is one of my favorite entrepreneurs in the world and I love that answer, but it’s not quite there. Obviously, I love fitness, and sure you might make even more happen if you’re already started and you add in exercise. However, if you’re like most people and struggling to get started, you’ll still be stuck at zero.

The #1 Productivity Hack In The World

The #1 reason why most people aren’t productive, isn’t that they’re not exercising – it’s that they don’t know what to do.

They don’t know what to do because they haven’t decided what they’re going to do.

They’re either waiting for a cue from someone or simply mulling over the pros and cons of the decisions over and over and over. You can only do that so many times until you start finding that you’re surfing the internet aimlessly, playing video games or generally being unproductive.

That’s why decision is so important.

Decision Leads To Action

Without decisions you just have potential options. You might have 2 or 3 or 10 potential options, but because you haven’t made a decision, you work a little here and a little there, but you never really make any progress because you’ve never actually made a decision.

Personal Note: I’ve been working on this the past 6 months and really focusing on where & how I spend my time. Being able to DECIDE means you’re able to eliminate things that aren’t important, focus and execute on the ones that are.

The reason why decision works so well, is that decision leads directly into action. If you decide you’re going to do something and commit to doing it, all that’s left is the doing. You already know what needs to be done, so you set aside the motivation, and become disciplined to do it.

The outcome has already been decided. You’re just waiting for reality to catch up.

Good Or Bad – It Matters Less Than You Think

The main reason people waver on decisions is that one is good and one is bad.

But, it’s often the case that most things aren’t . Some are good and some are better. There might even be a “best” decision at the time, but it can be hard to always know ahead of time with the information you have. Sometimes it’s impossible (unless you have time traveling capabilities).

So you can either sit still, suffer from paralysis by analysis and never do anything or you can can decide, take action, learn from the outcome and repeat and get closer to what you want to accomplish.

The Most Important Decision

No matter whether your decisions are good or bad, the most important decision you can make is to keep going.

Sometimes you’re going to make bad decisions. Keep going. Make better ones in the future. Sometimes you’ll make good decisions. Keep going. Make them better. Sometimes you have no idea if what you just decided to do was good or not.

Keep moving forward anyways.

You can do your homework, learn all you want, but at some point you just have to decide and take action. If (or better yet: WHEN), something goes wrong, decide to keep going and endure.

Decide. Act. Repeat and keep going.

Want to be more productive? Work on making decisions. Then execute.

The #1 Productivity Hack In The World Video

[click to watch video]

I’m doing 28 days of videos on YouTube. Catch up and ask your questions here.

photo credit: Paul Worthington
photo credit: Stuck in Customs

Filed Under: Adventures, Life, Strategies, The Impossible Tagged With: , ,

How To Get Motivated To Workout

February 7, 2013 By 10 Comments

motivationThe #1 question that I consistently get is:

“HOW DO I GET MOTIVATED TO DO SOMETHING?’

The most common variation of this how do I get motivated to workout?

My initial answer is: motivation is overrated. Get disciplined instead.

In short: motivation is fleeting. Those people who who depend on motivation consistently start out with a big bang and fail as soon as something gets hard. As soon as the motivation dries up, they quit. The people who accomplish things get disciplined.

That said, if you’re still convinced you need motivation to get stuff done, I’ve decided to finally tackle this thing head-on. Here it is – Your Guide On How To Get Motivated To Workout

How To Get Motivated To Workout

Read This

The Iron & The Soul by Henry Rollins

This is the only piece of motivation you’ll need to workout.

Realize, even if you can’t do anything else, working out is the one thing you can control. That’s why I think fitness is the ultimate discipline.

bad

Take Cold Showers

I say it over and over and over and over again.

If you think working out is “too hard”, start taking a cold shower every day.

It will be the hardest thing you do all day and you’ll start to realize how terrible your excuses really are.

