December 6, 2019 10:00 am Published by

Flawed and Excellent #210

Some days, it seems everything is more challenging than it should be. Imperfect and flawed.

I was presenting for a client in two different cities the same week. We’d been planning for months and we were ready. When I arrived at the first location, for the first time ever, our materials weren’t delivered. We scrambled, worked through a makeshift solution and my team confirmed our materials were at the second location to avoid any recurring problems.

When I arrived at the second location, the materials were there, though difficult to locate. And once we opened them, the wrong workbooks had been shipped. We were in the same situation again, with the same client, in a new location and a slightly different set of circumstances. YIKES!

What do you do? It’s showtime and you don’t have what you need to do your work. For me, I’ve learned to remind myself that my audience doesn’t know what it “should” look like and my job is to knock their socks off with value—no matter what. When I focus on them and remind myself of the experience I’m there to create; the rest fades to the background—at least until I get back to my team.

When things don’t work, focusing on the outcomes you’re seeking to produce—not the circumstances in your way—will lead you to excellence. It isn’t easy, convenient or without challenges, and it works. In this case, they were two of the best presentations I’ve ever delivered.

Were they perfect? Not at all. They were flawed and they were excellent.

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