Overcome opportunity addiction

- [Voiceover] Many people, not all, suffer from what I call BSOS, which is bright and shiny object syndrome. You know what I'm talking about, it's that desire to chase every great idea or opportunity that pops into your head. While it can sometimes lead to success, it most often leads to distraction, and a lot of incomplete initiatives. What we want to do is be more focused. I'm gonna provide a few tips to help you overcome this bright and shiny object addiction.

Number one, most important, is to know yourself. People who are distracted by lots of bright and shiny objects often do so because they're not clear about what they do best. The more you know yourself and your strengths, the easier it is to focus your actions on only those strengths. If you need help on figuring out what those are, you might want to check out my course on discovering your strengths in the library. Number two is to choose one annual target.

Pick one big thing that you're going to accomplish each year. Not five, not 10, not 12, one. Make it the year of something, like the year I'm going to get a raise, or whatever it is, and focus on that one thing. By having one thing in your mind, it tells yourself, I am not going to pursue other opportunities this year. If I want to pursue a new opportunity, I'll have to wait until next year. Number three is to celebrate your successes.

Your brain is hard-wired to focus on negative events. That's not necessarily a bad thing. That helps you protect yourself from danger. But we also want to take extra time to emphasize successes when they appear. By doing that, you'll acknowledge that you are getting success by focusing on what you do best, and that will give you an extra layer of protection of chasing after random opportunities. Number four is get better at saying no to others.

When they ask you to get involved in whatever it is that they're doing, ask for them to send the request via email. Number five is get better at saying no to yourself. When those great ideas pop into your head, put them on what I call the perhaps list. Then you can review that list at some point in the future, perhaps when you're coming up with your next year's annual goal. You can overcome BSOS. All it takes is a little bit of focus, and the more you focus on what your strengths are, the more likely you are to have success.