Overcome “Too Many Ideas” Syndrome and Finally Write Your Nonfiction Book

Last updated: December 10, 2025

You’ve probably heard of “shiny object syndrome” which is what happens when creative people, like writers and entrepreneurs, get distracted from their current project by a super fun, exciting new project.

“Too many ideas” syndrome or “shiny idea” syndrome is what happens when we have so many ideas that we never even get started. We struggle to decide on our book’s genre, focus, or point.

The impact of both of these is that you never start, finish or launch a project..like your book. It’s frustrating because you know you’ve got great ideas.

I’d like to say that I’m fully self-aware and am immune to this, but alas, I am not. I have courses started but not finished, a folder of probably 50+ blog posts in various stages of completion, a pile of partially read nonfiction books, and that’s not including all of the partial quilting and sewing projects I’ve got.

What does too many ideas look like for aspiring nonfiction authors?

Continuing to generate ideas and refusing to decide on one is a form of procrastination in that it’s a way of avoiding taking action and potentially failing or doing something poorly.

In our imaginations, our ideas are perfectly executed, best-sellers. Ideas have so much potential, and they’re fun to generate. This idea generation and refusing to make a decision shows up in two ways with my book coaching clients:

1. Aspiring nonfiction authors struggle to decide on their genre.

They have an idea for a self-help book based on their extensive expertise, so they plan to write a self-help, prescriptive nonfiction book.

But, they also have lived experience in that arena, so they want to include their personal journey. Uh oh. Maybe their book is really a hybrid or memoir+, a self-help book with a heavy dose of memoir?

That idea leads to the next possibility that maybe the self-help part doesn’t belong at all. Maybe that’s a whole different book focused solely on their expertise, and this book is actually a memoir of their experiences. 

Around and around they go, mulling over all the possibilities for their book. They’re all so shiny, but which one is best?

2. Aspiring nonfiction authors struggle to cut content and make a clear argument or point.

In this case, the author has chosen their genre, but they want to include all the ideas. There’s their framework itself, the how-to piece, with all of the theory and research behind it, and there are case studies, interviews, examples, personal anecdotes and stories, lived experiences, and explanations of all of it.

There are also so many great exercises and prompts to include to work their reader through it all.

They keep coming up with more and more shiny ideas, all of which they think must go into this book.

The challenge comes in actually deciding which idea(s) you want to work on.

Look at the word DE-CIDE. It has the root “cide” in it which means “to kill” or “to cut.” In terms of ideas, when you decide you’re essentially killing off other ideas and committing to one idea for your self-help book, one book you want to write, one argument you want to make, one transformation you’re promising for your reader.

This can be terrifying because

• you could possibly fail to execute your idea as well as you’ve executed it in your imagination, and
• you’re committing to actually taking action on your idea

So, what happens?

Aspiring authors stay in the “land of ideas” generating more and more of them because it feels safe and fun. There’s no possibility of failing or of executing your book idea poorly.

How to deal with Shiny Idea Syndrome

You have to make a decision and commit to sticking to your decision.

If you’re reading this, I’m going to guess that you’ve already tried to decide. Maybe you’ve:

• checked in with your gut to see what your intuition says
• felt into which idea feels like the most fun
• thought about which one would help you reach your business or writing goals in the best way
• looked at which idea would be fastest to write
• asked a friend for advice
• possibly even pulled a tarot card for an answer (yeah, I’ve been there, too)

Yet here you are, still spiraling about which book to write. Rather than calling the psychic hotline to ask which book you should write, let’s tackle this a little more methodically.

In her book How to Decide, Annie Duke lays out a six-step decision framework for helping you evaluate your options and make decisions that go beyond a pro-con list which she believes is a weak tool for evaluating several options when making a decision. What follows is a very brief summary of her process, and I’ve actually only included five steps of it, but hopefully it will help you move closer to making a decision so you can actually start on your book.

If you were to apply this framework to making a decision around what genre you should write, it might look like this:

First, look at and list all of the possible options. In terms of your book’s content, you’ll get creative here. Don’t just think about the possible options, but in terms of genre, we’re sticking to industry standards:

• Prescriptive nonfiction – a how-to or self help book that transforms your reader in some way
• Memoir – narrative from a specific time in your life
• Memoir+ – a personal narrative that may also include research, cultural commentary, or prescriptive nonfiction elements. This is sometimes called a hybrid memoir.

Step 1: Choose ONE option and identify reasonable and possible outcomes of your decision, if you were to choose that option

For each option, list the possible outcomes, both good and bad. Be as specific as you can and write down all outcomes, no matter how unlikely they might be.

Some outcomes might be income related, business growth, speaking opportunities, or leaving a legacy for your family. These outcomes might differ depending on genre. Leaving a legacy for your children is more likely for you if you’re writing a memoir rather than a self-help book, unless the legacy is financial. Then, the legacy might be equal.

Step 2: Identify your preference for each outcome

Based on your goals and your values, how much do you like the payoffs of each outcome?

For each outcome, list the impact, both positive or negative. How would that outcome impact you? What are the consequences of each outcome in terms of your time, investment, emotions? Which outcomes are most desirable?

Step 3: Estimate the likelihood of each outcome actually happening

For each outcome, assign a percentage to the likelihood of that outcome happening. In her book, Duke spends an inordinate amount of time explaining this and why you should use actual numbers rather than words like “likely” or “never.” Also, if you have no idea about the likelihood, make a guess.

For example, if you’re considering memoir for your book. What is the likelihood that a memoir will grow your business if that’s one of your goals? It might be super high – think Liz Gilbert and Eat, Pray, Love – that book was huge for her career. Or it might be super low if your memoir is totally unrelated to your business goals.

Step 4: Repeat steps one-three for the other genre options

Step 6: Compare all of the options and DECIDE

You finally get to make your decision. Compare the options. Since you don’t truly know how each option will play out, choose the best option based on your preferences and the likelihood of the possible outcomes you want to happen.

Remember, the goal is to make the best possible decision with the available information. This is not to push you further into overthinking but to get you making a decision so you can move forward.

Conclusion

The truth is, all your ideas might be good, in fact, they probably are, but not all of them belong in the same book, or even in your first book.

The creative energy that generates all those shiny ideas is a gift. But at some point, you’ve got to stop swirling and decide. The decision-making framework above isn’t magic, but it gives your swirling some structure.

It helps you move forward with clarity, not just excitement. So choose one idea, commit to it, and trust yourself to follow it through. The rest of your ideas? They’ll still be there when you’re ready for Book #2.

If you’re still swirling with all the ideas after you’ve looked at possible outcomes, schedule a book chat. Sometimes talking it out is

If you’re still swirling around with all of your ideas even after you’ve looked at possible outcomes and done a solid gut-check on them, schedule a book chat. Sometimes talking your ideas out will get you the clarity you’ve been searching for.