Issue 1.20 of Unleashing Your Remarkable Potential with Kevin Eikenberry

Unleashing Your Remarkable Potential
Issue 1.20 - December 15th, 2004 - ISSN: 1551-6571

In Kevin's Own Words

After The Workshop Ends - Getting Maximum Value from the Training You Attend

As professionals we all attend training, seminars, conferences and more. In the best experiences we leave fired up and motivated to apply the great new ideas we learned. And even in the poorest experiences we tend to learn something that would be useful for us in our work. Far too often though, the excitement and ideas we have when we leave the workshop are replaced with a deluge of voice mail and emails and very little real change back on the job.

This article presents a process that is totally in your control outside of the training experience itself that you can complete in remarkably little time. This process and these specific steps will skyrocket the value you will receive from your investments of time, effort, and money.

Listen to Kevin tell you why he takes power naps
and why you should too.

During the Workshop

Ok, this article is entitled, After the Workshop Ends, so you are expecting suggestions of things to do when the workshop is complete, right? Don’t worry, after this first suggestion all of them are for after the workshop is complete. Of all the things you can and should do during the workshop: keep an open mind, be actively involved, participate, and practice, etc., the most important thing you can do during the experience to improve your results is to take action-based notes.

This doesn’t mean that you need to take notes of everything said, or to take notes like when you were in school. The “final exam” isn’t given at the end of the class – the true test is how you use what you learned in the real world. So, that means to write down the key concepts you hear, the ideas those concepts generate for you, and the things you plan to do, based on what you have learned. Consider putting these notes in your journal, or a separate page from the handouts or workbook, so that these Action Ideas are separate and easy to get to.

After The Workshop

1. That evening.

a. Review your Action Idea notes – just read through them and reflect on the learning from the workshop (this doesn’t need to take more than a few minutes.)
b. Build an action plan. Identify the 1-3 things you are going to do very soon with what you have learned. Write out your goal and a quick action plan. Make sure your plan includes dates. If this was done during the workshop, great – all you have to do now is review it briefly.

2. The next day.

a. Teach someone else the key concepts from the workshop. By sharing the main ideas with someone else you are helping them, and solidifying the learning in your own mind.
b. Review your Action Ideas. Again – 5-10 minutes of review is all that is required.
c. Add the “to-do” and action items from your action plan in your calendar.

3. Day 2.

a. Share your action plan with your Supervisor, coach or mentor. Use this person as a sounding board and a source of support and accountability for you.
b. Briefly review your notes.

4. Day 3. Review your notes, adding any ideas or notes to them as appropriate. Make sure you are on track for the “to-do” items you added to your list.
5. Day 7. Review your notes, adding any ideas or notes to them as appropriate. Check on your Action Plan too – are you on track with your plans?
6. Day 14. Review your notes, adding any ideas or notes to them as appropriate. Make sure you are on track with your Action Plans.
7. Day 30. Review your notes, adding any ideas or notes to them as appropriate. Finish your action items, and/or make sure they are on track.

While the time required to do this will vary based on the topic and length of the workshop, typically you can complete all of these steps (except completing the specific Action Planning items you committed to), in two hours or less.

This is such great news! Why? This two hour investment will be one of the best investments you will make in terms of improvement, growth, confidence and results. Beyond that, it is an investment that is completely in your control.

So the next time you are scheduled for training, invest a little more time after the training – that is the time that will make all of the difference.

Yours in learning,

Kevin

Kevin's Journal

You Can Teach An Old Dog New Tricks

There are many cliches that I understand, believe in and repeat. There is however one supposed sage saying that I really dislike - ok - I hate it. "You can't teach an old dog a new trick" is a phrase I really hate - because it is inaccurate and too often is used as an excuse.

This is why I loved reading about the latest study on internet usage. You know, the internet, used by kids for instant messaging, and business people, for you know, business, isn't supposed to be for the older set, right? But someone forgot to tell the more mature Americans that.

Never mind that they didn't all grow up around computers or even learn typing. Never mind that there might be things on the internet that they might not agree with. They are logging on anyway.

Another Perspective

Concentration
By Ken Partain

"Concentration is the act of focusing the mind upon a given desire until ways and means for its realization have been worked out and success fully put into operation."

While reading the lesson this week, I was reminded of an experiment I did in science class as a kid. We went outside on a sunny day with a piece of paper and a magnifying glass. We placed the paper on the sidewalk and were asked if it could catch fire just by sitting there in the sun. We all agreed that it could not. We were then instructed to place the magnifying glass over the piece of paper and situate it so that the light coming through the magnifying glass was concentrated on a single spot.

Before long, the paper began to turn brown and smolder and then it caught fire. That is the power of concentration. When we focus our energy on a single purpose, we can accomplish anything!

Imagine what would happen if there were several magnifying lenses focused on the same spot. The paper would begin to burn that much faster. This exact same theory is the basis for the use of concentration in a Master Mind Group, which we discussed in the first lesson in this series.

The act of concentration is based on two laws that we have discussed in past newsletters, the Law of Auto-Suggestion, and the Law of Habit.

"An idea or desire, to be transformed into terms of action or physical reality, must be held in the conscious mind faithfully and persistently until habit begins to give it permanent form."

Napoleon Hill gives us five rules of procedure through which we may form the habits we desire.

"First: At the beginning of the formation of a new habit put force and enthusiasm into your expression. Feel what you think. Remember that you are taking the first steps toward making the new mental path; that it is much harder at first than it will be afterwards. Make the path as clear and as deep as you can, at the beginning, so that you can readily see it the next time you wish to follow it.

Second: Keep your attention firmly concentrated on the new path-building, and keep your mind away from the old paths, lest you incline toward them. Forget all about the old paths, and concern yourself only with the new ones that you are building to order.

Third: Travel over your newly made paths as often as possible. Make opportunities for doing so, without waiting for them to arise through luck or chance. The [more often] you go over new paths the sooner will they become well worn and easily traveled. Create plans for passing over these new habit-paths, at the very start.

Fourth: Resist the temptation to travel over the older, easier paths that you have been using in the past. Every time you resist a temptation, the stronger do you become, and the easier will it be for you to do so the next time. But every time you yield to the temptation, the easier does it become to yield again, and the more difficult it becomes to resist the next time. Prove your determination, persistency and will-power now, at the very beginning.

Fifth: Be sure that you have mapped out the right paths, as your definite chief aim, and then go ahead without fear and without allowing yourself to doubt... Select your goal, then make good, deep, wide mental paths leading straight to it."

I have heard that it takes 21 days to form a new habit. If this is the case, then you can begin to change your life for the better three weeks at a time.

Pick something that you would like to change and write it down (This will be one step toward your definite chief aim). Write it down on an index card in the form of a positive affirmation (auto-suggestion). Concentrate your efforts on this one item for three weeks and it will become a habit.

Begin today to concentrate your efforts on one thing at a time to take you closer to your definite chief aim. Success and prosperity don't happen overnight. This is a journey and one that we can enjoy on a daily basis.

Whether you want to have a million dollars, or lose fifty pounds, or find a lifelong mate, start right now to take the steps to get you there.

Have a prosperous week!

Ken Partain is the author of the bi-weekly newsletter Prosperity For You. You can learn more about Ken's work and sign up for his newsletter at http://www.prosperityforyou.com/.

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The Kevin Eikenberry Group
7035 Bluffridge Way
Indianapolis, IN 46278