Do 30 days of cold shower therapy and you’ll slowly find yourself turning into a stronger, more determined, badass-er vrsion of yourself.

cold shower

If you don’t think this will work (like this guy), stop complaining and spend 5 minutes in a freezing shower before saying anything else.

Everyone who’s actually done it says otherwise.

Start Sprinting

Help!

I don’t know what exercise to do!

I don’t have a trainer!

I don’t have any equipment!

I don’t want to get hurt!

I don’t know how to exercise – it’s complicated!

That’s fine, and that’s why I’m going to give you the best exercise in the world: sprints.

The best exercise in the world.

Why? It’s simple:

Sprinting is one of the most human exercises you can do. You don’t need a gym. You don’t need special equipment. You don’t need a coach. You don’t need to learn. You don’t need a video tutorial. You don’t need anything really.

You just need to do it.

So how do you practically make that work? Try this on for size:

Your Sprint Workout

  1. Set a time. Hit Start
  2. Sprint for 30 seconds.
  3. Rest for 30 seconds.
  4. When the timer hits “20 Minutes” – you’re done.

Workout complete.

Boom.

BUT I STILL DON’T WANNNNAA

Cool story bro.

You need to stop talking to other people and finding other reasons for your problems and you need to have a talk with yourself instead.

Get up (right now). Go to the bathroom. Look in the mirror and stare at the person looking at you.

Then you have two options:

OPTION 1

You look in the mirror and tell yourself:

I WANT TO WORKOUT BUT I’D RATHER EAT CHEESECAKE

Then go back to your kitchen, grab your cheesecake and convince yourself that that’s the most compelling excuse you can think of. Then go nuts with your cheesecake and enjoy (feel free to substitute cheesecake with whatever you want – sleeping, food, hulu, video games, etc).

But just remember that the next time you look at yourself in the mirror.

OPTION 2

You look in the mirror and tell yourself:

I DON’T WANT TO WORKOUT, BUT I’M GOING TO ANYWAY.

Then put on your running shoes, get outside and start sprinting (no matter what the weather is outside).

Long Road

Make It A Priority

The only difference between option 1 and option 2 are your priorities. That’s the only difference.

Don’t blame it on something else. Instead of feeling bad about it. Own it.

If eating cheesecake is more important to you than being healthy, living a long life and being there for your kids, that’s fine, but own that decision.

Instead of saying “I don’t wanna” or “it’s hard”, say “It is not a priority.”

Then, go look yourself in the mirror and say that to yourself. It puts things in a whole different perspective than empty-whining about where you’re not where you want to be.

Whenever someone asks me if I can help them to lose weight, I ask them, “How Bad Do You Want It?” If the answer isn’t “REALLY, REALLY, REALLY BAD” with a hint of desperation in their voice so much so that they’re a little out of breath, 9 times out of 10, they probably won’t succeed.

Realize You Have a Choice

You always have a choice.

Even if you don’t “feel” like it, you can still go do it anyways. You don’t have to be a slave to your feelings or motivations. You get to choose.

Motivation is fleeting. If you decide your actions are dependent on being 100% motivated 100% of the time, you probably won’t accomplish that much.

Everyone has an excuse. Only some people decide to believe them. You choose whatever story you want tell yourself. But always remember you get to choose.

Set Impossible Challenges

You might not be “motivated” because your goals aren’t something you think is worth pursuing.

In that case: Stop thinking so small. Create bigger challenges.

If you’re not motivated to run a 5k, then sign up for a triathlon, a half or a full marathon. If you’re crazy, start thinking about an ultra.

Aim higher. Pick something impossible. Then catch up to it.

Dream big by setting yourself seemingly impossible challenges. You will then have to catch up with them. - Richard Bransonbranson

Results Are The Best Motivation

“It’s easy to be motivated when you’re seeing results”

If I had a dollar for every person who’s gone through Impossible Abs and told me that that around week 3 or 4, I’d have…well…a  lot of money :) .

