Overcome the Shiny Object Syndrome to Double Revenue & Happiness by Focusing on Less with David Wood: An EOFire Classic from 2021

0:01Light that spark fire nation JLD here and welcome to entrepreneurs on fire brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like My First Million. Today, we're pulling a classic episode from the archives and we'll be breaking down how to overcome the shiny object syndrome to double revenue and happiness by focusing on less. To drop these value bombs, I brought David Wood into EO Fire Studios. Dave acquit his career as a consulting actuary to create the world's largest coaching business. He is currently coaching entrepreneurs to double revenue faster and overcome the shiny object syndrome.

0:35And Fire Nation, today we'll talk about the human mind is restless. If you are willing to tame it, you can achieve so much more in much less time. Know your goals and focus on them if you want more and better results faster, resulting in more time off and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to David and our sponsors. Sales Evangelist, hosted by my friend Donald Kelly, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Each week, Donald interviews the world's best sales experts, successful sellers, sales leaders, and entrepreneurs who share their strategies to succeed in sales right now.

1:11A recent episode you should definitely check out is the five ways to do daily outbound with LinkedIn. Listen to Sales Evangelist wherever you get your podcasts. Is today your day? Visit Thrivetimeshow.com to see testimonials of how Clay Clark's business coaching has helped over 2 ,000 entrepreneurs to dramatically increase profitability. It's month to month and less money than an average minimum wage employee. Schedule your free consultation today at thrivetimeshow.com. David, say what's up to Fire Nation and what is something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with?

1:51What's up Fire Nation? I'm excited, man. Don't you have like a gazillion downloads per episode or something? A gazillion point two, if we're being exact. Yeah. Gazillion wasn't a real word until you came along and then they had to pull it out. So good. So one thing that's controversial that I believe is massive transparency. And I mean transparency in terms of like, what are you feeling in your body? What are your emotions? What are your thoughts that are going on? I tend to be uber transparent and it tends to generate really, really good results. But a lot of people would push back on this. A lot of people would push back on that.

2:31And I just got to wonder why. Do we have some kind of self-destruct mode, some kind of mode that we're just like, hey, I don't want to achieve the type of levels of success I'm capable of? Because if you're pushing back on that fire Nation, time to check the mirror. And as you heard in the intro, we're talking about overcoming the shiny object syndrome to double revenue and happiness by focusing on less fire nation. Who wouldn't want that? So why David, why do you say the shiny object syndrome is quote unquote, a freaking epidemic amongst entrepreneurs? The human mind is like a monkey on crack.

3:11and if you don't believe me, just sit down, close your eyes and count to 100 breaths. All right. You know, most people would get to about 10 and then we're off on something else. I just tried and I got to three, if that means anything. I don't know. Yeah, exactly. Now it's very similar when we work both on the macro and the micro level. On the macro level, people might have 23 goals or they've got no goals, but not many people are very clear. These are the three things that matter. And here are the 10 things I want to do, but I'm not going to. Then on the micro level, similar thing. If you sit down today, do you have super clear goals right in front of you and a list of things that you will choose not to care about for 24 hours?

3:59Or are you checking email? Are you checking Facebook? Are you just answering that voicemail that just came in? The human mind is like a monkey on crack. And if we are willing to tame it and have a little discipline, we can achieve so much more in so much less time. How does this sit with you, David? I've been sharing this for a long time. I'd like you to unpack it a little bit for Fire Nation. I'm a big believer in that so many people that are entrepreneurs, that are small business owners, they are going one mile wide with all of these ideas and only going one inch deep. And they're really not making any impressions as a result where on the flip side, if they just went one inch wide and one mile deep on one thing.

4:45And I love the word focus that you use because the acronym that I love saying about that word is follow one course until success. That's follow one course until success. What are your thoughts about that whole one mile wide versus one inch wide philosophy. It's so true. Now, the first thing to do is become aware of it because this, once we become aware of the nature of our own mind, we can start playing with it and we can start reining it in a little bit. So let's, let's take business owners, of course, as an example, you've got your target market, right? I want to help entrepreneurs and executives and leaders of any kind and couples in relationship.

