AI can give you a business idea, a plan for carrying it out, and the posts and emails to promote it before you've finished your coffee. Sometimes the idea is actually good. You can see why it would work, and you're already thinking about where to put it in your week.
Before you move everything around, though, there's a question worth answering: does this help you get where you're trying to go?
Shiny object syndrome in business is real. An idea can be exciting, useful, and completely wrong for what your business needs right now. If you're a coach, consultant, or service-business owner, something else to do has to earn its place.
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Key Points
- Start with the business goal. A plan that creates visibility still needs a path from being seen to the result you want.
- Count the work you'll actually do, even when AI helps. Decide what would come off your plate to make room.
- Get clear enough to act. A list of steps can still leave important decisions, tools, and instructions missing.
- I recommend giving a workable plan a full 90 days, observing and adjusting as you go instead of replacing it after a week or two.
- If the practical pieces are addressed and you still repeatedly get stuck, then we look more closely at what remains.
Start with where you're trying to go
When I'm working with a client on an idea like this, we use SCAN. We look at Strategy, Clarity, Alignment, and Now What? Is the strategy sound for the goal? Do you know what to do? Does it fit you and your business? Then we put it into practice and pay attention to what actually happens.
The first question is about the goal. Do you need more clients? Better income from the work you're already doing? A workload you can sustain? Those goals can lead to very different decisions about the same idea.
Let's say you want to sell more coaching packages. AI gives you a plan to grow your Instagram account, complete with content ideas, a posting schedule, and suggestions for reels. It may even offer to handle the posting. That could be an excellent plan for increasing visibility.
Becoming an Instagram influencer doesn't automatically get you coaching clients, though. You still need to understand how that visibility leads someone to working with you. Are you reaching people who could use your help? Are you talking about something they care about? When they're interested, do they know what to do next?
Views can be a useful result, and visibility may be exactly what you're working on. But if your goal is more coaching clients, we need to examine how visibility connects to the result you need. Otherwise, you can put a lot of time into a successful posting plan and still be wondering why your business isn't growing.
Good copy still has a job to do
I worked with someone who used ChatGPT to rewrite her website. The copy explained her approach beautifully. As she put it, though, it wasn't actually speaking to a person.
That's an easy distinction to miss when you're reading about your own work. You recognize the approach. You know what the language means. You can fill in the pieces that aren't on the page because you already understand your business.
The person reading it for the first time doesn't have that information. Can they recognize themselves in what you've written? Can they see why they would want your help? Explaining what you do is only part of the website's job.
This is one reason another set of eyes can be useful. You're trying to read the label from inside the jar. Someone outside your business can notice the connection you think you've explained but haven't actually put into words.
Before you put an AI-generated plan into motion, name the job you need it to do. Then look at whether the plan actually supports that job.
Count the time you have, not the time you wish you had
AI can produce a posting schedule in seconds. You're the one who has to live with it.
You may still need to record videos, choose images, review the copy, schedule the posts, and respond when people engage. AI can help with some of that. It doesn't make the rest disappear.
Look at the actual work across a day, a week, and a month. How much time is available? How much energy does the plan require? If you're already running crazy with your current workload, where is that extra energy supposed to come from?
This doesn't automatically mean you shouldn't do it. It means you need to decide whether the benefit is worth giving something else up. Would you be making less time for clients? Removing an activity that's already working? Taking time from something important outside your business?
I've been thinking about adding a podcast for quite a while. I love recording, so that part doesn't feel heavy. But between a pretty full client load, marketing, being married, and having a life outside my business, I'm not sure I want to give another five or six hours to it.
I could reduce some networking to make room. But then I'd be making introductions and meeting people to bring onto the podcast. Am I reducing the work, or changing the format? It might be worth it. It might not. That's what I need to weigh before adding it.
An idea can be good and still not be the right idea for your business right now.
Make the useful version manageable
Sometimes the goal makes sense and the plan needs to be smaller.
In another coaching conversation, we were looking at videos, blogs, social posts, and everything that can go along with getting content out there. Part of the work was figuring out how to make it manageable. Could she reuse a thumbnail instead of making a new image for each post? Could she write one post and adapt it for different platforms? Did everything need to happen now, or could some pieces wait if the workload got too heavy?
I told her she didn't have to entertain with every single post. She didn't have to become an influencer. We didn't need to chase algorithms as though that were the goal of her business. She needed a way to put useful information in front of the right people that she could actually keep doing.
Look for the version that serves the goal and fits the person carrying it out. If a plan only works when you have unlimited time and identical energy every day, it needs some adjusting.
Check whether you actually know how to do it
AI is useful for breaking an idea into steps. It can also give you instructions for the wrong platform, an outdated screen, or a button that isn't there.
When that happens, give it more context. Tell it which platform you're using, what you've already done, and what you can actually see. A screenshot of the screen you're looking at can help it understand where you are. Keep private information out of that screenshot.