Seriously, seeing results in yourself is the best motivation out there. But, you have to step out and do something first. You don’t get results from doing nothing – you have to take the step first. In a sense, many times the motivation only comes AFTER you’ve taken action.

THE REALLY ANNOYING TRUTH

No one always wants to go work out.

But we try to to rationalize is that we’re different than everybody. That nobody knows exactly what how you feel. That your situation is incredibly unique to you. And that everybody else’s excuses are terrible, yours are somehow valid.

The annoying truth is that everybody feels that way at some point. It’s called being human.

But what you have to realize is that you’re dying. Your default state is atrophy. If you’re not consciously choosing to push yourself and grow, you’ll atrophy and decay automatically. That’s the default state of life.

No one ever gets better by doing nothing. So, if you want to get better, you’ll have to do something…and it won’t be easy.

Yes, It’s Hard – That’s The Point

Work Ahead

Working out is hard, but you do it anyway because it teaches you how to get comfortable with the uncomfortable.

You do it because:

You want to grow.

You want to get disciplined.

You want to get better.

You want to do the impossible.

So you do it.

Staying the same is an option. It’s the easy choice. But it’s not going to change anything. Eventually, you have to look yourself in the mirror and decide if you want it or not. And, if you don’t, all the motivation in the world won’t do jack.

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You have one life to do everything you’ll ever do. Don’t fill it with excuses

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I’m disciplining myself to do 28 days of videos in February. Check them out on YouTube.

Today’s Video is The Myth of Motivation

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photo credit: jenni from the block | tricky (rick harrison) | gato-gato-gato | koalazymonkey

Filed Under: Endurance Racing, Fitness, Kicking A**, Six Pack Abs, Strategies, Weight Loss Tagged With: , ,

Blackmail Yourself: How To Set & Accomplish Goals More Effectively

December 27, 2012 By 17 Comments

Blackmail Yourself

Forget New Years Resolutions. They don’t work.

If you want to really accomplish some new impossible challenge this year, you need something a little more drastic.

I call this strategy blackmailing yourself and I’ve used it extensively along with cold shower therapy when I need a kick in the butt and the extra push to get something done. Here’s how it works.

Pick A Challenge

Pick a challenge, we’ve already talked about this before. Make it an specific challenge. It needs at least 2 specific things.

  1. Make it specific.
  2. Give it a deadline.

Those are the basics (we’ve talked about these before), but we’ll make blackmailing yourself a little more interesting.

Find A Blackmailer

You need to find a friend to help blackmail you. Your friend/blackmailer is someone who is going to keep you accountable – no matter what.

Ideally they’ll have at least the 3 following traits.

  1. They’ll check in on you daily/weekly.
  2. They won’t succumb to your sweet talking rationalization.
  3. They’d love to see you fail…but they’d love to see you succeed more.

Point 3 is important, because while they want to see you succeed, they’re not afraid to press the button, and enforce your self-imposed consequences if you don’t. You might love this person, but you’ll swear they’re the devil when you’re at the worst points in the challenge.

If you think about the challenges we talked about before, you’re essentially giving your blackmailer the opportunity to enact a consequence if you don’t follow through and do what you say you really want to do.

I usually pick Vic because I know he won’t let me talk my way out of it (and I’m a pretty good talker).

Deal with the Devil

Why This Is Important
Your challenge will be hard. It should be, otherwise you’d already have done it, right? Hard things are easy to want, but hard to do. There will be times in your challenge where you need to do things that you won’t necessarily want to do (ex. workout) in order to do the things you really want to do (ex. run an Ironman). Your blackmailer is the one that’s going to help you keep an eye on your long term goals and hold you accountable to those and ignore your short-term whining & excuses.

Make The Deal

Make the deal and blackmail yourself.

Force yourself to create a specific challenge to be accomplished by a specific date and empower your chosen blackmailing friend to carry out the consequences if you don’t complete it.

Use this template if needed.

If I don’t complete _______________ (specific challenge) by _______________ (specific date), I will donate/pay _______________ (blackmailer’s name) , exactly $_______________ (an obscenely painful amount of money).

