By Danica Favorite
Whew! Some of you are home from the ACFW conference, and you’ve gotten back into the groove of life. Some of you didn’t get to go and are sad about that. Either way, it’s time to make a plan for moving forward. The problem with going to a great conference like ACFW is that you learn a lot of wonderful things, but when you get back home, you’re catching up on real life- and often laundry- and quickly forget the wonderful intentions you had at the conference.
So it’s time to take stock. Pull out your calendar right now. Schedule a date with yourself to go over all the things you learned and put together a game plan. What was your biggest takeaway from the conference? What do you need to implement from the things you learned at the conference? When are you going to implement those new ideas?
For example, maybe you learned about marketing your book. Take the time to put your marketing into your calendar. Maybe the biggest takeaway is that you just need to sit down and write more. Sit down with your calendar and plan out when you are going to write.
What if your takeaway wasn’t about something quantifiable? For example, maybe you realized that you need to work on characterization. You can still apply the same principle. Block out time to implement the characterization exercises you learned, read a characterization book, or to create your own characterization worksheet.
We do ourselves a disservice if we go to a great conference, but then don’t make the time to implement the ideas. We’re shortchanging ourselves because we’ve invested so much into the conference, and then not taking action on what we’ve learned. And it’s not that we mean to avoid taking action, it’s just that we get so busy with life, and with everything else we need to do, that those pages and pages of notes we took end up gathering dust. So make the most out of the money you invested in the conference, and take the time to put implementation on your calendar.
For those of you reading, and thinking, “how does it apply to me, since I didn’t go?” Easy. Maybe you went to another conference. Or attended a workshop. You still need to find time to figure out how and when you’re going to implement the things you learned there. The other plan you need to make is how you’re going to get to the next conference or event you want to attend. How much does the conference cost? How much do you need to save each month to get there? Or, how much extra money do you need to earn? Break it down and make a plan.
Going to a conference is a wonderful way to advance your career. But having a plan to implement the things you learned at the conference is going to have an even greater impact.
So what did you learn at the conference? And what is your plan to implement it?
Multipublished author Danica Favorite loves the adventure of living a creative life. Living in her dream home in the mountains, Danica is passionate about helping others live their dreams. After all, what fun is living your dreams alone? Visit Danica at her website, www.danicafavorite.com to learn more.