Are You Distracted By Shiny, New Objects?

Do you remember the movie UP and the dog named Doug? What a great name!  You may remember that Doug and the other dogs were easily distracted when it came to squirrels.

My squirrel is anything “new” – new books, new exercise plans, a new sales plan, new whatever.  This does not apply in the case of my wife!  She’s always new to me anyway. 

But I must admit, especially in terms of professional and physical improvement and discipline, I used to be consistently tripped up by the squirrel of “newness”.  New always seemed better – I guess because it was, well, NEW!  It looked better, smelled better and just seemed like a better way. This was especially true when compared to the boring, stale, plan I had been working so diligently for 2 or 3 solid weeks!

The problem is that, while new can be better (though it often is NOT), better isn’t the issue; consistency is.  Think about it.  Even if the new idea is a better one, how long will you apply it before the next new one comes along?  It’s like getting city mileage when you can be and should be getting highway mileage.

Do you change your sales plan or approach too quickly, because you learn of a new one and new seems better?  Do you change your workout plan too quickly because you learn about a new one and new seems better?  Do you have a bunch of unfinished books because new seems better?  I encourage you – when it comes to your sales efforts, in particular, give your plans time to develop and truly provide enough feedback to determine if change is truly justified.  Don’t stay in a stale, stagnating, and boring plan, but don’t change just for the sake of change either.

Effecting change is not an event; it is a process – and thereby takes consistent and intentional effort in order to become entrenched into the culture of an individual, team and/or company.