| Know one of those brilliant brains that can't have a | | | | training meetings, revised agendas, organizational |
| sustained human conversation because their mind | | | | restructuring, innovation after innovation, and of course, |
| races too fast? They may suffer from a not-so-rare | | | | more meetings. They pass it on, unable to listen to the |
| disorder. And you hold the cure - if you print out the | | | | comments of others as they continue to create more |
| following article and hand them a copy. | | | | to-dos in their mind. |
| Entrepreneur SASS | | | | Then they return to the quiet of their own homes and |
| (With permission from Utah Valley Business Q) | | | | continue to think about more changes and more |
| We may have an epidemic among us. At the next | | | | To-Do's deep into the night. They are often oblivious to |
| networking meeting you attend, wash your hands | | | | the peas and carrots on their plate and the 8-year-old |
| immediately afterward - maybe five times for good | | | | wanting to play Bob the Builder. |
| measure. Despite medical evidence to the contrary, a | | | | There is hope. SASS is a curable condition. Those |
| previously thought incommunicable disease is spreading | | | | afflicted by SASS usually have developed an altered |
| faster than copies of Who Moved My Cheese? | | | | sense of reality. Recommended therapy is as follows. |
| The disease is Short Attention Span Syndrome, or | | | | First, have the subject look in a mirror. Ask them, How |
| SASS. | | | | many of you are there? Sometimes, the SASSy |
| Perhaps someone you know and love is affected. | | | | individual thinks outside the box to the point that they |
| Perhaps you yourself have noticed some of the | | | | insist there are two of them. In this case, have them |
| following symptoms. | | | | repeat 50 times the phrase, "There is only one of me. |
| -Shifting in your seat and coughing just a little too loudly | | | | There is only one of me." |
| during a boring meeting. | | | | Second, have the subject look at a clock. At the |
| -Saying to your significant other, I'm sorry, honey, could | | | | beginning of a minute, ask the subject to count each |
| you repeat that? I wasn't paying attention. | | | | second as it passes. At the end of the minute, as |
| -Going to sleep while mentally rifling through a mile-long | | | | them how many seconds there were. If the number is |
| to-do list | | | | anything other than 60, repeat this exercise 59 times. |
| Many with these symptoms joke, "I must have ADD!" | | | | At the end of the hour, ask them how many minutes |
| However, only 4 to 8 percent have the genetic | | | | there were. If necessary, repeat this exercise another |
| condition referred to as ADD - more correctly termed | | | | 23 times and ask them about hours in the day. |
| ADHD, - which is present from birth and, while | | | | Finally, find the subject's calendar. They may have |
| treatable, is permanent. The dreaded disease of | | | | more than one calendar. Explain to them that, since |
| SASS, on the other hand, develops over time. | | | | there is only one timeline in the real world, they can |
| Symptoms begin to appear around the teenage years | | | | only have only one calendar. Next, look for |
| and slowly accelerate until they become a frenzy of | | | | double-bookings. Again, explain to them in a firm but |
| activity and mental noise. SASS is viral. It passes from | | | | loving tone that, since there is only one of them, they |
| manager to employee, from spouse to spouse, from | | | | can only be in one place at a time. If travel time is not |
| parents to children and from children to parents. | | | | properly scheduled, explain to them that, since faxing |
| Most common is the passing of SASS from | | | | one's self has yet to be invented, they will be unable to |
| entrepreneurial types: business owners, risk-tasking | | | | magically teleport from location to location. |
| executives, sales professionals, visionaries. | | | | As therapy continues, SASSy entrepreneurs will |
| Entrepreneurs develop SASS themselves, typically in | | | | gradually overcome their delusion that their disease |
| the incubator of their own ever-changing minds. While | | | | makes them more productive. They will come to learn |
| most everyone has a lot to do, entrepreneurs have | | | | the truth of the proverb, "man who chases two |
| the tendency to pick up a lot more "To-Dos" than the | | | | chickens catches none." |
| average person. They then pass the virus on to those | | | | There is hope for the SASSy entrepreneur. With your |
| around them. | | | | help and the help of professionals, they can and most |
| Entrepreneurs pass SASS to their employees in the | | | | often do come back to reality. |
| form of altered objectives, multi-tasking, bold initiatives, | | | | |