Don't put good ideas on a shelf

How to make sure you put your brilliant insights into action

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
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

(00:24):
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

(00:45):
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.
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

(01:08):
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

(01:28):
to make sure you at least try to make them happen.
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,

(01:50):
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.

(02:12):
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

(02:35):
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

(02:57):
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

(03:20):
just the reality of you being the kind of person
who listens to a productivity podcast, but that is okay.
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

(03:42):
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

(04:02):
have accountability to make sure you've done them, that you
really get a return on your investment. In the meantime.
This is Laura Thanks for listening, and here's to making
the most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.

(04:28):
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

(04:50):
listen to your favorite shows.