How do I avoid "shiny object syndrome"
We've all been there. You are deep in your current product and all of a sudden BAM!!. You get hit with a new idea, it's bigger, better, with a lower CAC and an even larger LTV ( At least it seems that way). It even has a bigger market and it seems like a stronger need than your current product.
Question: How do you ignore this and keep working on your current product.
P.S I am well aware that once you give in to this urge, it will be a never-ending cycle of dropped products.
Has anyone faced this before. Thoughts on the topic?
Trending on Indie Hackers
I feel like this sentence is personally mocking me haha. I have severely experienced this "syndrome" non-stop from the ages of 18 - 33 (my current age). The only thing that somewhat got me over this was me getting fed up with project after project coming out half-assed and eventually failing. I have gotten significantly better at this over the past 10 months though. I did some self-reflection and told myself that if I don't focus, I'm just wasting a massive amount of my precious time.
I think the root "problem" is that as engineers/builders/hackers we have the ability to create almost anything that we can dream up. That's an extremely powerful skill to have and something that is going to come with some side effects. Add on to that the fact that everyone we know probably comes to us with their latest app idea, and your imagination is going to be running non-stop.
Long-story-short, you're not the only one, and I really wish I knew the "cure". Just keep telling yourself that life is short, and if you don't focus every now and then, there's a chance it'll pass you by and you'll look back and realize you haven't really completed much of anything (sorry, that's a little dark haha).
Good luck! Let us know when you figure it out 🙂
Thanks for sharing. I think the same imagination that makes you a good hacker/founder is the same imagination that holds people back. I always look at super simple products that make it big and successful and wonder how hard that founder had to focus on the current product.
LOl, I don't think there is any pill to this problem. I remember a quote I once saw a quote that read " What you don't do will make you successful".
I think it will always be a struggle but will get better over time. Small wins help with the current product and of course good ole revenue.
So maybe the pill is, charge early for your products.
This comment was deleted 3 years ago.
Hah, another "sick" here. :)
I have studied 4 different majors (and never finished any of them).
I got good in many things but never got great in any of them.
Now with writing projects it's the same. All my other projects failed not because people did not care, but because I abandoned them much, much too early.
Personally, getting a kid helped me focus quite a bit. 🤷♂️
Same for me! I’ve got 2 ideas right now I’d like to pursue... but my 2nd kid is set to be born in the next 2-3 weeks. Not the time to try to dive into something new! :) if I have a free evening, I’ll try to create a landing page to scratch the itch.
How so? Is it the case of you feeling like you have to focus and make something work?
Pretty much. I realized I can't procrastinate as much anymore and if I want to get anything out at all I must be frugal about my time.
I can agree with that. I have an element of that myself. Thanks for sharing.
😂😂 Yes, and often I can go for months without any new product ideas and then BAM I have 3 fighting for my attention.
I think the best way to mitigate this is to take some small action and run some tests – set up a landing page for the new idea and let it run in the background. You'll either validate that it is actually a better idea to be pursued next, or you'll use real data to realise it wasn't a good idea.
@kylegawley Thanks for that. There was a book I once read called "Pretotype" or something like that. Landing pages and testing is also important. Thank you for that.
I'm 19 right now and even though I've only been bootstrapping for 2 years I can definitely feel where you're coming from. Usually what I'll do is force myself to get my current project to a certain point of profitability/development before committing to moving on. Even if I think I have a way better project idea, if I'm not at that stage with my existing side business I don't even think about moving on.
These are good points. Thanks for sharing.
I sort of embrace it.
Writing down the idea. Mulling it over. Researching it a bit. Starting on the first steps. I've got a handful of projects I'm tinkering with at any given time. DIY vinyl cutter, web apps, design challenge emails, paint palettes to name a few off the top of my head. My areas of interest are varied enough that I can learn programming to work on the apps and then move to working on finishing up paint palettes that I laser cut and will put up for sale.
Now because I don't focus on just one thing, I know that hurts the income side of things, but I'm content with slowly moving forward on many things. When I do see an opportunity or something takes off, I put more time into that thing.
That's a good way to look at it.
I am not the best at delivering projects but I believe I am getting better.
To improve my focus on my current project, I keep a bank of ideas.
When I have a new idea, I start a new document (I use Notion) and write a few sentences of what is it about and include a few links which inspired it. Then, I start a new tag in Pocket, to start collecting related links.
That way, I can keep going with my current project while I keep collecting information for other ideas without getting distracted. Eventually, I can go back to the new idea.
I agree with you.
What I do know is just to put the new project idea in my Trello. It needs some time to rest like a good wine. And possibly I will never spend any time with it.
Just today, I went through the bills on Digital Ocean and saw what I paid for supporting my side project in past years. It's crazy!
It really is important to focus and not go overboard.
Hi @strzibnyj
It's a slippery slope. So we should be aware of it.
there was a great thread on this very same topic on hacker news within the last month or so
Hi @akinhwan
Do you think you can share the link?
@csallen Thoughts on this topic?
This comment was deleted 4 years ago.
This can't be more important. I'm realizing that you need that laser focus and go DEEP into a problem set.
This comment was deleted 2 years ago.
This comment was deleted 3 years ago.
@heylorenzut Good points. I think there is a fine line between Indie Hacker/Hobbyist and founder. We can easily get lost in the "fun building" phase. I can't completely put money aside in this case. So I think it's based on personal goals.