Mar
25
Chasing the Right Rabbits
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Hunter Nuttall, the “stop sucking and live a life of abundance” guy you may have read about in “The Last Lecture.”)
What a pleasure to be guest posting here at IttyBiz, where finally I can say “fuck” without needing the slightest hint of a reason.
I’ve always thought that recessions are bullshit, but this time I happened to lose my job during one, when my company eliminated every single one of their “safe and stable” jobs. Fuck.
After the shock wore off, I decided it was actually a welcome transition. I had been given the freedom to redefine my life. Lots of free time means lots of possibilities.
But without the structure of a job, I fell victim to one of the deadliest entrepreneurial traps: complete and utter lack of focus. While trying to find something that not only matches my talents, but that I find meaningful, and that other people will pay for, I considered many options, and split my attention between all the ones that seemed appealing.
Too many rabbits
You know the old saying: if you chase two rabbits, both will escape. I don’t know about you, but I’d love to just have two rabbits to chase. Instead, many of us are chasing a sprawling herd of manic rabbits that continue to reproduce while we’re chasing them.
Do you want to have a full time job by day and change the world on nights and weekends? Those are two really big ass rabbits. You’re likely to find the former to be a monstrous distraction, while you pursue the latter with what little energy and mental clarity you can muster at the end of the day. Even if you somehow manage to do a good job with both, there’s a very high risk of burnout.
Do you want to plunge into a home business full time? OK, but what exactly will you do? There’s no shortage of medium sized bunnies to chase. Will you become a world class copywriter? Will you master the latest internet marketing trends? Will you dominate the search engines for an array of carefully selected keywords? Will you become a life coach? Will you build a better mousetrap? There’s so much to consider.
(Here we see one of the unsung benefits of Online Business School. When you learn about the six online income streams, you’ll not only learn what to do, but you’ll also learn what you don’t want to do. When you can rule out income streams that don’t appeal to you, you’re more able to focus on the ones you like best.)
Even when you decide to pursue a single medium sized bunny, you’ll still find yourself chasing an army of elusive fugitive microbunnies day by day. Should you write that guest post, answer that email, work on that new product, spend some time on Twitter, go commenting all over the place, or what? (I wrote about this dilemma in my free ebook Why We’re Failing The 4-Hour Workweek.)
There are more rabbits out there than you could ever hope to catch in a lifetime. You have to carefully pick the ones you want to chase.
Not enough rabbits
The opposite problem is spending too much time chasing one rabbit, only to eventually find out it was the wrong one.
Many people freaked out when Seth Godin said maybe you can’t make money doing what you love. He said, “That blog you’ve built, the one with a lot of traffic… perhaps it can’t be monetized.” It made people think that if they don’t happen to love something that traditionally pays well, then there’s no hope.
But I think Seth just meant that big traffic doesn’t necessarily mean big cash flow, if you’re stubbornly attached to a model that doesn’t work. He had previously given the example of a 14 year old kid who had 45 million views on YouTube, yet YouTube wasn’t able to monetize him.
If you love writing, great. But maybe blogging about blogging and trying to make a living from AdSense is the wrong bunny to chase. However, if you’re creative and flexible enough, maybe you can figure out how to express the same talents in a much more viable way.
So what to do about the rabbits?
It would be ideal to only have to chase one rabbit, but you might not know which one it is. So listen to people who know what they’re talking about. Different people will have different perspectives, but take it all in, then decide what resonates with you.
You want to be focused enough to make great headway on something, but also open minded enough to consider what might be better ways. Concentrate your efforts on what appears to be the best use of your time, but be ready to change your plans when necessary.
They say that if you chase two rabbits, both will escape. Maybe. But in a world where you’re often forced to do that, you at least want to do your best to pick the right rabbits.
Lately I’ve been listening to Mike Dooley’s audio recording “Leveraging The Universe and Experiencing the Magic,” and one of the points he hammers home is how important it is to pay close attention to the end results you want in life and then put yourself out there in as many ways as possible that are congruent with your desired ends, so that the universe can meet you halfway on the path that will work best.
“The time your ship is never going to come in is when you’re sitting on your couch waiting for it.” I’m paraphrasing, but that’s the gist.
Picking the right rabbits is essential, but yes, you have to be ready (and willing!) to shift strategies when necessary.
Great article! Thank you.
