Once
you return home from a conference or workshop, it’s easy to forget all
the things you learned and promised yourself you’d implement.
After
all, you’re back in your regular environment: your family needs
attention after you’ve been gone, work tasks have piled up, personal
items need handling. How are you to "catch up" and incorporate all the
new things as well?
Here’s my simple process for ensuring I
implement and put new ideas into action as soon as I return from a
conference or workshop:
1. Create an Action List.
While
at the workshop, I make an action list of all the ideas I want to
implement in my business – some are new and some are refining things
I’m already doing.
The important thing to note here is that I do NOT censor this list – everything I think of goes on it.
2. Take a day.
If
possible, take a day or 1/2 day when you get home to unpack, get back
in the swing of things and take a good look at your Action List (mine
usually runs 2-3 pages).
Review the items and decide which make sense for your business right now, in the next six months and in the next year.
Once you’ve separated the items into different lists, take out the "right now" sheet:
Are
there items which can be done in 10 minutes or less? If so, identify
those items and schedule an hour for each group of 5 activities over
the next week (this allows a little extra time). This will insure you
make steady progress soon after the seminar.
Do you have
bigger projects? No sweat, break them down into smaller chunks — 30
minutes at most — and schedule them on your calendar.
By
scheduling these activities *on your calendar*, you’ll have a start and
end time for getting them done and ensuring you got the most out of
your time at the workshop.
File the other two lists in your tickler file for future action.
3. Follow-Up
Chances are you’ve met new friends and potential clients.
Now’s
the time to drop them a brief note and let them know you’re happy to
have met them and follow-up with any information you may have promised.
And, remember, if appropriate for you, thank the speaker for the seminar and all you learned.
Your Coaching Challenge
Think
back to the last conference or workshop you attended. Did you create an
Action List of things to implement in your business?
If not,
schedule some time on your calendar to sit down with the workshop
binder, go through your notes and create an Action List of everything
you want to implement.
Then follow the steps I outline above
for getting them done! I set the intention to get at least one thing
(new idea, better way of doing something, etc.) from every conference
or workshop I attend – after all, the cost of attendance is high:
money, travel, hotel, and, most importantly, my time and energy!
For
the past 5 years, Sandra Martini has been showing self-employed
business owners how to get more clients consistently by implementing
processes and systems to put their marketing on autopilot.