Unknowns. They’re everywhere, and they’re scary! We like to know what’s going to happen so we know how to respond and we know how it’s going to turn out.
We like to know.
But in life, rarely do we actually know what’s going to happen. Wheeeee!
I preach this stuff all the time, and pride myself in being able to embrace the fear of unknowns…but I got tossed off my little confident, preachy horse recently, and I thought you might enjoy hearing the tale.
I got hired to do the closing keynote speech for a teacher’s conference on a cruise ship! COOL but…I’ve never spent 3 days vacationing with my audience before a speech…how’s this going to go? Big unknown #1.
The agenda arrived for review, and everything looked good except the keynote time…10:30pm. Typo? Nope! It’s the only time the organizers could get the theatre…Will anyone show up? Will they be plastered drunk and rowdy? Awake? And that’s after my bedtime…how’s this going to go? Big unknowns #2, 3 and 4.
Once on the ship, I went to check out the space I’d be speaking in…and there was an ice-skating show going on…on a cruise ship, in the middle of the Atlantic. The Icecapades! COOL but…are they going to give me skates? (No skates…the helmet would have flattened my hair anyway!) and no covering for the ice, so I had a small stage on the 4th side of the ice rink, completely removed from the audience…and for those of you who have seen me speak, I like to run around in the audience…especially at a 10:30pm keynote…now what? Big unknowns #5 - 72.
It was at this point I began hyperventilating! I care a lot about delivering a great experience for the audience and this audience was a bunch of teachers who have been battling it out on the front lines for a very stressful 3 years! They deserved to have a fabulous, memorable and helpful experience, especially if they chose to put down the Mai Tai and show up for a 10:30 show!
So I locked myself in my stateroom and asked myself, “What can I control here?”, and went from there!
- I wore sneakers and did the whole presentation from the audience. (The few people who sat in the rows I was using as my main street got a bonus oblique workout making room for me as I whooshed by!)
- I gamified the whole presentation and had a suitcase full of prizes for everyone who participated (“FIRST 50 IN THEIR SEATS GET A BAG OF GUMMY BEARS!” I’m not above bribing people)
- When the stress of the unknowns crept in, I reminded myself that I had a plan and was prepared, and I was going to give it everything I had to make it work, and that’s the best I could do.
- I had plenty of caffeine at dinner, so I would be wide awake!
- I called on many friends and colleagues to help me gamify, provide fun and meaning and to prop me up when I was feeling wigged out by the unknowns…
And it worked!! We had a great time, the hour flew, and those teachers SHOWED UP! Not only do I mean that 150 of them chose my presentation over another Pina Colada and the Juggling Juggernauts show, but they were awake, were appropriately rowdy, and they participated, and according to them, they had a great time!
I find great comfort in the fact that NOBODY on this planet has any idea what’s going to happen next, and I sure am one of them. When it starts getting me down, I give myself a pep talk...
”What can I control here? There are some things I’m going to have to leave to chance, and they could go badly, or they couldn’t go well! Only time will tell, but what can I control or influence to give me the best chance at a positive outcome”….and then I go do that!
The best chance at a positive outcome is genuinely the best we can do, and usually…it actually goes pretty well, so PUNCH IT MARGARET® and may the odds be ever in your favor!! (and don’t forget, gummy bears always help!)
Go get 'em Tiger.
