NORTHERN PLANNER

Right, I’m about 1 hour away from a pretty big presentation (I’d prefer to call it a conversation since ‘presentation’ means ‘one way’). A month’s work is either going to go up in smoke or totally refresh their business. Am I nervous? I most certainly am.

I hate presentations, but I kind of love them too. I hate having to stand up on front of people and talk (so I usually try and get out of it by not presenting at all, and just chatting). But I kind of like that fear too, I need it. Being bothered helps as well.

I’ve been told that  I get away with stuff because I look like I care, people like the enthusiasm. They’ve gone with things thanks to how I say it, not what I’ve said. That’s why I’ll do everything I can to make sure we’re doing the right thing – if I didn’t believe in it, I’d fall to pieces.

I used to swim. A lot. I used to compete. I was never that good in time trials and unimportant races, but I used to smash my best times in the big ones. Quite simply, I needed to be terrified to perform well. Presentations are a bit like that for me. While I envy the confident ones, for me, fear is good.