All of us have sat in a conference workshop or keynote address, a webinar, or more recently on the Clubhouse social platform, where so many great ideas are shared. Audiences react and get very excited about these “nuggets” of wisdom, but the next question is : what will you do with these great ideas?
DOCUMENT INSPIRATON
The first logical step is to take the inspiration and document these great ideas in a notebook, phone or computer with intentions to review them later for self improvement. Yet how often have we gone back to review these notes? How many times is that prized notebook found under a pile of other books, only to be cast aside as out of date. Most likely because there is a new notebook filled with the latest round of ideas.
MAKING SENSE OF NOTES
The real key is to sift through these notes to find one or two ideas to review and apply to business or personal life. A few suggestions to avoid this gerbil wheel of repetition and a path to take action:
- Consume the Content
- Keep Notes In One Location
- Review Notes to Find One Idea to Implement
Consume the content
Next time you consume a book to help your personal or business growth, approach it as if you were being tested or had to prepare to give a lecture on the subject. While certain types of content may not fall into this discussion, there is a massive $40B market for personal development.
While certain types of content may not fall into this discussion, there is a massive $40B market for personal development.
Another thought would be to create a book club or an accountability partner to discuss the subject. This way you need to read the information in a different way. For those who don’t like to read, audiobooks are great but having a notebook nearby or using a phone to take notes may be difficult. There are also companies like Blinkist or Headway which provide condensed versions of the book which could make it easier to consume content.
Keep Notes in One Location
With the advent of online tools like Evernote, Notability or even Google Docs, the ability to organize ideas, topics or assets into folders is easier than ever. Make sure to create an organization system that works for your lifestyle. I personally love the ability to write in a notebook yet I am working to see if writing on an iPad will help me be more organized.
If you still use notebooks, take time each week to pull out the information you may need to access and put it into online folders. Taking photos of your notebook pages can be a quick solution. Just make sure to tag the photos and notes so you can find them later. Another thought would be to create a book club or an accountability partner to discuss the subject. This way you need to read the information in a different way. For those who don’t like to read, audiobooks are great but having a notebook nearby or using a phone to take notes may be difficult. There are also companies like Blinkist or Headway which provide condensed versions of the book which could make it easier to consume content.
Review Notes to Find One Idea to Implement
With the amount of information at our fingertips and our desire to improve performance of our businesses or ourselves, we should embrace our “Student” mindset. Enjoy the process of learning versus just consuming content. If you invest your time to be a student, take the time to act like a student and learn the information. Remember the best way to ensure the information sticks is to prepare to teach the content to others. The student becomes the teacher.
This strategy will help attendees at the upcoming Modern Retailing Simplified one day virtual event, March 17th from 10 am -6 pm ET.
I will be leading panel discussions on perfecting the modern retailing process and how customer experience should influence all decisions on digital retailing.
Glenn Pasch
