In the long distant past, in a location far far away, the following conversation occurred
Attendee: “I’ve taken twelve different property courses. Which company do you think is the best one?”
Me: “What do you mean?”
Attendee: “Well I really like the speakers at XYZ company as I think they are quite polished.”
Me: “Uhhh really? How many properties have you bought so far?”
Attendee: “None so far. I need to get all the information before I buy anything. It’s better to be well-prepared and plan for all eventualities.”
Me: “Ohhh that’s a great strategy. Listen I promised to speak to Jessica. I’ll catch up with you later.”
This attendee had been to twelve different property courses, and had yet to purchase a single property! Buying property is, admittedly, a fairly difficult task, but it’s not twelve property courses difficult. The craziest aspect is that this conversation is one I frequently have at events.
It’s like some people are simply addicted to going to events, but can’t seem to pull the trigger on anything that they do.
Today I’m going to help you; spot an event junkie, how to disengage as to stop wasting both of your time, and how to go into event rehab and start actually doing something.
Rise of the Event Junkie
I love helping people. Especially people who have a vision and dream for their lives, but over time I’ve found that there are certain types of people who will waste my time.
Event junkies tend to pick experienced people’s brains and monopolise their time. I’m not against asking others to help me with their knowledge, but unfortunately an event junkie will never do anything with the knowledge. In addition, when in a discussion with an event junkie at any wealth, property course or seminar, the following subjects are brought up:
- Whether the venue was great
- Whether they liked the speaker
- Whether previous speakers on similar subjects knew more about the subject
- Whether fellow course attendees were friendly and educated
- Whether they thought the information on the course was better than information they had received from other courses
My response to many of these discussions is to ask what the top three to seven (depending on my mood) useful nuggets people were able to garner from the course/book and how they are likely to implement this information. In addition, I will ask what they’ve done with information from previous courses.
Over a few minutes of conversation it usually becomes evident whether someone is an event junkie and is simply gathering information. Information which they use to discuss and debate with others.
It may sound harsh but at about this stage I’m normally gone from the discussion.
Education Wars
Why do I abandon the conversation? I only have a certain amount of time to spend with people. Being dragged into debates with people who have not had any experience in areas such as: Legal discussions, wealth acquisition discussions, or property letting and management, just waste my time.
At a large event you only have sufficient time to have quality discussions with about ten people (if you’re lucky). People who you connect with, people you may be able to work with, people you can help or be helped by in your journey. You will know these people by their experience, by what they’ve told you they have done already.
Beyond the event, we have a fixed amount of time each day to spend with people. To squander that time with people who don’t take actions or put off taking actions until “they get all the knowledge,” and I stress the little word “ALL” is just not worth the time.
Although I am a great fan of education in all areas of life, I am not fond of accumulation of knowledge without action. I am so against education accumulation without action that I have banned several people I coach from attending further courses.
This ban is in effect until I see my staff and people I coach put into action the lessons learned from previous courses.
Education accumulation without action is demotivating for the educators and other learners. Education accumulation without action also enables students to hide behind the phrases “I need more education,” “I don’t know enough yet”, “when I go on XYZ course then…..”
How to stop becoming an event junkie
1. Know why you are at the event
When you’re at a property course, whilst you’re there to learn a thing or two, you’re also there to network with people who you can grow with. It may seem cutthroat to simply say “some people aren’t worth your time” but you’ve got to remember that you’re there to grow/start/learn about your business.
You’ve paid to be at these events, why on earth would you waste your time with someone who you either don’t connect with or isn’t really interested in the business?! If you’re worried about being rude simply say “Sorry guys, I’ve got to go and chat with XYZ before they leave” or “I need to use the toilet.”
I’ve used these phrases hundreds of times and no one has ever been offended by my exit of the conversation.
2. Use the information from the event immediately
Have a contract with yourself and your business partner to implement at least five things from the seminar in the next thirty days. While you are at the event, make a list of the information you found useful.
Once you have finished the list. Select the top five in the list that you can implement immediately to make money, save on time, help others or help yourself in the next thirty days. The faster you implement those ideas, the more likely your success will soar.
3. Do not attend further courses or events until action is taken
As an incentive to yourself, only book yourself on further courses when you have implemented at least 10%-25% of the information you learned. Limit the number of courses you are allowed to attend without taking any action to three. Do not attend any further courses.
4. Get motivation
I am often bemused by how many people leave an event (especially one that spans two or more days) without networking with others. The best way to get motivated is to network with others and listen to their stories of how and what made them take action.
Conquering your event demon
In summary, you know you’re an event junkie if you are on an asset protection course and have no assets.
Understand some knowledge will be redundant by the time you are ready. Knowledge becomes redundant due to improvements in technology, changes in the law, economic, political and technological changes. So wherever possible take action within thirty days of attending an event.
Do you agree with me or feel I’ve been unduly harsh? If “unduly harsh” then please feel free to write your own perspective in the comment section below.
If you found this article interesting and useful, please share it on your social media. if you would like to learn more about achieving your life’s dreams have a look at:
- Achieve any dream with buckets of rubbles
- Turn your dream into reality in four stages
- The seven deadly sins of business owners
- Understanding the gift of betrayal
- Stories illustrating the gifts from betrayal
- How to minimise betrayal with PANDAS
- Why being busy is a waste of time
Image Credit: Dell