For example, you can ask: “Here's what I'm trying to accomplish. I'm using this platform, I've completed these steps, and this is the screen I'm seeing. What do I need to do next?”
Check that the next instruction matches your screen and helps you move forward. You don't need another ten steps based on a button you couldn't find in the first place.
There can also be missing decisions beneath a perfectly reasonable task. “Create a lead magnet” sounds clear until you sit down to do it. Who is it for? Which problem will it help with? Is that a problem your clients actually have, or one AI thinks they have? What do you want someone to do afterward, and how will you deliver it?
If you don't have those answers, you haven't finished getting clear. The work can slow down or derail because the plan skipped decisions you still need to make.
Keep checking the fit as the steps become real
Alignment isn't something you check once at the beginning and then forget. As you work through the plan, you learn what it actually requires.
Does it fit the tools you have, or does it depend on buying something else? Is the task that was supposed to take an hour taking two or three? Does the work fit how you prefer to use your time?
I'm a long-chunk-of-time person. You might prefer twenty- or thirty-minute blocks. We need to adapt the plan to the person doing it, including the way the steps are arranged. A useful idea shouldn't become oppressive and take over your life just because the first version of the plan looked tidy.
Give it a full 90 days, and pay attention
Once you've made the plan workable, give it a chance. I recommend a full 90 days.
One of the problems with shiny object syndrome is jumping into something, deciding it hasn't worked after a week or two, and moving on to the next new thing. AI will keep supplying new things. It's not going to stop unless you stop asking, although mine did finally tell me to slow down and look at what I was doing over a full quarter, with 90 days as the minimum.
During those 90 days, pay attention to the execution. Can you do it consistently? Is the schedule workable? Are steps still unclear? Is the work taking longer than you expected? Is part of the process competing with client calls, documentation, or something else that needs to get finished?
You can adjust how you're carrying out the plan while keeping the goal in sight. If you love the idea and hate the way you're doing it, examine the way you're doing it before you throw out the whole thing.
As you get closer to the end of the 90 days, look at the results in relation to the original goal. If you wanted sales and you're getting likes, the likes may be useful, but they don't answer the whole question. What is happening between someone engaging and someone becoming a client?
Depending on the platform and approach, progress may be slow at first. At 90 days, you may only be seeing the beginning of a trickle. I still want to see some indication of movement by that point.
Put the idea through a decision sheet
Let's apply those questions to the Instagram example. This is a way to work through your own decision, not a client case or a prediction of results. You can write the answers on one page before adding the plan to your calendar.
- Goal: Sell more coaching packages. Write down the result your business actually needs, so you don't quietly replace it with a posting target.
- Path to the result: Reach people who could use your help, talk about a problem they recognize, and give interested people a clear next step toward working with you. Where does the proposed plan explain each part of that path? Where is it assuming the connection will happen on its own?
- Actual tasks and time trade-off: List recording, selecting images, reviewing copy, scheduling, and responding. Estimate the time you will personally spend on each, then compare it with the time you have. What would come off your plate? If the only answer is client work or time you don't want to give up, revise the plan before committing to it.
- Missing decisions: If the plan includes a lead magnet, identify who it's for, the real problem it helps with, what happens after someone uses it, and how it will be delivered. If you can't answer those questions yet, resolving them is part of the work. They aren't already done because AI put “create lead magnet” on a list.
- Fit changes: Could you reuse the thumbnail, adapt one post for several platforms, or postpone an extra piece? Would recording in one longer block fit you better than small daily sessions? Choose changes that preserve the goal while making the work manageable.
- 90-day observations: As you carry it out, record whether you can maintain the schedule, which steps remain unclear, and what takes longer than expected. Look at visibility if that's part of the plan, and also track whether the right people are taking the next step toward becoming clients. As you approach 90 days, compare that movement with the goal you wrote down first.
You may finish this page ready to proceed. You may discover that the idea needs adjusting, or that something else deserves your time first. Either way, you've made a decision about your business instead of automatically accepting another task.
If you still keep getting stuck
Sometimes you've checked the strategy, clarified the steps, and adapted the plan to your life. You know what to do, and you still repeatedly can't make yourself do it.
That's when we look more closely. An execution block can have practical causes, and sometimes an Underlying Block remains after those practical pieces are addressed. Brainspotting is one of the tools I use with clients when that's what we need to work on. It's almost magical, in my opinion. We don't need to assume that deeper explanation before we've examined the plan itself.
Before you throw out the baby with the bathwater, take the idea you're excited about and ask: what goal does this serve, what will it take, and what would need to change for it to fit? If those answers are clear, put it into practice and observe what happens.
AI can help you come up with a lot of possibilities. You still get to decide which ones belong in your business.