5:27But what's that going to do to my business if I try and do that? And then what about the problems your target market has? If you had one target market, you might want to help entrepreneurs with focus, with feeling overwhelmed, with revenue, with time off. You see how we're getting scattered. Now we've got 25 combinations of target markets and problem sets, we're already in trouble. And this is before we get to traffic, your traffic sources. Yeah, I want to do LinkedIn and I want to do Facebook ads and I want to do article marketing and I want to do SEO and I want to do social media. It's just way too much to do everything well.

6:13And Clay Collins came up with a really simple, simple model. Pick one of these areas, one target market, one folk, one problem set, one, no, take out the word set, right? We don't want a problem set, one problem, one solution that you provide, one traffic source, and then do all that for one year. Now, I know that's a big ask for entrepreneurs because we're like, but I've got this opportunity, I've got this opportunity. Let's just use that as a baseline so you can measure yourself against it and see how scattered you might be. Then you've got a shot of coming back into focus. Everything we do in life has a cost.

6:57Let's talk right now about the true cost of being super scattered in our work. And let's be honest, our lives. I'm glad you said that because I talk a lot about focus and productivity and making more money and more time off, but why? Why would we even care? If we don't care enough, we're going to keep doing what we always did. Well, one reason, this is the smaller reason, then I'll give you the big one, is we're not making as much money as we could and we're putting in too many hours. So if you've got a 40-hour week or a 50-hour week or a 60-hour week, I believe it's literally possible for you to halve those work hours and get the same work done.

7:41I also believe, and this might be controversial, you can halve those work hours and get twice as much of what matters done in that time. So the smaller reason is you can have more money and more time off and more successful if you focus. The second reason is it's stressful to try and do all of these things and not nail them all. There's a part of the brain that says, wait a minute, I know the most important thing in my business is this. This is what's going to drive it. And yet this is what I'm working on right now, that creates stress. I call that out of integrity because you're not doing what you know.

8:29Now, there was a time when I was writing my first book and it was not happening. And I'm sure a lot of people on the call can relate to this. It was two years, like this is not happening. And so I committed as an extreme example to not touching anything that wasn't book until 4 p.m. every day for a month. And I committed to not speaking until 4 p.m. every day for a month. And it was one of the most peaceful times of my life because I was working on the thing that I had said was most important. And listeners, Fire Nation, I want that feeling for you. I want you to finish each day saying, I worked on what was most important.

9:12I nailed it. And I exercised discipline. There are 10 things I didn't do so that I could rock this out. Out of integrity. Let's be honest with ourselves, Fire Nation. Are you living out of integrity? You have to be honest. You have to take your own pulse. And step one, admit it if you are. Step two, fix it. And after this break, we're going to be talking about fixing it by choosing the right goals and actually having the right plan and how we actually do those things. And then we'll talk about habits as well. How long does it actually take to change habits that might be keeping us out of integrity?

9:46And so much more when we get back from thanking our sponsors. The new year is upon us, and that means new goals, more growth, and upgrading your day-to-day workflow. While most sales folk are stuck in the mud of manual scheduling, digging into data, and tracking down leads, let me share with you a better way to win so you can crush your Q1. The new HubSpot Sales Hub is smart sales software for today's multitasking reps. It's built to help you manage every stage of your sales pipeline with ease. It's filled with easy to use and powerful tools that make closing deals and collaborating across departments a breeze.

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10:52Is today the day to grow your business? What if you could learn the proven systems and processes that have been used to grow thousands of multi-million dollar success stories? at Thrivetimeshow.com. See testimonials of how Clay Clark's proven business coaching has helped over 2 ,000 clients to increase profitability dramatically. Clay's proven business coaching program is month to month and less money than hiring a minimum wage employee. Sound too good to be true? Go to Thrivetimeshow.com to see over 2 ,000 documented success stories because Clay only takes on 160 clients. He personally designs your business plan for you.

11:29Then Clay's team of talented designers videographers, web developers, workflow mappers, and accounting coaches will help you to implement that proven plan. See over 2 ,000 verified success stories and schedule your free one-on-one 13-point assessment with Mr. Clay Clark himself today at Thrivetimeshow.com. Knowledge will not attract money unless it is organized and directed through practical plans of action. Become the next success story. Schedule your free 13-point assessment today at Thrivetimeshow.com. David, we're back. And as we talked a little bit about before the break, goals, plans, why are choosing the right goals so important?

