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Are you a Hoarder?

Kimberly Dawn Wells by Kimberly Dawn Wells on Thu, Feb 2nd, 2012

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Hoarders is a television show about people who keep things that aren’t of any use or value to then, or perhaps to anyone. Things such as diapers, when the youngest is in their thirties, empty wine bottles by the basket full, thousands of VHS tapes, clothes that have never been worn, even piles of newspapers, fast food wrappers, animal waste, and eggshells. While we’re confident we won’t find any puppy poo on your lens, you might find you’re hoarding something else that is hurting your success on Squidoo.

Wikipedia lists four general symptoms of compulsive hoarding which can be summed up as:

Accumulating useless stuff, and not getting rid of it
Cluttered living spaces, to the point of rendering them useless
Inability of the hoarder to function physically, socially, or emotionally
“Need” to gather leads to stealing

You could easily make these fit lenscrafting activities:

Adding info to a lens that isn’t specifically relevant, narrow, and focused
Filling a lens with ads and links that make it hard to read
Inability of the lensmaster to achieve great success, unable to see the big picture
“Need” to have all the answers leads to plagiarism

Since lenscrafting is so addicting, it’s easy to see how you could become a lens hoarder. Spending time gathering, arranging, and perfecting info and modules for lenses can suck up your time and narrow your vision. The truth is, crafting the lenses is just one part of lensmaking, and the best lensmasters know when to stop crafting and move on to the next step.

If you think you’re a hoarder, what can you do about it? Try replacing your old thinking with new thinking:

Keep lens content focused to your narrow niche. Don’t add content just for the sake of filling space
Keep ads, flashy graphics, wild colors and confusing CSS layouts off your lens. For the most part, use the modules to sell products through Amazon, add photo galleries, and keep your palette streamlined.
Tweak your lens, but not forever. There’s so much more to being successful, like promoting your lenses outside Squidoo, keeping up with SquidooHQ articles, maintaining friendships, and seeing what everyone else is up to.
You have a specific set of knowledge that allows you to share great things with the world. This doesn’t mean you know everything. Stay away from things you don’t know about, no matter how popular they are, or learn about them enough to speak knowledgeably. Focus on what you do know, and spin it to make it relevant for holidays, current events, and general info.

Learn to embrace white space, short lenses, and simple layouts. Keep in mind that quantity doesn’t translate to quality, and learn when to stop tweaking and start sharing. By refusing to hoard on your lenses, you’ll not only create more attractive lenses, you’ll free up time for building more uber successful pages. Score!

About Kimberly Dawn Wells

Kimberly started her career on Squidoo as a lensmaster just like you! She's still staying busy building lenses, testing techniques, and sharing real life examples to help lensmasters succeed on Squidoo.

Comments:

http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/d-artist d-artist

Wow this is interesting! I never thought of hoarding to fit “lenscrafting activities,” but that does make sense…being an artist I’m a hoarder of art type things….that I THINK I’m going to use someday…I’m an “organized hoarder” and it does affect my emotions in a negative way…thanks for sharing!
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/BuddyBink BuddyBink

I think I have a bit of a hoarder in me. I like to provide as much information as possible. Time to work on scaling back a bit. Start to ‘embrace white space, short lenses and simple layouts’. Thanks for the info
Anonymous

Some of my most simple lenses are my best performers. Sure, I have long ones too but staying focused within the niche so readers get what they are looking for is very important. Great tips Kimberly!
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/Heather426 Heather426

Very cool analogy. I’m not a hoarder at all in real life. Have to be ready to move…so this bears thinking about on Squidoo. I love that tip about spinning your knowledge into Holiday tips. That popped a whole list of lenses into my head! Thanks!
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/SheWritesaLot SheWritesaLot

Finally! Someone who agrees with me about cluttered lenses! I build lenses for clients and I sometimes create 5 to 10 lenses a day. And each of them has plenty of information and a good mix of products. It’s much easier to build a lens if you narrow your focus and get it done. It’s also much easier for people to find it and read it – and maybe even see what it is you’re trying to sell.
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/bdkz bdkz

My favorite line: Keep lens content focused to your narrow niche. Don’t add content just for the sake of filling space.
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/vallain vallain

You should see my hoard offline (bits of paper with update ideas, notes for new lenses, lists, index cards of niches, etc.). I also hoard lenses even after I’ve lost interest in one. I have to force myself to let it go. That’s why I have my lens giveaway, to overcome my reluctance.

http://www.squidoo.com Kimberly Dawn Wells

Letting go is hard. I have a goal of taking a look at 10 of my WIPs each week to see which ones I still want to add to, which I need to let go, etc. Even at that rate it may take a while!

http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/manlalakbay manlalakbay