Suggested Reading
- Why a Good Business Strategy Can Still Fail in Execution
A strategy can make sense while the way you are trying to carry it out does not fit you.
- Website Traffic but No Leads? Your Strategy May Be Attracting the Wrong Audience
Look at who your marketing reaches and whether that attention is connected to the result your business needs.
- Strategy vs. Execution: How to Tell What’s Actually Wrong With Your Marketing
Before you replace a plan, check the evidence and whether changing how you do the work would solve the problem.
Read the full video transcript
Full transcript of the recorded teaching, lightly edited for transcription clarity.
0:00 AI just gave you a great idea for your business. It can even give you the plan, the posts, and the emails to make it happen. But before you build your week or your business around it, does that idea actually help you get where you're trying to go? Or did it just give you another task to do? Shiny object syndrome is real. Sometimes an idea is actually awesome.
0:26 But it doesn't help you get from A to Z. And if you're already busy, something else to do has to earn its place. I'm Jennie Hays, the execution block specialist, and today we're going to look at how to decide whether that idea that AI or another coach gave you belongs in your coaching, consulting, service business. And if it does, how to turn it into a plan that actually fits.
0:53 when I'm working with a client on an idea like this, we use SCAN.
0:58 We start with strategy. Does the idea actually help you reach your goal? Is the strategy sound? Then we need to make sure that we get clear. Do you know how to do the thing? Can you do it? Right? Then the next step is alignment. Does the plan align with you, who you are, your time, and your business?
1:24 And the now what is where you put it into action and pay attention to what happens. So let's start with that first question. Where are you trying to go? Does your business need more clients right now? Better income from the work you're already doing, or workload you can actually sustain? Because you can get really excited about doing something that doesn't actually solve the problem you're trying to solve.
1:52 Let's say you want to sell more coaching packages. AI gives you a great plan for growing your Instagram account. There are content ideas, posting schedule suggestions, suggestions for reels. It's going to take over and do all the posting for you. And it might be an amazing plan to help increase your visibility.
2:16 But becoming an Instagram influencer doesn't automatically help you get clients. It helps you gain visibility. It might help you get found, but you still need to understand how visibility leads someone to working with you. And that's completely different.
2:38 Are you getting in front of the people who could actually use your help? Are you talking about something that matters to them? And when they're interested, do they know what to do next? We need to know why you're doing this. Why are you jumping on this task that AI has set for you?
2:58 You can put a whole lot of time into something and still be sitting there wondering why your business is not growing. I worked with someone who used Chat GPT to rewrite their website. The copy explained the approach amazingly. But as they put it, it wasn't actually speaking to a person. That's an important distinction.
3:23 You can read something AI wrote and think, yes, that sounds awesome. That describes what I do. But does the person you want to hire you recognize themselves in it? Can they see why they would want your help? Your website has a job to do, and so did hers. Sounding good, explaining what she does, was only a part of it.
3:50 And this is one of the reasons that it helps to get another set of eyes on what you're creating. When you know your business and you've been working on the copy, you can fill in the pieces that aren't actually there. You know what you meant. The person reading it for the first time doesn't have that information. You're trying to read the label from inside the jar.
4:14 The next question then is whether it fits your time and energy that you actually have, not what you want.
4:23 How long is this going to take you each day, week, month? What time do you have available? Is it time that you're willing to take from something else? AI can write a posting schedule in just a few seconds. But you're the one who has to live with that schedule. You might have to record videos, choose images, review copy, get everything scheduled, and respond when people engage. Those things take time.
4:53 Even when AI is in there helping with some of them. And your energy level matters too. If you're already running crazy with your current workload, we don't need to add something that takes a whole lot of energy that you don't have. That doesn't automatically mean you shouldn't do it.
5:14 It means we need to look at whether it is beneficial enough to give something else up. What would come off your plate? Would you be giving up something that's already working? Would you be making less time for clients? Or would you be making less time for something else that's really important? An idea can be good.
5:39 and still not be the right idea for your business right now.
5:46 You know, I've been thinking about adding a podcast for quite a while now. But the problem is creating a podcast means that I have to make some shifts in my schedule. I need to add more recording time. And I love this. This is not heavy.
6:05 But right now I've got a pretty full load of clients and between that and marketing, being a married woman and having a life outside of business, I'm not sure I want to give another five or six hours to this. Right? And so you have to be able to weigh what's in front of you. Is it worth it?
6:33 So do I want to give up something for it? So if I did a podcast, I could reduce some of my networking maybe. But if I reduce my networking, I'm going to be refilling it with introductions and meeting people to be on the podcast. So am I really reducing it or am I just changing the format? Might be worth it, might not.
6:57 In another coaching conversation, we were looking at a content plan. We were looking at videos and blogs, social posts, all the things that can go with getting your content out there. And part of the conversation was about how to make it manageable.
