We all know that once a certain level of basic income is reached, time starts to become the major constraint as everyone has the same 24 hours a day.

While our waking hours are more or less fixed, we can definitely optimize things to make the most of them. Do you think you don’t have time for some things you want to do? Think about the following:

Children aged 2-11 watch over 24 hours of TV per week, while adults aged 35-49 watch more than 33 hours, according to data from Nielsen that suggests TV time increases the older we get. The average American watches more than five hours of live television every day.

When I first read that I was shocked. While this study was done in the USA, I’m sure people in other nations are not doing a much better job at using their time wisely.

Booking your time in advance

I recently interviewed Curtis McHale on the Mastermind.fm podcast, and one of the key takeaways for me was the importance that Curtis gives to his time. In fact, he books time slots for the whole week in advance. I’m not just talking about his work day, but also time spent with his family, personal time etc. Absolutely everything must be planned for in advance.

This might sound like a rigid approach, but I like it a lot and am trying to implement it myself. Of course unexpected things will always crop up but then you can shift things around that. Most of our days are pretty regular and for most of us the unexpected big things will be few and far between.

Curtis’ method is especially useful for self-employed people and entrepreneurs who usually have almost total liberty on how to spend their days. Many times I struggle with seemingly stupid decisions that waste my time and use up energy that can be better employed elsewhere. For example, when I wake up in the morning, many times I have to decide whether to train in the morning or the afternoon, and what kind of exercise to do. This might sound silly to you but I’m sure you can find other areas in your life where you have a similar problem with deciding on how to best use your time.

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Like many other entrepreneurs, I suffer from the shiny object syndrome.

That’s a fancy phrase to describe the excitement I feel on a daily basis as I encounter stuff that I’d love to own, places I’d like to visit, and business ideas I’d like to pursue.

When I was younger and reading for my university degrees, this wasn’t so much of a problem. I could read about a lot of stuff and maybe try new things out here and there, but I had a clear objective every year: pass my exams and graduate to the next year of my course.

As I grew older and started my own business, I also achieved the freedom to work on whatever I want, wherever I want, and whenever I want. That sounds great on paper, but it also means that I have to take clear decisions on the what, where and when.

That’s when the shiny object syndrome can prove to be a huge distraction that has the ability to paralyze even the best entrepreneurs and lead to them only achieving modest success in life when they could have achieved much more.

I have to fight this sense of paralysis every single day as I can’t help myself from getting attracted to many subjects out there. It could be a simple email newsletter from an airline announcing some new destinations that leads to me dreaming for an hour or more about said destinations and planning my next trip. With no real barriers to me visiting those destinations, the urge to indulge in this daydreaming is high.

I could mention a thousand other examples. For example, in business, having a WordPress plugin development business leads to me coming across many small niches that could be catered for by a new business plugin. Perhaps there is already a plugin that I use for some purpose and it sucks, and I can easily see how I can improve on it. It doesn’t take much for me to start planning out a way to conquer that niche, leading to a few more wasted hours.

The shiny object syndrome as you can see can lead to a monumental waste of time as well as a depressed state of mind at the end of the day/month/year when I realise how much time I spent investigating different directions I could take but not having gone down any of those paths.

As I said, I still fight this syndrome on a daily basis, and this is just me sharing one of the things in life that I find most challenging, so I’d love to know from others who feel the same way as I do and how they handle it. On my part, I like to think that I’ve become a bit better at handling shiny objects.

Shiny Object Syndrome Antidotes

The most important change in my behavior has been my use of a virtual buffer zone. Let me explain by giving you a few examples.

Books

I come across many interesting books that simply scream out to me and beg to be read, be it at the local bookstore, library, or recommendations from friends and peers. Rather than order them all and then get depressed due to owning a large number of unread books, I now use Goodreads to create a to-read list that I can then get back to when I’m finished with the current book or two that I have on my shelf.

Articles

Articles are another potential shiny object for me, so whenever I come across a good article I’ll simply Pocket it. I will then get back to these articles during a commute or breakfast. That was I avoid getting distracted in my productive work hours. I also never end up reading all the articles, as things that looked amazing and irresistible have a funny way of becoming the plainest and most uninteresting things just a few hours later. Funny how our minds work.

Business Ideas

Being born with an entrepreneurial spirit and mind, I am quick to spot business opportunities. However it is impossible to act on every possible opportunity, although I’d love to do so. A good technique I’ve found is to keep a list for each month containing a number of items  I want to do for that month. The first two items are the two epics (the most important achievements) for that month.

They usually are the more meaty tasks that will take some time and concentration to complete. Every feasible business idea that I get first gets listed in a list of business ideas, and at the end of each month I will evaluate the current state of things and if I want to proceed with any of the ideas in the list I’ll see where I can fit them in on the monthly calendar. You can use Trello, Workflowy, or even have a manual whiteboard process for this.

That’s about it, some insights on how I deal with the shiny object syndrome. Would love to know your experiences and thoughts on this subject.

Update January 2023 – I’ve also stopped actively using Twitter (removed app on my phone) and Instagram. I was never very active on Instagram, but whenever I did happen to open the app I found it extremely addictive and invariably brought me down, as it highlighted all the amazing lifestyles everyone seems to be having and gave me major FOMO. So I created a new Instagram account just for my own art, where I only follow artists that exclusively post art, which I in turn use as inspiration. I also love to connect with artists and this is a good tool to connect.

I am also very active in my own community (The Good Life Collective) as well as other select communities I’m in.

Update January 2021 – I highly recommend reading this and this. I also found the documentary movie The Social Dilemma to be an excellent portrayal of the dangers and damage of social media.

