
Entrepreneurs and...Hey, There's A Shiny New Thing - terpua
http://onstartups.com/home/tabid/3339/bid/6739//Entrepreneurs-and-Hey-There-s-A-Shiny-New-Thing.aspx
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endtwist
This is oh-so-true, and applies to me quite well -- but I wouldn't, on a
whole, say it's a bad thing. While being able to stay "on track" is (of
course) very useful, if you do get distracted so easily then perhaps you just
need some temporary distance from what you're working on. Or, perhaps, you're
working on the wrong thing altogether.

As in my case, I got distracted by a whole new idea while working on one of my
other concepts. Was it a good idea to get distracted? Perhaps, perhaps not.
Regardless, after some evaluation, I felt as though I needed to take a step
away from my other project, and I don't see anything particularly wrong with
that.

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tjpick
One effective technique to use is to write the shiny new thing down. It goes
into a list of things you are working on or want to work on. Let it sit for a
couple of days, jot down extra ideas and details as they come to you, do a
little scope statement. Initially I assign everything as "normal" priority.

Periodically come back to the list, review all items and reprioritise. If it
is complete junk, scratch it off. If it's worth moving quickly on, put it high
on the list. If it's worth thinking about some more or dealing with "later",
lower the priority.

If you complete a current project, pull a new one off the top of the list. Not
necessarily the very top, depending on time available, interest in that topic
etc.

Issue tracking software is great for this (I use GNUe DCL which is a little
difficult to set up but really nice once you get it going) but you can use a
notebook or an emacs buffer or whatever ruffles your feathers.

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dshah
One of those rare cases where the title actually loses a bit as a result of
the missing ! at the end.

Should be:

"Entrepreneurs and...Hey, There's A Shiny New Thing!"

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mhartl
You're right. Strangely, the original article title does have a '!'.

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stanley
Persistence is a key component of success.

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rickaw00t
Great piece. It's the flipside of the "shotgun approach", which I like for
diversification, but like any multi-tasking takes you away from focusing on
the issue at hand. I think it's a tough balance to strike, and probably
depends on how much wiggle room you have before you run out of money.

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davidw
Hrm... seems somehow topical, given that I fetched the Reia sources from git
and started playing with the language:-/

