The Conference is over, now what?

So you just experienced a huge conference high. You went to a conference where there were like-minded people inspiring you to be better at what you do. You are excited! You are happy! And, you are motivated!

But then reality sets in. You know that you are going back to a place that didn’t experience all you did. They weren’t inspired as you were.  And you know, it’s not going to be as simple as the speakers/presenters make it to be.

And so now, your motivation turns into depression. You want change. Your church/ministry wants change. But now the task seems too large. You don’t even know where to begin.

Great job in realizing that because honestly, that is exactaly where you should be.

Conferences are great. I LOVE going to them as there is so much you can learn learned.  But now, even though the task may be large, the real work begins. So what do you do?

Here are a few ideas

1. Pray. I also always feel stupid saying this but honestly, it needs to be said becaue too man times I’ve pushed ahead of God and what ends up happening is I get what I want to get out of it. By going before God first you make it perfectly clear that you want to get what He wants you to pull out of it. So seek Him first and see where he leads you through the next steps.
2. Review your notes. Take some time to really dig deep into what you heard and wrote down. Make more notes based on the notes you took.  What stood out to you? What do you need to dig into deeper?
3. Make some action steps. Out of your notes, what are some actions steps you need to take to get things going in the right direction? Use your notes and the insights that stood out to you to make some action steps.  After all, what good is it to take notes and learn if you don’t apply those learnings.  So makes some action steps based on the lessons you learned.
4. Set a timeframe for implementing action steps. This very important. You can pray, review your notes and even strive to take some actions steps all you want. But if you don’t set a timeframe for implementing those lessons learned and actions steps, all of it would have been for naught. Think through and process when do you want to implement all these action steps you set.  Give it a timeframe…but be realistic. Setting an unrealistic time frame can crush your ideas and learnings.

The reality is that conferences are great.  They inspire and encourage us in so many great ways. But, if you do nothing with what you’ve discovered and learned then it would have been a waste. What changes and fine-tuning you feel needs to be made after a conference doesn’t all have to happen at once.  In fact, as you are processing everything, make sure you don’t make any rash or rushed decidsion. You may be motivated and inspired but really process this between you and the Lord.

That is why it is so important to make sure you pray, review your notes thoroughly, make some actions steps and set a timeframe for implementing those steps.

What do you think? Now that the conference is over, what are you doing to capitalize on it? Share your thoughts below or on social media using #ymsidekick.