I’ve written about momentum and focus in the past month, both using mountain biking as a metaphor. Sometimes when you’re riding, you come upon a technical section that looks scary. The safe thing to do is get off and walk through it. When I’m nervous about a ride I haven’t done before, I remind myself I can walk through any scary parts and not worry.
As we all know, we don’t grow by playing it safe.
Last week, I talked to my mentor about my preparations for a talk I’m giving at the Montana Non-profit Association Annual Conference in September. I was lamenting the fact it takes me hours and hour of practice – not only of the content but also in angst: More than likely, I am deducting hours of my life each time I prepare for one due to my mental process to get to a place where I feel happy with the end product. That’s not even including the time I beat myself up after the session for everything I could have done better.
It would be a lot easier to get off my bike and walk around that conference. And not do these things at all. Stay with the status quo. It would be so much easier to sit behind the comfort of my computer in my yoga pants and write and think all day instead of putting myself out there.
Instead, I get on my bike, and I ride that thing – and maybe I don’t make it through, having to put my foot down in the middle (known as a “dab”), so I dismount, hang my head, turn around and try it again. Sometimes I don’t get it right until the third time. (Sometimes I don’t even get it then, and ride on telling myself “another day.”)
When my mentor suggested I run a webcast every week in September and got over myself with all this preparation,(Because I know the stuff and its good stuff), I knew I had to ride that thing over and over again until I got it right.
So you’re invited to my experiment, and I hope you’ll take me up on it.
Please join me in my webcast series:
How to tell a story that gets people to care
In these half-hour webcasts, I hope to inspire you to be a better storyteller to make your idea of change happen. Attend one or all. These are no charge to you and great “practice” for me. When you sign up, you’ll get all three. Please bring your storytelling frame of mind and willingness to share.
Wednesday, Sept 2 at 10 am PT: Overcome the blocks to being a good storyteller
Wednesday, Sept 16 at 10 am PT: From bad to good: What to do/what not to do
Wednesday, Sept 23 at 10 am PT: How to Tell a Good Story
Yes, it will be recorded, but it will be interactive, and I’d love to have you at the live sessions.
Do you know three people who would benefit from this? Please share this with them now. I thank you and they will too.
Also, I’d love to know what the thing is that you are avoiding riding.
Take care out there,
Some ways I may be able to help you and your team:
Coaching for leaders who want to make the world a better place. I have two slots available in September for my Take a Big Leap Coaching program, a four month one-on-one program to help you articulate and make your idea of change happen. Contact me to learn more.
Creative problem-solving for non-profit teams. I bring outside perspective to your purpose-driven team to help you get people to care about something. Contact me to talk about facilitation or training for your team.
Digital Transformation. Need to bring your work online? I’m here to help. Contact me for details.
Stay in touch.
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