Yes it can be frustrating to chase two rabbits, but maybe that isn’t the right analogy for starting a business. Maybe business can be like a triple-scoop ice cream cone, you know the kind with a fresh waffle cone and a cherry on top?
At Baskin-Robbins you don’t just order three scoops of the same flavor; you pick three, and you relish the taste of each one. Together they make a great cone and it’s unique because very few other people would pick the same combination of flavors.
I believe business can be like that.
Sure, some people walk into the Baskin-Robbins already knowing what flavor they want to order. But others like me go in with an open mind and see what’s available. If I had to pick only one I might be overwhelmed, but I can feel okay about three and the important thing is I won’t be paralyzed with fear over picking the right one.
And the unique combination I choose might be exactly the right way for me to change the world.
Although I chose not to participate in the recession by not taking a corporate job & going off to travel for 4 months, I totally see where you’re coming from Hunter.
I’ve been trying to focus my efforts on a certain species of rabbits (maybe I’m not doing justice to your analogy here) and I think it’s really helped me to map out my plan of action.
Oh, and sometimes disconnecting from the internet. Which is what I plan on doing right now, thanks for the kick in the pants to get me motivated again! :)
Hunter, this is such a great post. I am totally beset by an ‘army of elusive fugitive microbunnies’ (awesome image!) and I have no idea what to do about it. But I’m just not the type to settle for chasing one big bunny. I’m wondering if it would work if I chased one big bunny, and one little bunny on the side. Stupid bunnies.
@ Mark, I’d tell that person that if they’re going to just sit around waiting for their ship to come in, they should at least wait at the dock, not on their couch! I actually do all my work at home on the couch, but I guess the saying isn’t meant to be taken literally.
@ Terry, fortunately for us, ice cream scoops can’t run away. And yes, you want a unique combination. No self-respecting entrepreneur goes to Baskin Robbins and orders 3 scoops of vanilla!
@ Nathalie, rabbits are categorized under class mammalia, order lagomorpha, and family leporidae. But there are several different genera and species of rabbits, so you haven’t broken the analogy. Wow, that was way too much rabbit information!
@ Chloe, one big bunny and one little bunny could very well be the right idea for you. Some people can’t commit to just one bunny. It all depends on your strengths and preferences, and the viability of those particular bunnies in the marketplace.
I was chasing that same pack of fugitive microbunnies a few years ago. Trouble was, I kept coming up with great ideas for professional directions to pursue, so the more bunnies I chased, the bigger the pack grew (dare I say, they were breeding like rabbits …)
Then I took a new job, which occupied all of my focus, and after a while I realised I’d caught one of the beggars without trying. I enjoyed the work I was doing (Illustration-based Graphic Design), and wanted to continue working in this field when my work contract ended (which by the way, was yesterday!). So that’s where I’m headed next.
It’s important to realise when you’ve lost focus. It’s also important to know that you can’t necessarily fix things overnight. Advice like this post is a good start.
@Terry, Hunter:Naomi and I were at Harrod’s where they have a place that makes outstanding gelato. All the flavours you could think of, and maybe even some you couldn’t (spaghetti? really?). Anyway, we finaly made our order at sat down to enjoy it. I was raving about mine, and suddenly realized: it was vanilla. Maybe that’s why Naomi’s the entrepreneur and I’m not :)
@Tracy: Excellent point. Sometime we are so focused on the rabbits runnig away from us that we fail to notice the one at our feet rubbing up against our legs. Okay, maybe that’s a cat, but you get the point. It’s important to not chase after the rabbits simply because they’re running away.
So Hunter (or Naomi), I wonder how you practically resolve the “day job” rabbit with the “working on a venture that will eventually get you out of the cursed day job” rabbit?
I like your analogy, but I’m looking for the practical side. Yes, being open to suggestions, ideas, concepts … I’m with you on that, but that’s not a doing step … well it kind of is; I hope you get my point.
If circumstance requires the chasing of two big ass rabbits simultaneously, HOW does one do it effectively (meaning results-producingly) w/o total and utter burnout (which really just means losing both rabbits)?
My big procrastination-creating fear is that I’m chasing the wrong rabbit and having caught all the elusive fugitive microbunnies that go with the rabbit I’ll figure out it’s the wrong one and I’ll have wasted a whole bunch of time, money and effort.
That said, I just keep my nose to the ground and snuffle along letting scent and intuition guide me.
