Do you often feel when you attend an amazing workshop, lecture, webinar or read a fantastic book, that unfortunately you only take away a few key lessons that were either very interesting or inspiring – to the point where it has been etched in your brain for good?
What does this mean? Is this what is supposed to happen? Is the intention of any targeted social interaction to simply depart different snippets of knowledge to different people, with the expectation that only a few enlightening or “a-ha” moments captivate the audience at a much deeper subconscious level?
I would argue that in many instances there seems to be a significant amount of clutter or noise that tends to surround those soul enriching “gold nuggets”, almost as if to provide protection for a precious gift that is packaged with layers of bubble wrap and cardboard boxes. It almost feels like there is a need to fill that empty space to justify the time spent in that environment and perhaps maximise the opportunity for promoting self-importance on the part of the messenger.
Wouldn’t it be super refreshing to avoid all that fluffy stuff by slowing down a bit, building that patience muscle and delivering content that hits the sweet spot in its entirety (give or take) every time. To make my point clearer, Let’s say a small business owner just needs some simple and practical improvement strategies to grow their business in line with their goals. Do they need to read countless books on strategy, do an MBA or attend wildly expensive transformation programs to make real and significant change? Don’t get me wrong, some of these options are certainly life changing and I’m all for lifelong learning and professional development, but for many, a condensed offering that strikes right at the heart of addressing those major pressure points and immediate growth opportunities can be just as impactful.
I think the key message here is to be clear what outcomes you are ultimately striving for and carefully assess investment against capacity constraints before committing to any program or course of action.