I don’t know about you, but I get charged up at any agricultural conference. Sign me up!
Business Acumen, Social Marketing, Being a Business Partner… I attend as many different breakout sessions as possible. My mind becomes buzzed with ideas and to-dos as I listen to the speakers – and then I hit the trade show floor. WOW! ZING!
That bag, you know the one? It’s the one that every registration desk gives out. It holds a couple of sponsor giveaways, a conference schedule, and a list of vendors and their locations on the trade show floor.
Yes, that’s the one. I fill it up.
I go from booth to booth, grabbing cards, talking, mulling my thoughts with strangers. I feel like a kid in a candy store. I must look like it too! My mind is a flurry of thoughts and ideas as I race through, grabbing every idea I can.
Then, as quickly as it started, the conference ends, and the closing remarks are made. I am flying high. I load into the car, putting my “bag of hopes and dreams” on the seat beside me.
As I drive away, big plans are conjured up in my head. So many solutions and ideas…
About halfway home, I start to feel overwhelmed, wondering how I will do all of it. And then, reality begins to set in.
Thoughts of the kids and dinner march through my head. My mind starts to wander back to everything I had left behind when I drove out the yard and headed to the conference.
I feel heavier.
At last, I pull into my driveway and turn the ignition off. The drive to make changes and get things done when I got in the car sputters as I grab the bag, get out, and slam the car door shut.
I walk in the back door, and that’s as far as my “bag of hopes and dreams” goes. Laid to rest in the corner, next to hooks where all the coats are piled. Once again, life resumes, after its brief pause while I was away.
Over the next few weeks, that bag of hopes and dreams gets passed by, briefly thought about, and moved to the dining room where I intend to go back through it, like a fine-toothed comb, and remind myself of the great things hidden in there that I need to do.
Then, a day comes when I am pressured to clean and tidy. The bag gets moved further away from my life to a corner in the office.
After 6 months of collecting dust, I finally resign myself to the fact that I forgot all of the great ideas I had put into that bag…all of those important people I spoke with don’t seem so important anymore. And frankly, my energy is long gone and has been directed elsewhere…time to throw it out.
How sad for that “bag of hopes and dreams”. It had so much potential.
So to you, the reader: Here is my challenge. As we head into winter conference season, make that one phone call or send that requested email BEFORE you even pull out of the parking lot of your conference.
Get the ball rolling. Don’t miss out on a chance to take action.
Before you even go to your conference, set a time in your calendar to sit down with yourself and make a realistic game plan within a few days after leaving. Spend time to process all of that information. Keep it going!
What good is your “bag of hopes and dreams” if it doesn’t become your reality?
Commit, pledge, and stand with your bag from this day forward. You owe it to yourself. Don’t let it sit in your office’s corner and become just another dusty, old bag.
Hopes and dreams…
With love,
Kate
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