I think most of us are trapped in this stage. Anyway, I love the ideas presented here. I want to stop perfecting my lens and move on to building quality lenses. :)
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/grannysage grannysage

Just saying, purple cows are not white. I still choose being remarkable over mediocrity. It’s the way I’m wired. Am I successful? Depends upon how you define it. I am being true to me. I joined Squidoo because it allowed a canvas to my imagination and that is how I treat it until I am told I am no longer allowed to. Hopefully that day will never come. “Remarkable marketing is the art of
building things worth noticing, right into your product or service. Not
slapping on marketing as a last-minute add-on, but understanding that if
your offering itself isn’t remarkable, it’s invisible. (Seth Godin in Purple Cow)
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/BethSmith BethSmith

Wow…another great (and fun to read) lens that has been so helpful for a newbie! thank you!
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/mayiclaim mayiclaim

that was one succinct yet nice lens. Congrats and keep up!
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/TechGurrrl TechGurrrl

Good tips, Kimberly! As a newbie, I need all the guidance I can get on how to do this effectively. Thanks for this great lens.
Anonymous

Guilty as charged. :) I can’t bear to throw anything out, and that translates in Squidoo terms to the occasional over-long and under-focussed lens, I fear. This is a great analogy; I shall try to keep it firmly in mind.
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/CountrySunshine CountrySunshine

I agree with “Learn to embrace white space, short lenses, and simple layouts.” The length of some of the lenses I read are so long. I lose interest before I am even halfway through! Good tips here. I intend to put them to good use!
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/zuzubird zuzubird

Yes, a lens is a transparent thing that focuses light rays, which gives one a view of the world on the other side of the lens. Some of the best Squidoo lenses are the simple ones–the crafter’s personal view. If you want more more more, you can always google away!
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/teriann teriann

This is thought provoking, especially after seeing the comments that followed. I didn’t consider myself a hoarder of my lenses but maybe I need to re-think this. Thanks for keeping it real.
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/tonyb65 tonyb65

There is a lot of good sense in this lens, I hope I will heed its advice
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/jwyatt76 jwyatt76

iam to some point i like to keep stuff to long but its nothing like the show but i have seen people like that alot since i go to peoples houses all the time on service calls
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/Recess123 Recess123

I love the show hoarders. It’s so interesting! Sometimes it’s hard to let go of things that you’ve kept for so long.. Even if they aren’t any use.
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/quester quester

interesting points – thanks for the tips
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/LoveEmbroidery LoveEmbroidery

I agree. But what I don’t understand is that many of the lens that seem to be valued the most — purple stars, lens of the day, angel blessings, etc — are long and full of ads. Some are almost all product links to Amazon with very, very little content. Just my impression – I’ve been looking at a lot of the Front page lenses lately trying to see what makes a good quality lens.
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/Sugar Sugar

Great advice!
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/boris188 boris188

I
had spent a good deal of my time looking for someone to explain this
subject clearly and you’re the only one that ever did that as well
as I do a lot of research online on a daily basis and for the most
part, people lack substance but, I just wanted to make a quick
comment to say I’m glad I found your blog.

http://www.sslegalfirm.com
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/lucky7levin lucky7levin

for some reason this helps alot
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/ShushiDenMaster ShushiDenMaster

Hoarding items in a storage is an idea too. Done correctly, even homemade things tend to smell alike, with that brand new smell. – it also removes odours.
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/matbar20 matbar20

There is a crazy hoarder living a block away me me. Her front entrance is crammed tight and you can see that the windows are literally blocked by stuff. Her mini van in front of the house is full too! She is a nice lady, but she has a serious psychological disorder I think. Thanks for the article.
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/Cercis Cercis

Kimberly, Thanks for the unique slant on how to get the best from writing and crafting a lens. Perhaps there is a bit of “hoarder” in most of us. You’ve given me a lot to think about ;+)
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/presec15 presec15

I believe hording is sickness.Very good advice
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/Allycat82 Allycat82

I am always fascinated and horrified at the same time while watching the TV show Hoarders and the TV show “How Clean Is Your House” which I believe is also hoarder related to some extent. It makes you realize how a persons house is on the inside is also how they are on the inside – often a mess and it’s so bad they don’t know where to start. This page makes me realize it can manifest anywhere, even in your lenses!
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/TandCrecruitment TandCrecruitment

I think I am a little bit of a hoarder but I am not that bad. I have a habit of just putting things into bags and putting them away and forgetting about them. I have draws full of just stuff. and in my kitchen their a corner of papers!!
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/SynchronicityHouse SynchronicityHouse

Synchronicity at work for me – I’d just commented on your WIPs Lens and decided to check out this Lens. Wow so relevant to me! Thank you – awesome advice for this hoarder / clutter bug!