Your Notebook Graveyard is Calling

My brilliant colleague Ken Blackwell posted today about his experience at The National Speakers Association INFLUENCE23 conference. 1,100 of my speaker colleagues traveled to Orlando last week for a high-octane diet of general sessions, breakouts and hallway conversations about what's new in the speaking industry. Ken posted about the importance of making a post-conference plan, and that what you do after the conference is just as important as attending.

+1 on that. Building on that idea, what I've learned about implementation since leaving my Corporate job may seem obvious to some...but it was a revelation to me. In Corporate, you're given a recipe. Follow it, and you should have success. When you run your own enterprise, the training and development are up to you. And you need a certain degree of READINESS to absorb and implement what you've learned. In my experience, there are various phases of entrepreneurial growth, and there is an important phase of READINESS. I've learned you won't implement even the greatest idea if you and your business are not at the right place to receive it. You have to be READY.

Enter the notebook graveyard. I'm an almost compulsive note-taker. I have an impressive notebook graveyard in a plastic bin -- memories of conferences past full of good ideas. I want to make you feel better about those dog-eared volumes, stacked in a Tupperware bin in a corner of your office.

For anyone who's beat themselves up after a conference for not implementing, here's your "get out of jail free" card. No more shaming. Perhaps, like me, you were not READY to use the volumes of stuff you were exposed to! It was the "Adolescent stage" of my business when I realized the business had to catch up in order to truly benefit from what I was learning.

Here are the phases I witnessed in my own growth:

1. Wide-eyed baby stage -- learning is Wonderful! The webinars and stuff that other entrepreneurs offer to entice you to buy gleam like gold. This may manifest in an addiction to free stuff. (If your Strengths Finders and Positive Intelligence behavioral types are"Learner" and "Restless," watch out! I see those cluttered desktops. It takes one to know one.) In this phase, you're hopping from free podcast to podcast, downloading PDFs and lead magnets and cluttering your desktop like crazy. A healthy dose of initial learning is OK for a limited time...as long as you soon figure out what lane you're swimming in and who you are serving. Then you need to apply the clarity and focus. And not get distracted by the next shiny podcast.
2. Adolescent stage -- In this stage you can afford to be more discerning. You don't have to attend any free webinars that are just tangentially linked to your mission. They are not the best use of your time. Overoptimism often hooks us when we're in this phase, leading us to believe that we can do everything. Figure out what content you will use...make a plan and put one or two items that will give you the most bang for the buck into play. This is where READINESS comes in. Your business needs to be at a place where you're ready to implement. Stay only on the few mailing lists that add value...and unsubscribe from the rest. That's right...break up with 'em!
3. Mastery stage -- Now you're clear about your swim lane. You know what your brand stands for. You know who you serve and what others think of your service. Continue to explore relevant systems while staying on top of industry and global trends. Learning in this more mature phase enables you to stay super relevant, and to stay ahead of the curve. Allow yourself enough flexibility to modify when the market shifts. It's not if it will shift..but when.

On a personal note, ya can't make this stuff up. I belong to a Meditation group and we sit every weekday morning. Today one of the yoginis sent this quote around. It's about "readiness," right?

When the student is ready, the teacher appears. When the student is truly ready, the teacher disappears. -Lao Tsu

All those notebooks in the graveyard helped evolve your thinking to where it is today. Dust off the shame. Evaluate at what stage your business is. Implement accordingly. And give yourself some grace. And like Lao Tsu's teacher, maybe it's OK to "disappear" those old notebooks.

About Casey: Although Casey has a warm, firecracker personality, the truth is she was born with 4 strikes - Introversion, High Sensitivity, Fear of speaking up and Shyness. She founded Speak & Own It Communications to work with high potential leaders at the intersection of speaking, presence, leadership & empathy. During her VP stint in Corporate America, she used to sit in meetings, hiding in the back, and prayed she wouldn't be called on due to her lack of confidence.