Take Action On What You Learn

Failing to take action is one of the biggest barriers to service business success. And how you take in information (and what you do with it) makes a huge difference.

I spend a lot of time watching how people listen.

I do it when I’m up on stage, and I definitely do it when I’m part of the audience and have the chance to watch other awesome people present. 

What I’ve seen is that a ton of people don’t listen in the way that I think they should.

But that doesn’t mean they’re not paying attention.

What it means is that they’re not listening between the lines. They’re not doing so in a way that’s going to enable them to take action later on.

And that’s important, because taking action is the key to service business success. 

You could have all of the knowledge in the world rattling around inside your head right now. But if you’re not doing anything with it, there’s no point in you knowing it.

If you’re not coming up with structured ways to use what you learn, your service business won’t change.

You’ve got to listen between the lines. And I’ve got five tips that will help you to do just that.

Tip #1 – Take Notes When Listening to Somebody Speak

It blows my mind when I see people in a speaker’s audience that don’t have a pad and a pen. They’re just sitting there, taking in the presentation. But, they’re not taking notes and they’re not coming up with action items for themselves.

The fact is, you’re not going to remember everything that you see in a presentation. Some of that stuff will get lost in the ether of your mind. And the stuff that you do remember isn’t going to be as fresh as it is the moment when you hear it.

You’ve got to take notes whenever you’re listening to somebody speak.

Write down anything that strikes a chord with you and your business. And make sure that you jot down every action that you have to take from what you just learned.

Tip #2 – Understand What it Takes for You to Process Information

I recently went to an awesome event where I learned a ton. But what I noticed is that a lot of people at that event seemed to be as excited about it ending as they were about the event.

They wanted to go out and enjoy themselves after the presentations were over.

That’s awesome for them and I’m really glad they had fun.

But for me, going out for an evening right after listening to somebody talk doesn’t work. I like to take what I’ve learned back to my room so that I can process it. If that means not going out with the rest of the group, that’s what I’m going to do.

My point here is that everybody has a different way of processing information. 

You may need to take that break before everything starts to sink in. As for me, I like to get my action points ready as soon as I’ve learned something new.

Figure out what works best for you and stick with it. If that means you’re not going to follow the crowd after an event, that’s just the sacrifice you’ll make to get some amazing action points.

Tip #3 – Be Curious About Yourself

I want you to ask yourself some questions whenever you go out and learn from somebody else:

Why are you where you’re at in your life and business right now?

Why do you do the things that you do?

Why do you have this certain level of success when others have a different level?

The point I’m making here is that you need to be curious about yourself. You’ve got to figure out why you’re doing this thing and what effect it’s going to have on you. 

I think that far too many people get curious about other people ahead of themselves. They start judging why other people want to learn something in particular, which takes the focus off themselves.

That’s not going to help you to figure out the actions that you need to take in your own service business. And this also leads me onto my next tip…

Tip #4 – Don’t Allow Jealousy to Prevent You From Taking Action

It’s really easy to judge other people.

It’s easy to look at whoever’s talking to you and feel negative about what they’ve achieved.

“Oh, they had this and that, which makes things easier for them. I don’t have these things so why should I even bother? I’m soooo glad that this is so easy for them.”

The sarcasm is strong in the last statement.

And that’s such a ridiculous attitude to have.

The people who get the results that you want can be your inspiration. They’re the people who can help you to take the actions that you need to take. 

Don’t allow your jealousy to get in the way of that.

Tip #5 – Realize That You’re Investing in Yourself

There’s a reason why you’re trying to learn new things in the first place.

You want to bring your service business to a whole new level of success. And to do that, you’re investing in yourself, instead of spending money on junk that you don’t need.

That shiny new car or the fancy pool will only make you happy for a little while. 

But it’s the time and resources that you pour into yourself that make the real difference in your life.

Recognize that fact and respect the time that you’re spending on developing new skills.

It’s Time to Really Listen

Be honest with me. You’re guilty of not listening between the lines, right?

So many service business owners are. We go to the events and check the right boxes. But we don’t maximize what we get from these amazing opportunities presented to us.

You’ve got to take action on what you learn. And if that means doing things a little differently compared to how everyone around you does them, that’s okay. As long as it works for you, it’s what you need to do.

It’s time for you to invest in yourself.

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