12:09Why is choosing the right plan so important? How do we do that? It depends. If what your main value is entertainment, then you don't need to choose any goals at all. And I'm not being facetious. It's fun to just wake up and say, Hey, what am I going to do today? Let me check email, see if something's interesting. Let me respond to messages. All right, let's see what's next. That's fine. It's only if you want more results, you want better results. If you want to make more money in your business, you want to do it faster and you want to do it with more time off. That's when it matters because the monkey mind has to be told what to care about and whatnot.

12:51So one way we do that is do a little visioning process. We ask ourselves, how do I want to feel at the end of 2021, for example? And then you work backwards. Well, what do I need to be doing to have that? All right, so what are my goals? What am I going to have? And then equally important, this is the stuff I would like to do this year. I'm going to choose not to until this other stuff is done. Now, that's not easy. It's not easy for me, John. I want to do everything. I want to do it now, like a kid with that shiny object. Oh, this toy, this toy, this toy. Now, that's entertaining. But Fire Nation, I got to say, what's your highest value?

13:34Is it entertainment? Is it producing that adrenaline, that dopamine of getting that email done and that little task done that doesn't matter? Or is it results in your business, in your life? Let's talk about the habits because habits can be so key to our lives. And by the way, I love how you talked about the backwards planning. I think that can be used in so many different areas of your life, and it can actually be used about habits. Like when you talk about habits and you're saying, I have these bad habits, well, let's backwards plan. Like what is actually the thing you do right before you do that bad habit and you backwards plan from that to stop you from doing that thing.

14:11And it can be sometimes that simple, but sometimes it's more complicated. So how long does it take to change your habits, David? With my clients, it takes them about three months. I give them the plan. I'm like, all right, let's work it out. Let's customize the plan to you. And they come back and I'm like, what happened? They said it was disastrous. Okay, well, what happened? Well, I booked my sprints in the calendar. Like you said, I went and did that, but then I didn't show up for the sprints. I was busy. I was like, okay, a little bit of lack of discipline here. So they fall off the rails. Then we get back on the horse with that.

14:49And then I said, what happened? They said, it was better. But this time I just kept getting interrupted. People are coming into the office. My kid kept wanting me, whatever. All right. Time to talk to the family. Time to talk to the people in the office. Let them know. Time to put a sign on the door. All right, let's do it. And then after about three months, it's solid. It doesn't take any willpower anymore. Some people are pretty quick. They can get there within a month, but you got to bear in mind, we've got a lifetime of habit to overcome. We really do. We have a lifetime of habit. So going from the shiny object syndrome to peaceful focus action, what are those steps?

15:31Have 12 month goals that would have you do the happy dance. You're actually excited about them. You're excited to tell people about them. Yeah, this is my goal. That's step one. Now we got to layer the goals because that's too far out. So step two, what are your eight week goals that again would have you do the happy dance and have you feel like I'm really fully on track. This is where it starts to get real, but we're not real yet. Step three, let's layer it again and bring it back and have seven day goals, maybe on post-it notes up on the wall, seven day targets. This is what I care about. And again, in parentheses, what are you not going to care about?

16:13Because your mind will try and pull you off track. Now it's great. You know, once you pause this recording and go and create your seven day goals, you'll have those, but what about next week? So step four is put in your calendar, a CEO date with yourself once a week. Say Friday four o 'clock, Sunday four o 'clock, whatever works for you, set an alarm and then show up for that. Just try it for a month and tell me if I'm right or wrong, if this makes a big difference to your business and your life. And in that CEO date, just 20 minutes, you will look back and celebrate what you've done because you've done 10 times more than you think.

16:53And you'll look forward and you'll choose out of your eight week goals, what you care about and what you'll nail for the next seven days. And then the last one, because that was step four, is the CEO date. Step five, book sprints. You can't be on fire 24-7. That's ridiculous. You can't be focused. You can't ask your brain to do that. That's unfair. Book sprints in your calendar, two-hour blocks, where you will actually show up, block off all distractions and focus on what you said you're going to do. So you do those five steps, it'll change everything. So Fire Nation, we've talked about habits.

