This afternoon concluded with me giving my presentation two times at the Express International Leadership Conference.  I was on two times in a row, giving the same presentation back to back.  The practice was done, time for performance.

The first presentation didn’t go nearly as well as I’d expected.  Some of the things that worked well in practicing alone didn’t work the same with a crowd.  I made a last minute audible and added a short video that didn’t help out.  I couldn’t quite get into my groove and just never felt like it clicked.  There were many compliments from the attendees afterwards, but I just didn’t feel that great about how I did.  It felt like a 6 out of 10 instead of the 11 I expected of myself.

In between sessions I had 45 minutes and immediately reacted.  Many times I have to choose an attitude or value and then run with it.  In this case I didn’t even think, I just went into Grit and Growth Mindset modes.

Passionate for presenting, passionate for helping my Express family, there was no choice but to put s smile on my face and persevere.  Knowing that I wasn’t as successful as I hoped led me to analyze what didn’t go well.  Along the way Norm gave me a few pointers to help me improve for Round 2 and I didn’t put up defenses or question, I just listened and absorbed his input.  Not wallowing in disappointment (which I didn’t have time for) I cruised right into “how to improve it” mode and started making changes.  I went back into the times when I’ve been successful, remembered how that felt and what I did that helped me get there, and then adjusted to fit the previous successes.  I took a deep breath and launched myself whole heartedly and full of optimism into the next presentation…

And I was successful.  Not only successful, but in a full on state of flow that I was able to appreciate both at the time and now as I reflect afterwards.  What a wonderful feeling that is!!!

I’m thankful that those values are coming more and more naturally to me, they paid off huge today!

Thanks!!!