Don't put good ideas on a shelf

0:03Speaker 1:Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's tip is that you shouldn't put your good ideas on a shelf when you come back from a conference or retreat or anywhere where you brainstorm great ideas for your future. You need some system for holding yourself accountable for thinking of these ideas again and acting on them. So I go to a fair number of conferences, usually as a speaker, but often I attend other sessions. While I'm there, I see people all shiny eyed and excited about putting good ideas into practice in their lives. They leave with their swag bag and their notes in the conference branded notebook.

0:57Speaker 1:Then the conference swag bag goes somewhere in a corner in their office and then gets kind of moved onto an office shelf and never looked at again until some move inspired decluttering. This is kind of a waste. A good idea is worthless if it is not implemented. If you go to the expense and effort of spending time thinking of good ideas, and especially if you have traveled somewhere in pursuit of getting these good ideas you want to make sure you at least try to make them happen.

1:33Speaker 1:This is why I think it's great when conferences or retreats build follow up into their business models. You go for three days to think big thoughts, but you are also paying for monthly check ins with other people for a year afterwards. People will take this more or less seriously, of course, but at least you will see that recurring zoom meet up on your calendar and it will remind you that at one point you came out of that retreat thinking you would do something. But even if you're gathering doesn't offer that, you can create your own follow up. First, be very clear on what you intend to do afterwards.

2:12Speaker 1:Be better doesn't work. What three actions do you intend to take when who else will be involved? Then you can put these steps on your calendar. If there is no obvious time to do them, just pick a time. When that time comes, you can either do it or choose another time. Simple enough, though, to keep this from being constantly kicked down the road, you do need some system of accountability. One easy idea is to team up with someone else or three to four people who went to the conference and form your own accountability group. You can set your own frequency, which can be related to how intense the check ins will be. If you're just checking in by email, you could do this once, so if you are meeting by zoom, it will probably be once a month. In person could be quarterly. Set the next few meetings so you don't need to rely on someone organizing them every time, though realistically someone will need to take charge. This someone will be you. This is just the reality of you being the kind of person who listens to a productivity podcast, but that is okay.

3:27Speaker 1:The accountability will be helpful for you as well, and if you are in charge, you can organize these meetings how you want. You may decide at some point that you no longer care about the things you decided you would do at the retreat or conference, but you want this to be an act of decision rather than because you simply forgot a conference workbook and tope bag do nothing stuffed in the corner. It's when the actions you decided upon wind up on your calendar, and when you have accountability to make sure you've done them, that you really get a return on your investment. In the meantime.

4:12Speaker 1:This is Laura Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.