PP 253: An Update on Chronic Idea Disorder

Kim Sutton: Way back in episode PP011 of the Positive Productivity Podcast I talked about the fact that I’ve Chronic Idea Disorder and I also discussed what chronic ideas disorder is, and how you might be able to overcome it, or at least not be so overwhelmed by it. If you haven’t yet had a chance to listen to this episode, I am going to put a link to it in the show notes which you can find at thekimsutton.com/pp253. However, I wanted to update you on everything that’s going on, especially if you’ve been hearing me talk lately about my book. Chronic Idea Disorder was a phrase that I coined in 2015, if not, maybe 2014. When I posted to a Facebook group about how I was suffering from Chronic Idea Disorder, a never ending influx of entrepreneurial ideas, and it was a condition for which there is no cure. Of course, the post was phrased a little bit more eloquently and succinctly than that. However, the post took off, and immediately people were shouting, yes, I have that too. And I knew I had stuck on something. Well, I have had Chronic Idea Disorder for years. And no, it’s not a diagnosable condition. I’ve never taken it to any type of physician or psychologist or anything like that. However, I was falling victim to a never ending idea stream and I was jumping from one idea to the next. What often happened was that I would start a project, get somewhere between 75% and 95% of the way through with building out that project, and then abandon it. Or if I did finish it, and this was the case with several programs and courses that I put together, I would launch it, get frustrated with the results, and then drop it all together. I see so many entrepreneurs have this same problem, just because they’re really not following their passion, number one, and they really have no system to help them get through a productivity cycle, focusing on one project, getting it done and then moving on to the next one. When I launched the podcast in October of 2016, very shortly thereafter, I started talking about how I was writing my book, Chronic Idea Disorder: An Entrepreneurs Guide to Overcoming Idea Overwhelm. This book has been in my head for the last year and a half at least. And up until just recently, it was still stuck right there. In Episode 255, which will be out in a couple days, I’ll discuss further how I develop content and how I get it out to the world. But I found that with Chronic Idea Disorder, I just was not getting inspired or the words were not coming to me. So it was stuck in my head for the longest time.

As I began to let the word start to leak out of my brain, the words began flowing more, and I realized I really needed to take action. However, at the same time, I already had a few major projects on my plate. So I realized I needed to put the book on my backburner. And if I did have a great idea come my way for the book, I would take notes in my planner, my journal or open up the Google Doc that the book is being written in, and I would jot them down, but I wasn’t going to put any major focus on the book until my other projects were done. With this said, I did put out a couple feelers to literary agents and also to an editor at a major publisher. But I did it without really intending for anything really serious to happen as a result. In addition, I’ve been bringing up Chronic Idea Disorder on a lot of the recent interviews I’ve been on, as well as while I’ve been submitting query letters to do speaking engagements. Over the course of the past five years as an entrepreneur, I have seen time and time again, that what we don’t plan often happens. And in 2018 I had no intention of writing the book, or spending time on speaking just because I really wanted to buckle down and focus on the projects I had already laid out in front of me. However, it doesn’t look like that’s what’s going to happen. God seems to have other plans in store for me. In the past six months, I’ve heard from both the literary agents that I sent query letters to, as well as the editor, saying that they would like further information about the book. In addition, I may have a series of TEDx talks coming up with the understanding that I do have Chronic Idea Disorder. I need to be fully transparent and authentic and let you know, I am a little bit overwhelmed, preparing speeches, much less TEDx talks, and getting a full proposal with completed chapters to literary agents and to editors was not something that I had put into my plans, especially for this early in 2018. However, I realized that these are huge opportunities, and they are not something that I want to shove to the backburner. With my own case of CID, I’ve realized that I’ve needed to become much smarter with my time. And I’ve really needed to delegate more and more tasks to my team. I am so fortunate to have an amazing team, who knows what they need to do and when. And because of the way that we relate with each other, we are able to pull together 1000 different pieces to make something awesome, even when one or more of us is slightly distracted.

In order to get everything done that I’ve been working on lately, I have been shutting down social media, keeping Skype on unavailable, and my email box is more often than not, not open as one of my Google Chrome tabs. I don’t need distractions showing up on my screen all day. And I want to recommend that you do the same too. If you have Chronic Idea Disorder, pick one or two projects that you want to tackle in 2018 and do your best to get those done. As a Christian, I do believe that God knows best and his plans aren’t always my plans. So when he sends greatness to me, I do have to do my best to accommodate and to make time in my schedule for these blessings. I realized that your religious beliefs may not be the same as mine, but when blessings come our way, it is crucially important that we decide if we’re going to act on them, or put them aside for a later date. If you’re struggling to figure out which one or two projects you’re going to work on this year, I want you to start first by looking at the projects which you are most passionate about. If you haven’t yet listened to my chat with Cliff Ravenscraft, which was Episode 252 of the podcast. I’m going to put a link in the show notes and I strongly encourage you to go listen to that right now. In our chat Cliff talks about how he has just recently been making a transition from a project which had been making him a substantial amount of money every year to one which was filling him with so much of a sense of purpose and making his heart glow. This is the same as I want for all of you. If you’ve any questions about chronic idea disorder, or how you can get yours conquered, please feel free to reach out to me by visiting thekimsutton.com. Now with all this said, go forth and make it a positive and productive day.

Today’s episode of the Positive Productivity Podcast is brought to you by the Positive Productivity Pod created to empower entrepreneurs to achieve and appreciate personal and professional success without burnout. The pod offers weekly group coaching sessions, online courses, a private member community and tons more. To learn more about the pod and to sign up, visit PositiveProductivityPod.com. See you on the inside.