Happy New Year! Not everyone agrees with me on this, and that's totally OK, but if you're fighting "Shiny Object Syndrome" you might want to take a few minutes to tune in and find out if you're really a victim or if you're just on a Yellow Brick Road, meeting new people and making new connections that will propel you into the new year with hope and expectancy!
What if “Shiny Object Syndrome” is really just the adult version of:
“What Do I Want to Be When I Grow Up”?
Do you ever feel like you're reinventing yourself after half a lifetime of feeling unfulfilled or trying to fit into a mold that just wasn’t designed for you?
*Raise your hand with me right now if you're just trying to figure it out.
I want to tell you a quick story — so stick with me here … I promise it comes full-circle.
Remember the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale, “The Fisherman’s Wife”?
If not, here’s a little recap:
A fisherman who lives in a small cottage near the sea catches a fish that claims to be a prince.
He lets the fish go and heads home to tell his wife about this unusual experience.
She says he should have asked for a wish to be granted from the magical fish. She would really like to live in a nicer home.
Reluctantly, he goes back to the fish to ask for a nicer house, gets it, and finds his wife is still not content.
Her wishes keep getting grander and grander until finally they go back to their modest life and the fisherman finds peace and contentment again.
Here’s my takeaway from that story:
Sometimes, taking the “Shiny Object” path is what brings us right back to where we were — but with new perspective.
Let me explain.
When I found myself facing the death of my marriage after a decade and a half of being a stay-at-home homeschool mom, I knew I was going to have to do something drastic to change my financial situation.
I got married at 25, thinking I was doing the “right” thing. We decided together that we wouldn’t rely on my income so that when or if we had children, it wouldn’t put a financial strain on us if I wanted to stay home with them (like my mom did with me and my sister).
During those years, I volunteered more hours than I can count
— including teaching at a boarding school for orphans in Uganda —
I worked part-time as the underwriting director for a local non-profit radio station,
I taught language arts part-time to junior high homeschool students, I picked up the occasional acting gig, I wrote resumes for people, and I edited several fiction and non-fiction books, but my income was still just a drop in the bucket compared with his.
Fast forward 17 years.
I now find myself a single mom with three child actors who have been homeschooled since day one.
There was NO WAY I was going to give up
being able to homeschool them and run them to auditions and rehearsals and gigs.
I had to figure out something else.
First, I tried network marketing.
Man, the people who run those businesses successfully are cut from a different cloth.
I love my network marketing friends, and I frequently buy from them, but I didn’t have what it took to build that kind of business and stay on top of it.
Next, I tried SEO because one of my network marketing mentors turned me on to Bob Proctor, who turned me on to SEO through a coaching program called OMG.
Holy smokes. It felt like someone kept handing me a technical manual written in Russian every time I would tune in to the training.
But … I met some remarkable people in that group and really wanted to meet them in person.
So … I decided to attend their live event since it was being held in my city, which is Nashville, Tennessee.
It was there that I was introduced to Myron Golden, who gave us a copy of his book. I plowed through it and then read it aloud twice to my kids as part of our homeschool curriculum.
Through listening to Myron’s podcast, I was introduced to Russell Brunson.
Russell Brunson was going to be holding an event in my hometown called Funnel Hacking Live (FHL) just two months after I met Myron Golden. When I found out Myron Golden would be speaking at that event, I decided to go.
Through the ClickFunnels community, I met Jamie Atkinson, who later became my podcast coach.
He helped me to launch this podcast —
and recently told me that Dan Henry (who has been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, Business Insider, among other places) was writing his first book and was willing to do podcast interviews to help promote it.
I reached out to Dan Henry to ask about getting an interview with him on my podcast and congratulated him on writing his first book because, as a book editor, I know what a grueling process it can be.
He jokingly said he should hire me to edit his book.
I said, “Yeah, you should.”
We sent a few more messages back and forth.
He needed someone who could get the job done FAST because he’s going to be one of the speakers at Funnel Hacking Live 2020 and he wanted to have his book ready for that event.
Guess who just wrapped one project and was waiting on a manuscript and could squeeze in his book in between?
Yep.
Me!
By the way, the book I was waiting on wasn’t completed until AFTER I completely wrapped Dan’s book. Talk about synchronicity!
Oh! And guess who wrote the foreword?
Mr. Myron Golden.
After working my magic on Myron’s foreword and sending it back to him for approval, I got a message back saying, “I love what you’ve done with it, Lori ... You are a phenomenal editor, and I will have to do some work with you moving forward.”
Serendipitous, right?
Now … remember what was I doing before I started “chasing Shiny Objects”?
Editing books.
Today I feel like the Fisherman who was content with his lot, tried on a bunch of new, shiny things because he wanted to please his wife, and then found himself back at the beginning.
(If this were a video, I would totally add a clip right here from The Princess Bride — the one where Inigo shouts, “You told me to go back to the beginning! So I have.”)
Ok, so WHAT IF what people are calling “Shiny Object Syndrome” is really just your path to discovering the beauty and the value in who you are RIGHT NOW
and what you have to offer RIGHT NOW —
without all the fancy bells and whistles.
And MAAAAAYBE … while you’re on that path, you’re making the connections that will help you
“get back home”
To the place where you find the most peace, contentment, and joy.
Hindsight is 2020, right?
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that entering into the New Year —
the year 2020 —
finds me looking back over the past few decades and discovering a Yellow Brick Road that seems to be leading me back home.
Oh! remember how I said I used to teach part-time? Well, guess what?!
I’ve been invited to teach a couple of masterclasses recently as well as participate in an online speakers summit!
I’ve been teaching people things like:
how to sound awesome on your podcast,
how be confident on camera,
how to sell stuff using the power of story,
and how to juggle entrepreneurship as a single parent.
This month I’ll be working alongside an award-winning filmmaker friend to help teach small business owners and entrepreneurs how to create stunning DIY marketing videos that increase sales without hiring an expensive production company or buying a bunch of gear they don’t need.
By the way, if you’re interested in joining us, just head on over to our free Facebook group. It’s called Video Marketing Unleashed, and you can find a link to it in my bio on Facebook
facebook.com/groups/videomarketingunleashed
Over the past year,
I’ve helped a friend launch her “Ideal Career Search” program …
I edited four full-length books and a handful of short stories …
I started this podcast …
And I co-founded Video Marketing Unleashed.
I’d say this year has been the year of Discovery.
I’m naming 2020 the Year of Massive Growth.
I invite you to come along with me, embrace the process, enjoy the journey, and absolutely CRUSH 2020!