The Shelf Syndrome: Why It Was Never About the Shelves

Finding My Next Move When the Plan Isn’t Clear

Summer’s Here. Now What?
It’s June, the kids are wrapping up school, and my businesses are humming along on autopilot, revenue’s still rolling in, my team’s handling day to day, and my inbox feels suspiciously quiet. The calendar literally says “relax,” yet in my head I’m screaming, “What the hell now?”

I could jump back in, stir the waters a bit, maybe manufacture a crisis just to feel alive again, but that wouldn’t be fair. My crew doesn’t need me screwing things up for my own ego. That ship has sailed, and I’m not about to hijack it.

So here I am, coffee in hand, staring out at the water, thinking: “Alright, Anthony, what’s next?”

Perspective Is a Hell of a Drug

A couple weeks ago I stumbled on an interview with Theo Von and Tony Robbins. Robbins spills this nugget, “We find what we’re looking for.” If you’re hunting for stress, Easy, stress is everywhere. Hunting for meaning? That’s available too. Your brain literally shapes reality to match the narrative you feed it.

That hit me like a ton of bricks. I realized I’d been scripting my brain to say, “I need the next big thrill.” No wonder I couldn’t see the small opportunities right in front of me.

I’m not the only one lost in this hunt. A lot of us entrepreneurs wander around clueless about what we really want. Yet we waste hours chasing “the thing,” that elusive project, investment, or side hustle we’re convinced will finally scratch our itch.

But here’s the kicker, my biggest wins never came from a five year plan or some vision board taped to the wall. They happened because I was forced to make shit work in the moment. Bills were on fire, options were few, and I grabbed whatever tool I had and started grinding. That urgency fueled progress, no perfect plan required.

The Shelf Metaphor You Didn’t Know You Needed

Picture wanting to build shelves in your garage to get organized. Sounds practical, sure. But instead of grabbing a hammer, you dive headfirst into researching salt resistant screws, humidity resistant wood, and debating whether your decade old circular saw is even up to the task. Three weeks later you have zero shelves but can rattle off build specs like you’re starring on a home improvement show.

That’s me to a T. Business ideas, blog topics, diet plans, whatever “shelf” I convince myself I need, I obsess over prep, research, and finding the “best” tools. The result? Crickets. Nothing’s built.

Here’s the twist, it wasn’t the actual shelves I craved. I was thirsty for the process of building, to feel the challenge, the momentum, that sense of creation. Even if the shelves existed, they were just shelves, and the high vanished.

That feeling, chasing the act of doing rather than the outcome, is what I call Shelf Syndrome. It’s a restless itch that locks you in analysis paralysis, convinced you need a flawless blueprint before you even start.

How I Became My Own Pool Guy

A few months ago I’d finally had enough with the pool guys. They showed up late, left me with a green pool, and racked the fees up to fix their mistakes. So I fired them. If you’d asked me a year ago, “Do you want to save a couple hundred bucks a month by scrubbing your own pool,” I would’ve laughed in your face. But they botched the job so badly I said, “Fine, I’ll handle it.”

Fast forward, I’m out there testing chlorine, measuring pH, brushing steps, chasing clear water. And you know what, I love it. Not because I dream of owning a pool company, but because the process, figuring out how to keep that water blue, scratched an itch I didn’t even know I had.

For days I scoured Google on how to start a pool management company even. Not because I’m quitting everything to buy a fleet of pool trucks, but because learning and doing filled my tank in a way nothing else had.

You think you’re chasing a result, a finished project, a new company, a shiny outcome. But really, you’re chasing the process, the climb, the trial and error, the rush of learning something new. Once you cross the finish line, it’s just another object, a new shelf, a clear pool, a launched site. The spark is gone, and that restless voice pops back up, “Okay… so what’s next?”

Tony’s Color Test

In the interview above, Tony Robbins drops the Brown Test on Von, and it’s a straight up brain hack. Here’s how it works:

1. Drop everything for thirty seconds and concentrate.
2. Look around the room you’re in right now. Seriously, pause and do this.
3. Find every single thing that’s brown—furniture, walls, shoes, books, coffee cups, whatever

Hit thirty seconds? Good. Now be honest, how many RED things did you see? Probably zero, right? That’s because once your brain was laser focused on brown, everything else was tuned out. Even if a chair cushion was brown-ish or a wooden tabletop was more amber, your mind slapped the “brown” label on it instantly because you wanted to win the test.

That’s the power of perspective. Your brain hunts down exactly what you tell it to look for and filters out the noise, and you can apply this anywhere.

Want to feel more gratitude for the little things? Hunt for what’s good in your life. Search your surroundings for shades of warmth—brown wood, warm sunlight, that comforting light glow—whatever represents comfort to you. In thirty seconds you’ll feel your mood shift because your brain will dredge up all those tiny pleasant details.

Ready to see this in real life? Right now, pick a new mental target. It could be “find opportunity,” “feel calm,” “notice humor.” Shut your eyes, take a deep breath, open up, and go. Spend thirty seconds scanning your environment for that one thing. You’ll be shocked at how clear everything else becomes once your brain’s dialed in.

Summary

Here’s the bottom line, the Brown Test is more than a neat party trick, it’s the ultimate reminder that your mind hunts for what you feed it. If you train yourself to search for brown, red disappears. If you train yourself to search for meaning, chaos fades. If you train your brain to search for possibility, doubt vanishes. If you train your brain to be Successfully Confused, all you will be able to see is Action.

Blogs like this are your friendly nudge, your reinforcement to “look for the brown.” To remind you that if you tell your mind to hunt for progress, momentum, or even just that perfect shade of brown, your reality will shift.

For the next week, try to guide your thoughts where you want them to go and see what happens.

(Oh and go check out that full video above. Its eye opening)