entrepreneurship

Wow.

Last week I attended the World Domination Summit in Portland , Oregon. It wasn’t my first World Domination Summit but it was every bit as spectacular.

The first WDS I attended consisted of only 500 people. This one was 3000. Six times the size in just two years.

Despite the rapid growth, it was one hell of a show. Kudos to Chris Guillebeau and his team who manage to blow away attendees each and every year.

10 Inspiring speakers took to the stage over two days to dispel their wisdom and motivate all of us to chase our dreams, challenge our fears and live remarkably. The welcome party had 3000 of us take over the Portland Zoo while the closing party had us create an epic dance party at Pioneer Square in downtown Portland. We also broke a world record, took a cruise down the Willamette River and connected with inspiring people from more than 30 countries.

It was a heart-warming, energizing and soul-lifting weekend.

But what happens after?

Someone I spoke to a few days later mentioned different sales conferences they used to attend. Sales conferences are different from World Domination Summit but still filled with motivational speakers inspiring people in their particular field. She mentioned how much she enjoyed those conferences and how inspiring they were but was always disappointed in the months that followed.

I understood what she meant. She was talking about all those crazy dreams and ideas that are born during the conference but slowly wile away as time goes on. Maybe she set her short-term goals too high or maybe she just didn’t work hard enough.

This happens to many people after a conference / summit. It certainly has to me. We hear all these amazing stories from people who have been primed to give mind-bending talks. They come out on stage and blast us with an hour of well-rehearsed and coached talks that fill our hearts and souls with all kinds of dreams and aspirations. We come home ready to tackle the world head on only to realize a few months later that nothing has happened or that our goals were not reached to the extent we had dreamed.

Did we fuck up? Were we tricked?

No, it’s just us. We can be motivated and inspired all we want but unless we actually take action, we won’t see any results. If we do take action, we need to realize that we are likely to fail along the way. The important part is to not let that stop us. We must learn from it and fail again, becoming “professionals” as we go.

Don’t let that inspiration fade away. We need your project.

Here are some quick tips for what should come after the World Domination Summit:

1. Set some time for yourself to write down your thoughts after WDS. Try to capture that inspired version of yourself so that you can continue to look back on it when the WDS-momentum starts to fade. Jot down everything you can. Small ideas, big ideas, outrageous ideas. Everything. Use this as your starting block.

2. Get started on your project immediately. Don’t worry about it being the “right” one or not. Just get started on step one and move from there. If the idea changes, that’s fine because you’re learning as you go. If you never start, nothing happens. Even if you start with just 15-30 minutes per day, it will add up to a finished project and it will feel damn good!

3. Stay connected with the people you met during the summit and tell them about your project. This will not only help build the relationships but will also hold you accountable for getting your project out into the world. Another idea might be to form some sort of accountability/mastermind group for further accountability and collaboration.

4. As a bonus, join the World Domination Summit Facebook group. It’s a great place to stay connected with the WDS spirit and also a great place to post your project and get feedback.

Do you have any other ideas for continuing the momentum after a summit?

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Feature photo and photo of Chris courtesy of Chris Guillebeau.