I’m a little later than usual sending today’s email, since it was well after midnight when we arrived here in San Diego for Social Media Marketing World.
I’m not a coffee drinker, so I needed some zzzz’s or it would be a rough day down here …
Since I flew for what felt like 20 hours (but was closer to 8), I had plenty of time to think.
And whenever I fly, at some point the tv show LOST pops into my brain.
It’s probably not the best thing to think about a show that was based around a plane crash, but back in the day I was a huge fan.
I plunked my butt down in front of the tv every week to find out what the heck was going on with that strange island.
After LOST became a massive hit for ABC in its first season, it stumbled in season two.
And it looked a little “lost” in season three as well – storylines went nowhere, some episodes seemed to be filler (including an awful one about Jack’s tattoos), and the writers didn’t seem to know what to do with many of the characters.
I read an interview with one of the writers, who said that the reason the show struggled after the first season is the network wouldn’t give them a firm end date for the series. Not knowing how long the show would go (would it be three seasons, four, six, or ten?) the writers were essentially left roaming around filling pages without any sense of direction.
After enough of this wandering, ABC finally gave LOST an end date, and decided that it would wrap up after the sixth season.
Once that happened, the writers could finally get to work on tying up loose ends and giving the series a proper send off.
Although some would argue about whether the series finale was satisfying or not (I’m in the latter camp), LOST got back on track once it knew where it was going.
I see a lot of people wondering around aimlessly online, too.
They start doing something one day, and then change course the next. They aren’t sure where they’re going, so they can’t make any concrete plans.
Don’t kid yourself, lack of direction hurts motivation. You can be the most-motivated person in the world – filling your brain with Les Brown speeches and Tony Robbins’ videos all day long – but if you don’t know where you’re going, any motivation will be short-lived.
Take Facebook groups for example.
An often-followed path is for someone to open a group with a vague sense of its purpose, put some time into it in the early days, then throw their hands up in frustration and declare: “Facebook groups are a waste of time!”
They aren’t. But you have to have a clear path with where you’re going with it, or you’re screwing your group like ABC screwed LOST.
If you want to grow and monetize a successful, engaged Facebook group that fills up your coaching programs, sells your online programs, and makes your business a lot better, here’s how you do it:
Don’t worry – there’s no smoke monster on this island …
