Soon to follow us were the London, Tokyo, Singapore Academies and now the New York cohort has become brand new Innovators. We are currently watching Twitter posts to welcome the Sweden and Brazil cohorts to the ever growing Innovator family.

Innovation noun, in·no·va·tion—the introduction of something new; a new idea, method, or device. Webster

If you are a Google Innovator then you will clearly remember the build up to the Innovator Academy Event. Weeks of planning your submission, being accepted and then spending time becoming part of the cohort through online meetings, discussions and of course getting to know your future colleagues via hangout and Twitter.

Meeting your cohort for the first time as old friends at the Academy Event is packed full of energy, PD, selfies, Innovator swag and creative brainstorming with like-minded people.

You are on a flight home to a community that may not fully grasp what you’ve experienced.

This emotional fallout after such an event is real. In fact, psychologist Eileen Kennedy refers to it as “Post-Adrenaline Blues”.

So what can Innovators do to get back on track? They dedicated so much energy during the Academy days and hyper-focussing on every detail of the project. Here are a few tips from my research and more from my Innovator buddies:

Be gentle with yourself Remember you are AWESOME (still can’t say that without a Stuart Kelly NZ accent). You were chosen from applications around the world to join this elite community and you deserve a rest – just for a little while. Take in a few early nights or a quiet stroll to ponder this wonderful experience.

Be grateful. Be grateful for this incredible opportunity. Recap on those things that inspired you and thank those people who made it so successful for you. Create a few tweets or write a blog post to show your gratitude for the honour of attending your Google Academy. Adam Hill did just that after our Sydney Academy.

Be connected Abid Patel from #LON19 reminded me that to keep connected is key. Galen Rosenberg (#SYD19) says that a physical reminder is good – his RasperryPi smart screen rotates through all our pics from #SYD19. Like me, ѕteve sмιтн and Lance Key still have our hangout notifications turned on!

Regular interaction with your mentor, team and cohort via Twitter and Google Hangouts builds momentum for you and your project. Our #SYD19 hangout is a space where we run out our ideas and test our prototypes. Sometimes it feels like a marathon but your buddies are there like welcome drink stations!

For good ideas and true innovation, you need human interaction, conflict, argument, debate. Margaret Heffernan

Be rewarded YES – you did it! You deserve to reward yourself with something that makes you happy.

Be a goal-setter Bring purpose back into this next phase of your Innovator journey. Your project may come to life very quickly or it may change course. That’s OK. Just draft out some goals in your planner or calendar to help motivate you to bring energy and inspiration into your project and work.

Innovation is the calling card of the future. Anna Eshoo

If you are thinking about applying for the Google Innovator Program then check my recent blog post to give you some ideas and motivation. Find more information about the application process on Google’s Teacher Centre.

You won’t regret your decision to apply for the most incredible PD experiences of your career. Please email me if you need some inspiration (lesleigh.a.altmann@gmail.com). Follow me on Twitter to see how #GoogleEI communicates and supports each other.