Update March 2017 – I have now stopped using Facebook in any meaningful way. I still have my profile active, so I haven’t technically closed the account, however, I no longer use the platform and indeed have it blocked on all my devices using Freedom.to. If you want to block it without using Freedom, you can have a look at this post. I also stopped using LinkedIn.

After one month of taking this decision, I feel great and I don’t plan on going back. First of all, I’ve gained 30 minutes to 1 hour daily. This does not only take into account direct time checking out stuff on Facebook, but also the switching cost of going from productive work to checking Facebook and back. That’s up to 7 hours per week gained, which is absolutely awesome.

Secondly, I don’t compare my life to others as much. I’m not one who typically does that, but looking at all the photos and videos of other people is directly aimed at provoking such feelings, and it does take its toll in the end.

Thirdly, I have stopped oversharing and going into petty arguments with people online. There is no point really in sharing small random thoughts or photos on Facebook, at least not to me. I found that it promotes a culture of fast consumption, where the urge to post is almost a reflex action as soon as I get served a great plate at a restaurant, hear a nice quote, or visit some place with incredible views. Now I can just enjoy the moment and focus on sharing it with whoever is present with me, because that is what really matters. This slow living style has also helped me think about things in a deeper way, and consequently post in long form on my blog rather than post shallow statuses on Facebook.

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Every once in a while I hear of someone who has decided to exile himself from Facebook by closing off his account. I also know a few others who have never joined.

Myself? I’ve been a Facebook user since the very early days, having joined in 2006. That makes it 10 years of Facebook usage, yay!

When I hear that someone has left Facebook I almost always stop to think about it. A little rebel spirit inside me urges me to consider doing the same. We all know that Facebook is the biggest enemy of productivity don’t we?

Well, is it really?

I’ll be the first to admit that yes, at times I have spent way more time on Facebook than I should have. The problem wasn’t Facebook itself though, it was something deeper than that. As I have grown to be more organised and productive in general, the “spending too much time on Facebook” problem seemed to slowly fade away. I therefore came to understand that the real problem had been a lack of time management and also a lack of motivation to do the task at hand.

This year I am making a concerted effort to outsource those parts of my job which tend to bore me or slow me down, hence increasing the chances of me procrastinating and finding outlets like Facebook to entertain myself instead of doing that dreaded piece of work.

If we discount the typical problem of Facebook being a huge time sucker, the next thing to consider is whether this social network is of any value at all. Am I just part of the people watching herd? Do I use it for learning random useless tidbits on other people’s lives?

Turns out that no, I actually use Facebook for some very useful purposes.

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One of the most important places for a digital nomad (and indeed any worker) is his/her work space. Many choose to work from home or from cafes, but increasingly there has been a shift towards places that offer a better plug and play (work) solution.

Enter the coworking space.

I’ve tried countless spaces and on many an occasion had an “Oh this is a wondeful space, if only they had…” reaction to a coworking space. I’ve thus decided to dream up all the elements that would be part of my ideal coworking environment.

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Every year or so, I like to take a few days off and make a retreat. I don’t go on holiday to some fabulous destination (although I do that too at other times).

When I go for a retreat, the one thing I look for is silence.

I like to find a retreat house in the countryside or wilderness and spend 3-5 days there without talking to anyone. I suspect many of us don’t realize exactly how noisy our lives are. The experience of spending a few days in complete silence can at times be overwhelming, but highly beneficial.

Whenever I do such a retreat, I always come back to ‘real life’ way more focused, and with a renewed and positive attitude. Last week, I did this year’s retreat and as usual, it was a great experience. In fact, I’d like to make it a more regular thing. I’d also like to incorporate more elements of reflection and meditation in my daily life.

There are many retreat centers all around the world, what you need to make sure is that the center is one that helps you stay in silence for as long as possible. We’re not looking for a center that fills up your day with activities here, it should, in fact, be as boring as possible.

I prefer going to Christian retreat centers; one of my absolute favorites is the Montserrat benedictine monastery in Spain. The reason is twofold. One is that Christian centers tend to be centered around a really nice church or monastery that embodies the spirit of contemplation and reflection that we are looking for. Secondly, if you need it, you will also find monks ready to help you guide you along your journey.

If you’re attempting this for the first time, I would strongly recommend choosing a guided retreat. It doesn’t have to be religious, most monks and priests are happy to help you from a human aspect without necessarily involving religious teachings or readings from the Bible. If you do want to have a more religious experience, they are of course also delighted to guide you.

I’ve done both types of retreats and found them both beneficial. Ultimately, it’s all about what you believe and think about the world and your personal life journey. If you’re a religious person, it will help you to focus on passages from the Bible and spend time in prayer, while if you’re not particularly religious you will benefit from the solitude that breeds internal reflection. You can take an inspirational book with you to help out. Ultimately, both outcomes will be very similar.

A key element of my retreats is always the practice of journaling or writing. While the first day or two can be tough until I quiet down my mind, once I get settled thoughts inevitably turn inwards and I usually get lots of insights. It is essential to write things down and also write about all your struggles. This will help you remember the lessons you learned and also help you if you have someone guiding you to the retreat, as you will have a handy reference during your talks with the guide.

I’m still experimenting with the ideal duration of retreats and also their frequency. However, I suspect there are no hard and fast rules for that. If you manage to find a place that you like and is not that far from home, I think that would be a really good win, as you can go there whenever you feel that you need to. So far, I have tended to stick to 4 or 5 days as that gives me enough time to quieten down and be very productive while at the same time not staying away from my family and normal life too long.

Have you ever been on such a retreat? How did it help you?