17:34We've talked about doubling revenue. We've talked about getting rid of that shiny object syndrome. And we talked about happiness by focusing on actually less, which is such a powerful topic. I mean, David, you've talked about so much today. And personally, I love when you broke it down into those five steps. And I really hope Fire Nation, you've sat down and really thought about going through each one of those five steps for you and your life and your business. What is the big takeaway? What's the one thing you want to leave Fire Nation with today to make sure that we go forth and conquer on this whole topic about overcoming the shiny object syndrome, doubling our revenue and happiness by focusing on less?

18:15The one big thing is you have the ability to laser focus. We all do. When my paraglider collapsed at 300 feet, I was focused. Did time slow down too? They say sometimes time slows down. Did you feel like that happened or did it speed up? Hell no. No, time did not slow down, but I was focused. My instructor was screaming in my ear. I don't know what he was saying, but I was absolutely focused on trying to reinflate that wing before I hit the earth. So we all have the ability to do it in those moments. We just need a little bit of discipline. So if you've been thinking, you know what, more money would be better than less.

18:55I really do want good results this year. I want to have a year that's twice as good as last year. Then you can do it with some simple habits. It's going to take some discipline. You're going to have to practice each week, do something different. And just imagine three months from now, you implement these habits. Imagine how good you're going to feel in your business, in your life. That's what I want for you. That is straight fire for you, Fire Nation, coming at you from Mr. David Wood. David, let's just break this down now. How do you want Fire Nation to connect with you? How can we learn more from you?

19:35Any gift or checklist or something that you have for us that we can just continue to consume this wisdom of yours? Give that to us now. Sure, mate. I lined up a gift basket of goodies. So what we've got is a checklist that'll cover the five steps and then another five we didn't get to cover in this conversation. And I did a two hour training and no one really wants to sit through a two hour training. So I went through and spent hours boiling it down to the best stuff, got it down to 35 minutes. It's on how to double your revenue and your income in the next 12 months. And I'm happy to give listeners free access to that.

20:12Plus, if you want to get on a call with me, if you, you know, for people who qualify and you can find out about that, I'll get on the phone for 15 minutes and help you spot the low-hanging fruit in your business. Come on. A talk with David Wood? I mean, hello. What are we doing? What's the call to action? What's the URL? Say it again. Myfocusgift.com. Myfocusgift.com. I'll take you all those and you can get in contact with me as well. Fire Nation, you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with D-dubs and JLD today, so keep up the heat and head over to EO Fire, type David in the search bar.

20:49His show notes page will pop up with everything we talked about today. By the way, we've done past other amazing episodes with David Wood. Listen to those two. They're all value bombs. David, one more time, that gift basket URL call to action. Yeah, I created it just so people could remember it. Myfocusgift.com. Myfocusgift.com, take you straight to my site. David, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Thanks, buddy. Hey, Fire Nation. Today's value bomb content was brought to you by David and Fire Nation.

21:25I spent nine years interviewing over 3 ,000 successful entrepreneurs. And finally, my book, my first traditionally published book is ready. Please check it out. It is The Common Path to Uncommon Success. It is a revolutionary 17-step roadmap to financial freedom and fulfillment. If I've given you value over the years, believe me, I give so much more in this book because it is 71 ,000 words that I've pulled from these amazing conversations, plus my experience in business and life as well. Check it out at UncommonSuccessBook.com. Anywhere books are sold as well, but UncommonSuccessBook.com has a few little added bonuses on there if you want to check it out.

22:10Fire Nation, I appreciate you. sales evangelist hosted by my friend donald kelly is brought to you by the hubspot podcast network the audio destination for business professionals each week donald interviews the world's best sales experts successful sellers sales leaders and entrepreneurs who share their strategies to succeed in sales right now a recent episode you should definitely check out is the five ways to do daily outbound with linkedin listen to sales evangelist wherever you get your podcasts is today your day. Visit Thrivetimeshow.com to see testimonials of how Clay Clark's business coaching has helped over 2 ,000 entrepreneurs to dramatically increase profitability.

22:51It's month to month and less money than an average minimum wage employee. Schedule your free consultation today at Thrivetimeshow.com.