How many times have you gone shopping with a list, physical or mental, and came back home having more things than you had on your list or nothing that was on that initial list? I know the men might say, GIRL STUFF!!! Well lets talk life and projects, how many times have you started something and before you know it you met this people who were to assist but you have to jump hurdle A with them to get to your destination B, the kitchen gets full and you need a breather or you change character so that you keep up with all the drama and when all is said and done, you almost cannot recognize who you be.

Bringing the point closer home, especially my self employed brothers and sisters, you log in with your list of things to do. You check your email and boom FACEBOOK NOTIFICATION: Sitawa invited you for 1,2,3 so you say, let me check what 1,2,3 is, I mean it could be helpful to my business, you log in and boom Sitawa is online so you ask her about 1,2,3 and get into a long discussion, remember your brother had once asked you about it and instead of putting it at the bottom of your to do list, you hit up your bro, hit a few pals on twitter, put the pic on tumblr where you see some amazing pix that you reblog and before you know it, morning is gone, you are hungry and say, after lunch it is me and this list.

After lunch there is a meeting you are ill prepared for so you undersell just to get it over and done with, repeat the sequence and wonder why your can't make ends meet yet you wake up so early, PRAY, PLAN,have invested in an office, equipment...well my friend you have the bright shiny red object syndrome and as a recovering bright shiny red object patient, here are some pointers.

1. As Tracy Chapman sings, do not be tempted by the shiny apple, all you have is your soul. Check it today, check your soul and see where you wanted to go when you began the journey, however big or small, what were your hopes and ambitions? Sometimes we lose sight because we have no sight or we are not really sure of where we are going. PLANNING is essential, proper planning includes a contingency plan, in event management, we have Rick assessment where we look at all the possible dangers and how to counter them. Do that for your life, that one hour going back and forth in the name of planning can save you a lot.

2. Check what makes you lose sight of your vision? You may have had new year resolutions but now you feel this resolution thing is not for you. You wanted to go in buy a packet of milk and get out but got back home with sausages and noodles, a soda to take it all down and mayo for the salad and the list goes on, then tomorrow you cannot leave the house because you have no money. From my own experiences, bingers try to fulfil a certain suppressed need. Check your soul and see what that need is and look for the right ways to get it out. I knew my issue was the rape ordeal. I had to live above it, to feel worthy, to feel that I am more than what any man can do to me...that God has a grander plan with what the devil intended for my down fall...LOOK AT ME NOW!!!

3.I know society has its own pressures et al which brings me to my ultimate pointer, FOCUS!!! You can plan all you want, have a physical, virtual and all you want calender, know the black spots and how to avoid them but it you are not disciplined, if you have no FOCUS, you will get nowhere. If you let little things and people distract you, you will end up being little, little money, little achievements, little dreams, little goals, little investments, little beliefs, little relationships...and little little ailments which if you are not careful will blow up into one huge monster.

BUT all is not lost, determine this afternoon to start your Bright Shiny Red Object syndrome treatment. Shut the millions of tabs on your browser, that you opened thanks to a little link you saw during your little visit to twitter. Make a list of things to do, it may get to 100 but mark 5 important tasks and let them be your area of concentration this afternoon. If music makes you work best, blast away (considering others), if barefoot works for you as it does me, remove them shoes. Remember not everyone does everything on their list so if by close of business you still haven't finished don't fret but always give an update to your boss, your client just to let them now their work is top priority and make sure it is. 

Let the social media(unless it is your primary employer), eating, chatting, checking out photos and all the other things you identified in (2) be a reward not the action. Most sites have a like and recommend so you really don't have to go to your page to see if the post you were researching on and would love to share actually went there. Do the most important thing, take breaks to re-energise then back to work. 

You only reward when you get results ie you do not reward for doing an exam, you reward for passing the exam. So until the boss says nice work or the client calls back, no rewards. Do not reward yourself for going shopping by buying junk, do not reward yourself for hanging out with a SPLENG crowd by throwing rounds...

Watch how you make yourself feel good and you may just be treating yourself out of the bright shiny red object syndrome. 

Remember when you see what you are doing as the bright shiny red object, the rest aren't so bright, not nearly as shiny and the red on them looks diluted and you can only achieve this when you take time to plan tasks, have contingencies, avoiding 'temptations', FOCUS, FOCUS, reward then move on to the next one.Otherwise you will make time, seem busy, get tired and still remain at the same spot.

It is hard at first but if you want to go to the heights you set when you began the journey it is worth the sacrifice and when you reap the rewards, it doesn't really mean much.