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Here’s yet another symptom of manifestation of fear: Jumping from one thing to another.
As you might suspect, this symptom of fear is closely related to some of the other symptoms, especially feeling overwhelmed. Indeed, many people who feel overwhelmed start jumping from one thing to another, simply because they can’t quite decide which is the best course of action to take.
For example:
- The aspiring online marketer may start off by optimizing his site for the search engines. Before that task is complete, he switches gears and decides to use social media marketing. Before he sees results from that endeavor, he starts on yet another thing.
- The aspiring novelist starts a book. Then he changes him mind about what he wants his story to be about, so he rewrites what he’s completed so far. Then he decides it might be better for him to find an agent rather than work on the book, so he focuses his efforts on this new task.
Those are just two examples, but this same kind of thing can happen with almost any task. In all cases, the end result is the same: the person takes action, but the overall task never gets completed, mainly because these action steps never get complete.
Again, this is a form of fear that’s incredibly hard to detect, especially for someone who’s in denial. That’s because the person actually is taking the right action. He’s actually working on various steps he needs to complete in order achieve his goals. But the problem is, he’s simply not finishing the steps. Yet every day this person can truthfully say that he’s working towards your goals.
The other big problem with flitting from one thing to another (even if it is the right action) is that it’s a terribly unproductive and inefficient way to complete a task. And yes, this is contrary to popular belief.
You see, some people pride themselves on multi-tasking. So when they’re flitting from one step or task to the next step or task, they tell themselves (and others) that they’re multi-tasking. Perhaps doing so makes them feel super-productive.
But it’s not super-productive. Indeed, it’s inefficient. That’s because every time you switch gears and change tasks, you need to spend some amount of time re-orienting yourself to the new task.
The best way to explain this is with an example…
Let’s take a really simple task, like writing an article. For best results, the person should give 100% of her focus and attention to the task at hand until it’s complete. “Multi-tasking” by reading email while writing an article is a time waster. Here’s why:
- The person researches the topic.
- The person checks his email and finds an email from a customer.
- The person goes back to the research reference and has to re-read part of it to remember what it’s about.
- The person goes back to answer the email, but first she has to re-read the email to remember what it’s about.
- The person returns to the article, spends a few seconds re-orienting herself and then continues where she left off with her research.
And on and on – every time the person switches to the other task, she wastes time re-orienting herself. And this happens for a simple, short task like writing an email. Imagine how much time is wasted on large tasks like starting a business or writing a book!
Take a moment now and think about whether you ever jump between tasks, either big or small. If so, realize that doing so isn’t productive… and that this grasshopper mind of yours may actually be a symptom of fear.
That’s it for this time. Next time you’ll discover how to overcome your fears so you can start on the path to success!