Bright and Shiny Objects
Bright and shiny objects are great for diversionary tactics. Don’t want someone to notice a few flaws? Surround them with bling, and what people will mostly see is bling. Don’t want anyone to notice that your dining room needs painting? Turn the lights down low, and set the table with cut crystal and candlelight. The tone becomes romantic in a sparkly kind of way.
You probably do the same thing in your life’s work. Got something really important to do, but you’re not sure where to start? Got something that you really want to have or be or achieve, but you’re not sure if you’re smart enough, good enough, deserving enough? You can distract yourself with bright and shiny objects—bright ideas and shiny enthusiasm for something that’s easier, simpler, and probably not as important as what you’re avoiding.
How do you distinguish the real stuff from “fool’s gold”? The real stuff keeps coming back. You might get nervous about it, avoid it, approach it, circle around it, whatever—but it keeps coming back. The real stuff makes your heart sing, makes the world a better place for you, and when you’re in the middle of it, you’re unselfconscious and have no sense of time.
There’s nothing wrong with fool’s gold. It’s bright and shiny, fun and entertaining for a while. There’s nothing wrong with it unless or until it gets old and boring, and you get resentful and realize that it’s distracting you from what you really want to be and do.
What are the bright and shiny objects in your life? What’s keeping you busy and distracted? What is it that you really want to be and do? What’s keeping you from being and doing what you really want? Fear, anxiety, old stories about what you deserve? What might happen if you faced those obstacles and moved deliberately and strategically toward what you really want to be and do? Who knows what’s possible? Wouldn’t it be fun to find out?
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Too true. This is funny because when our family goes somewhere I am the one distracted by shop windows or slowing down to look at something. I consider this to be a “stop and smell the roses” quality, but it can also spill over into the work life. Email, Facebook (the phone which just rang!) all keep me from getting things done. Keeping my eye on my list of projects helps to get me back on track.