Distractions, Diversions, and Excuses
Bill Myers
An over abundance of choices is a problem that affects us all - especially as product developers. Here's one way to deal with it. In the beach community where we live, a common complaint among the teenagers is 'there's nothing to do!' Yes, there are the miles of white sandy beaches and year round warm weather, and there's the ocean and fishing and boating and kayaking and the malls and the fast food joints, the video game parlors, the skate parks, and cable TV with 200 channels, the internet, the local movie theatres, and the 50+ county parks . . . yet still there is this constant complaint that 'there's nothing to do'. I think the real problem is that there are too many choices of things to do. Instead of having to choose from just two or three activities (like we had when we were kids), the teens today have hundreds of choices - including doing nothing. This over abundance of choices is a problem that affects us all - especially as product developers. We see so many opportunities, so many possibilities, so many directions we could go - that the choices themselves can overwhelm us - and instead of making a choice, we just keep sifting through the never ending list of possibilities, never making a decision. Perhaps the solution is instead of trying to know and do everything, we should try to do just one thing. And stick with that one thing until the job is completed. That way, we actually get something done while others are still deciding what to do.
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