Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

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September 10, 2009

Beware the Single Biggest Time Sink on the Web

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 8:19 am

I've been thinking . . .

about time sinks.

When I first got to the web I spent my time wandering, exploring. I was learning and making friends. We’d discuss things, sometimes long delicious thoughts would last for days. Those conversations hardly happen much anymore. Everyone is so plugged in.

My inbox seems to be so many ideas coming at me. Each one is colorful and attractive. Many are doable. Some have potential to be huge. Some will never run.

I used spend time helping folks think through their idea, put together the pieces so that they would have something whole and workable. Eventually I found that I can’t help every idea and get anything of my own done. A great idea deserves a commitment.

How many commitments can one person make?

Getting ideas is so much fun. Making them happen is where the real work starts.

We lose interest, find a flaw, get seduced by a new idea, or land a job that offers more.

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Have you found that biggest time sink on the web are ideas that never get done?

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14 Comments to “Beware the Single Biggest Time Sink on the Web”

  1. September 10th, 2009 at 9:02 am
    Storyboard Life said

    we are finite people with finite resources … can’t help everyone..but the question is…will you help when you can.

  2. September 10th, 2009 at 9:05 am
    KatFrench said

    Yes!! That’s EXACTLY what I was talking about with Valeria Maltoni on last week’s Twitter #socialmedia conversation, about needing more “completers” and fewer “starters.”

    I love that there’s no shortage of people with wonderful ideas out there. I just wish there were more people who could turn. off. the. firehose. of new ideas and actually FINISH some things. Or get them out of the gate of the “cool idea” stage, at the very least.

    I need to do a better job of that, myself. It’s hard to stop chasing those shiny objects, though, when doing that is what (in part) got me into this field in the first place.

    Thanks for a lot to chew on in this post, Liz.

  3. September 10th, 2009 at 9:15 am
    Elaine said

    Reading good (or bad) advice on expanding your reach, establishing trust, making sales and implementing the good stuff are two separate issues. Both take time.

    They become a time sink only if your tech skills aren’t up to the implementation part.

    Unfortunately, newbies don’t know their limits until they try.

  4. September 10th, 2009 at 11:45 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Yeah, Peter!
    I’ve got help for the folks who respond with true intent to move their ideas forward. Sometimes I watch a while to see who they are. Sometimes even we don’t recognize when we’re not sold on our own ideas. :)

  5. September 10th, 2009 at 11:46 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Kat!
    What a great conversation that is — the starters and the completers.
    I actually would like to add the middle folks. Some of us don’t mind either end, but hate the part in the middle where the building is going on. :)

  6. September 10th, 2009 at 11:48 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Elaine,
    I don’t think this is just about tech skills. It’s about whether we just like having ideas and never get to the execution because having ideas is easier than not.

  7. September 10th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
    Nile said

    I subscribe to a lot of different types of blogs, and of course, I get quite a few emails from users whether it involves help for their WordPress blog, social media, blogging in general, or web design in general.

    I am still such a small fish in my corner of the social network pond, and I get inspired a lot, but find I do not have time. My LONG list of blog topics to do in the future, I either shove down when something right away I feel should be posted.

    For me, it really is not losing the interest at the moment. I am sure further along the line, but since I have been blogging since 2004, it is a matter of getting the material out there, connecting, learning, and sometimes redeveloping and adding to old topics because things have changed.

  8. September 11th, 2009 at 7:07 am
    Christa M. Miller said

    Because I wrote short stories for years, I’ve gotten pretty good at figuring out which ideas are strong and require follow-through, and which aren’t. Actually writing them was often difficult, but I did learn follow-through too. :)

    The trouble I run into now is when good ideas come from other people — potential clients — so that brainstorming is part of lead nurturing (at least in some ways). How much time/energy do I need to put in to show I’m interested and can help, without forsaking my existing work? I am starting to get a better sense for it, but confess I worry that I miss things!

  9. September 11th, 2009 at 10:46 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Christa,
    I’ve been drawing more lines at where I think it’s time to stop investing in other folks’ ideas. Sure we can do a lot with almost anything, but things 10% done take far longer to build than things thought through to 90%. So I’m saving my time for folks who have giving their all to their idea and are ready to move to the next step. :)

  10. September 11th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
    Todd Smith said

    yes, this reminds me of advice once given to me in business… stop the ideas for while, pick one and do it well. It has served me well.

  11. September 11th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hiya, Todd,
    I too subscribe to the do one thing well belief.

  12. September 12th, 2009 at 11:01 am
    Christa M. Miller said

    You know Liz, in thinking about all the people who have contacted me, I do see distinctions between “10%’ers” and those who need help with one aspect of business, when the rest is set.

    I even think I’ve unconsciously been drawing boundaries when I ask questions about the problems they need solved — I can think of at least two cases where they realized they weren’t ready to talk to me yet.

    Your comment that “we can do a lot with almost anything” makes me think too that when folks are building ideas, unless they want a partner, the ideas really need to come from them — it’s the foundation they’ll need to solve the problems using the tools we give them. Yes?

  13. September 12th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Christa,
    I read this last night and thought so much about your point that folks really need to find and fill out their own ideas. Most of today that’s what I’ve been working on as well. Maybe that’s how we internalize our commitment?

  14. September 12th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
    Christa M. Miller said

    I think so, Liz. Years ago I spent a lot of time trying to help other fiction writers build books that never came to be. Only one or two ever finished.

    It seemed that they were full of ideas but preferred the hope of a beginning, when possibilities are endless, rather than delving deeper, when you start to find out whether the ideas are “sticky.” If they aren’t, what then? What does that mean for you?

    Thus I think people reach out for help in the hopes that they’ll be validated… where the real validation comes from allowing ideas to percolate on their own, eventually coming back to them if they stick, and letting them go if they don’t. It’s hard to learn to trust that….

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