Hunter, love the bunny analogies!
I myself thought my big rabbit was the “answer”, and then when I posed some open-ended questions to my subconscious and “higher self” (and did a lot of thinking about all the rabbits), it turned out my big rabbit was really only small – or maybe I got bigger? Anyway, now I am chasing a new, very young rabbit – Career Realignment. In this process I take a look at your soul/Akashic record to determine your soul purpose, origins, gifts and challenges to get you to a particular herd (?) of rabbits (which suit you at a soul level) from which to begin your chase. I clear any issues out of your record so that you can begin your chase without lugging around the kitchen sink and all sorts of other useless junk! Then, your guides tell me which particular rabbits would be the awesome bunnies to chase. We can even continue to give you pointers on chasing these rabbits – and stay with you until you’ve actually caught it! How cool is that?!
I figure I spent the better part of 8 months figuring out which rabbit would be the best one to chase. As it turned out – I didn’t even see this shy rabbit until the end of the process and when I did I shouted, “Eureka!”. In the career realigment process that eight months could have been reduced to less than a month. Now I can have this rabbit – and it fits in quite well with the former rabbit I was chasing. This is something I would have never believed was even possible.
Blessings,
Keena
PS I used to chase another rabbit – which I still love – as a biologist. Did you know that there is a Nuttall’s Cottontail Rabbit?!?! Check it out! http://www.bentler.us/eastern-washington/animals/nuttalls-cottontail-rabbit.aspx
PPS I found you through Akemi
I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’ve seen you use profanity.
“be ready to change your plans when necessary.” This is an important point. You need to be flexible enough to change direction if necessary, and you need to be aware of the other options out there so that you know which new direction to choose.
This is of course true not just for business owners and entrepreneurs but also for more traditional careers.
I’m chasing so many fucking rabbits right now. Seriously. In fact, I think they’re multiplying as I chase them in the same way military planes refuel in flight. Stupid fornicate-on-the-go bunnies.
Wait. Are you seriously not on Twitter for me to follow? Get over here so I can smack you.
@ Tracey, sometimes a rabbit wants to be your friend. That’s the best situation, but the trick is to recognize it when it happens.
@ Jamie, when I went to Malmesbury, England (near Swindon), I had a slice of pie in the hotel, and it just happened to come with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Seriously, it was the best ice cream I’ve ever had! Vanilla gets a bad rap sometimes, but let’s not forget it’s by far the most popular flavor for a reason.
I went back later for more ice cream, but it was never the same again – it just tasted like regular ice cream. Oh well, maybe I’ll find it someday.
@ Christy, great question, but to answer it well would take far more space than is available here. Also, a lot depends on the specifics of your personal situation, which I know nothing about. But let me give you a short answer here. It essentially boils down to this: (1) identifying the most critical tasks, and (2) being efficient at getting them done.
#1 is about knowing how to run a business. By reading IttyBiz, you learn things like “spend four times as much time on marketing as you spend actually doing your thing.” That’s an example of identifying the critical tasks. It’s about doing the right things.
#2 is about time management. Unplugging the TV, batching similar tasks together, avoiding perfectionism, and so forth. It’s about doing things right.
Chasing those two big rabbits is very hard, no question about that. But if you look at where people fail, it’s usually with #1 or #2 above. I know this isn’t exactly a personalized action plan, but hopefully it will help you assess whether you’re on the right track.
@ Alex, that’s a very common fear, but I think you’re doing the right thing by chasing it anyway. If a better rabbit comes along, you can always change your plan, but you have to at least be chasing something to stay in the game.
@ Keena, so you’re a “meta.” You’re chasing a rabbit that will help other people chase their rabbits. Good job! I know what you’re talking about, from having read Akemi’s blog. That’s funny about the Nuttall’s Cottontail!
@ Vered, it’s certainly the first time you’ve seen me use profanity to this degree, but you’ve seen some WTFs here and there. I have to customize my post for Naomi’s readers, you know. :) You’re right, being willing to change your plans is important for anyone.
@ Johnny, that’s a funny image with the planes refueling! Not sure who you want to smack, but I’m @hnuttall and Naomi is @ittybiz on Twitter.
Great post and so true….focus is the answer don’t panic..(easier said then done) and enjoy the ride. (we’ve all experienced them)
Dorothy from grammology
grammology.com