Money

Bet Your Rent

The last part of that contract is important. Whatever the consideration for the bet is, it should be obscenely painful for you to give up if you actually lose.

It doesn’t count if you just put $5 on the line. That’s not much of an incentive or disincentive. You need to actually blackmail yourself.

Bet something that hurts, give it teeth – Bet your monthly rent.

Whatever it is: $500, $1,000, $2,000. Put it on the line.

“But…but…but…” you might say, “I can’t afford to lose my rent!”

Exactly.

That’s the point. Make the amount large enough that you’re not willing (or can’t afford) to lose it. Make it hurt. Then go make it freaking happen.

Why? Anytime you’re tempted to skip a workout or cheat on a meal, you’ll find yourself asking if it’s worth your rent. Suddenly those slices of cheesecake start to seem pretty expensive – because they are.

Make It Hurt

Make blackmailing yourself hurt even more by making sure the money goes someplace terrible. It’s helpful if the money goes to someplace or someone that you’d really not rather the money would go to. Ideally you really hate this person one way another.

A few ideas on where you could instruct your blackmailer to send this money.

  • Pick your least favorite person in the world.
  • Pick your arch-nemesis
  • Pick your least favorite charity out there.

To pick out real examples:

  • If you hate abortion, send it to planned parenthood.
  • If you’re an atheist, send it to Billy Graham.
  • If you love the rainforest, send it to BP.
  • If you’re a paleo junkie, send it to PETA.
  • If you’re a Republican, send it to Barack Obama.

I picked Steve Kamb.

You get the picture.

You want to make sure the money is going to a person/place/cause that you really don’t want it to go to and the only way you can stop it is by completing your challenge.

Game on.

Extras & Add-ons

In addition to the basics above, here are a few extras to get the most out of blackmailing yourself.

Make Sure Your Blackmailer is Evil
There’s no sense in having a nice, forgiving blackmailer who’s going to love you forever no matter what, and tell you you’re special. That’s what your mom is for.

You need someone who’s going to give you tough love and not listen to your bullsh*t or excuses. You need to make sure they’re going to hold your feet to the fire and love you enough to make you do the things you say you want to do – even when they’re hard (especially when they’re hard).

Write The Check Now
Write the check now and give it to someone. Don’t think you can get away with committing to something and writing the check later while thinking you can back out later and cross your fingers hoping that the the other person forgets.

Write the check now.

In poker terms, you need to be pot committed from the start. Make it so you can’t back out.

Add A Non-Monetary Reason
Money is a good starter, but you can up the ante and add a non-monetary reason to the deal to boot.

It could be a whole variety of non-monetary consequences, but I’ve found that the best incentive (other than cash) is public humiliation of some sort – you’ll have to do something in public that you really don’t want to do.

This could be doing a photo shoot, public announcement, or holding a sign on the corner of the street detailing your sins (I don’t necessary endorse that last one).

This can be an even bigger driving factor than cash for some people. Many people would rather cut a huge check than have to embarrass themselves publicly.

For me, it was knowing that I had a photo shoot in 8 weeks. Other times, it’s simply signing up for a race beforehand and knowing that I can either train for it, be in good shape for it and enjoy it OR not train for it and hope to God I don’t drown.

What Do You Want To Do This Year?

If you have something you want to do this year, take a step past ordinary “new years resolutions.” Bet your rent, blackmail yourself and FINALLY make it happen this year. Get after it.

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If you want to actually put this into practice, Stickk is a great site that sets up this functionality for you, puts your money in an escrow account and sends it to your blackmailing friend if you don’t make it happen.

If you don’t have someone to play the part of your blackmailer, add me (joel@joelrunyon.com) and I’ll gladly be the do it for you. :)

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photo credit: Darwin Bell | photosteve101

Filed Under: Hustling, Impossible Things, Life, Physical Challenges, Strategies Tagged With: , , , , ,