7:15 Could she use the thumbnail that she already created instead of creating a new image for each post? could she write one post and adjust it for different platforms? Did every piece need to happen right now? Or could some of it wait if things got too heavy?
7:35 I told her you don't have to entertain with every single post. You don't have to be an influencer. We don't have to go for algorithms because that's not our goal. She needed a way to get useful information in front of the right people that she could actually keep doing. So now we've looked at whether the idea serves the goal.
8:03 whether there's room for it. The next piece is clarity. Do you actually know how to do it? AI is really good at breaking things down. It can help you take an idea, work through the steps, but it can still throw you curveballs.
8:21 It might give you instructions for the wrong platform, an outdated set of instructions. It might tell you to click a button that isn't even on your screen. It might give you a step that sounds perfectly reasonable until you try to do it and realize something is missing. So knowing how to talk to AI matters. Tell it what platform you're using, tell it what you've already done, and what you can actually see. And if the instructions don't match,
8:51 That's okay. You can ask it to check, or you can just take a screenshot. Putting a screenshot of what you're actually seeing can really help to get AI on the right page.
9:06 We also need to look to see whether this AI plan actually gives us enough information to act. If it says
9:15 We're going to create this lead magnet. There's still a lot of questions and things to make sure that are aligned with this lead magnet, right? We need to know who is it for? What problem is it actually going to help with? Is that a problem my clients actually have, or one AI thinks they have?
9:37 What do you want someone to do after they use this lead magnet and how are you going to deliver it? if you sit down to do the work and you don't have these answers, you haven't finished getting clear steps yet. And that's going to slow you down and that's going to possibly derail you. This is also where we keep checking alignment.
9:58 As we break the plan down, does it still fit what I'm doing? Does it fit the tools that I have? Do I have to go and buy more tools for it? Does it fit the time that I have? am I noticing that it's supposed to take an hour but it's taking me two, three? Does it fit the way we work?
10:16 I'm a long chunk of time type of person. Are you a long chunk of time kind of person? Do you prefer little 20 or 30 minute chunks as you go along? We need to make sure that this is all set up to fit you. We need to build the steps in a way that maintains your capacity and stays on goal.
10:37 We don't want to start off with what sounds like a great idea and have it become oppressive and take over our life. Then, after all of that, we've got to give the plan a chance.
10:50 And I recommend giving it a full 90 days. We want to have time to see what happens. One of the biggest problems with shiny object syndrome
11:00 Is that people jump into something new and they try it and it doesn't work in a week or two, so they jump into the next new thing. And AI will keep giving you new things. It's never going to stop unless you quit asking it to.
11:15 Though I will say mine did finally tell me, hey, you've got to slow down, and made me look at this quarter, made me look at running things for 90 days minimum, so that that way I could get an idea of what's working and what's not. During that 90 days, we need to evaluate, am I able to do it? Can I do it consistently? Or am I running into scheduling problems?
11:42 is it taking longer than I expected? Am I finding that the steps are still unclear? is there a part of the process that just doesn't seem to fit in my life for some reason? And then as we get closer to the end of those 90 days, we need to look, are we seeing the results we wanted? If we're looking for sales and we're getting likes, that's nice.
12:09 But it's not what we were looking for. So we may need to adjust. we do want to take into consideration that gains will be slow at first and grow. So it could be, depending on what platform, what method, what you're doing, that 90 days you will just start seeing the trickle.
12:34 But you should start seeing something at that point.
12:39 And is the plan creating friction or conflict? Maybe it's taking time away from what you actually need to finish, or client call time, or documentation time. Maybe it's just the schedule is harder to maintain than you thought. Maybe you love the idea, but you hate the way you're trying to carry it out.
13:00 Those are all things to examine in the moment while you're doing this. You can adjust the way you're doing it and still keep the goal in sight and still stay on that 90-day trek. And that's how I use scan in this kind of conversation. Is the strategy sound for the goal? Do you have clarity about what to do? Does the approach align with the person who has to do it? And now what? Put it into practice. Observe what happens. Reassess.
13:30 If the practical pieces are assessed and you're still getting repeatedly stuck, then we look more closely at what's going on.
13:37 Sometimes it's not your strategy or your clarity or even your alignment. sometimes it's something deeper. Because you've got all those pieces. You know exactly what you need to do, but you still can't make yourself do it. Brain spotting is one of the tools that I use with clients when that's what we need to address. It's almost magical, in my opinion. So if AI has given you an idea that you're excited about.
14:05 Take a little time before you throw out the baby with the bath water.
14:10 AI can help you come up with a lot of possibilities, but you still get to decide which ones belong in your business.
14:18 And if you'd like help figuring out what makes sense for your business, how to make a plan fit your life, or what's getting in the way of following through, I'd love to talk to you. You can book a clarity call using the link in the description.
