For a few months now we have been enjoying the common milkweed growing along the road we walk each morning.

The leaves are thick and coarse. The stem is sturdy and straight.

The globe of pink umbel bloom looks odd to me, but the butterflies do not care what I think. They love it.

At first the plants were about three feet tall.

When they bloomed they were a magnet for the fritillaries.

Dozens of them swarming eight or ten plants, with a monarch visiting.

My attempt to get a video was a lot of burnt orange blur.

Then time passed, and as the plants grew, we started noticing the black and tiger swallowtails.

We realized the stems had put on another six to eight inches and started a new round of bloom.

The old blooms hung spent below.

The plants are done blooming now.

They are about six feet tall and the pods that will open this fall are growing in a bulbous, again odd to me, almost an alien form, covered in small orange aphids.

Such a good host plant for so much life. And thankfully, the deer don’t eat it.

As I thought on all this, I realized that the milkweed plants never got bored.

They did not decide at four feet that they would rather try being a shrub.

They kept pushing and bloomed. Then pushed and bloomed again.

Then they put everything into seed.

Same plants, same spot, same road, all season long.

I was thinking about this after listening to David Epstein on Elise Loehnen’s podcast, talking about his new book on constraints.

He and Elise got into why creative people sabotage their own businesses.

We get bored with the core work before the core work has fully landed.

So we start something new. It feels like ambition. Often, it is avoidance.

There is a line in that conversation about how startups don’t starve to death.

They die of indigestion. Too much taken on, not too little.

I have done this, and I suspect you have too.

The offer is working but it isn’t finished, and instead of finishing it we go build the next thing, because the next thing is more fun than the unglamorous work of making the current thing actually land.

So the question I am sitting with is not what else could we do.

It is what are we in the middle of that deserves another round of bloom.

Those milkweed plants grew six feet because they focused on one thing at a time.

How far could we get if we did the same thing.

One question before you go 

I am revising my current book, Profit First for Ecommerce Sellers, about this exact pull.

The pull that shows up right when the current thing is close but not finished. 

I do not want to write it from research alone.

I want to write it from what is actually happening in your business.

Could you help me out by answering the below question?

That’s it. Thank you!

And if you want to tell me about the offer you didn’t finish, hit reply. I read all of your responses.

Cyndi

Quick Summary: Watching a milkweed patch grow all season without ever switching direction is a reminder of what real business focus looks like. This post explores shiny object syndrome — why business owners abandon a working offer to chase the next new idea — and makes the case that most businesses don’t fail from doing too little, but from taking on too much before the current thing is finished.

FAQ

What is shiny object syndrome in business?
Shiny object syndrome is the pattern of abandoning a current project, offer, or strategy in favor of a new idea before the original one has had time to succeed. It often feels like ambition in the moment but is usually avoidance of the harder, less exciting work of finishing what’s already started.

Why do business owners quit on offers that are working?
Founders often get bored with the unglamorous, repetitive work of refining an offer once the initial excitement fades. Starting something new feels more energizing than the slow work of making an existing offer actually land.

Why do startups fail — too little effort or too much?
Most startups don’t die from doing too little. They die from indigestion — taking on too many new initiatives at once instead of giving one thing the sustained focus it needs to work.

How can a business owner stay focused on one thing?
Treat the current offer or project the way a milkweed plant treats a growing season: same spot, same effort, round after round, without switching direction. Ask what’s already in progress that deserves another push before starting something new.