Doing Scary Things Daily

Today, I got up in front of my whole company and gave a presentation on the technology department’s development road map for the next year.  I created the PowerPoint presentation yesterday, complete with built-in comedy and prolific yet tasteful animations.  The PowerPoint was both powerful and on point, but I hadn’t really had a chance to rehearse.  So I did something that scares me, today.

Most people are at least intimidated by this kind of public speaking.  I heard somewhere that some people are more afraid of public speaking than spiders or death.  I’m not that afraid of it.  It gets my heart going, certainly, but sometimes it’s actually a lot of fun.

I did okay, and people paid me many compliments.  Today’s presentation isn’t really what I want to talk about.

Every opportunity we’re given to do something outside our comfort zone is an opportunity to grow.  Eleanor Roosevelt said “do something everyday that scares you,” but I think I would substitute the word “scare” for “challenge.”

For example, NaNoWriMo is coming up extremely fast.  I don’t think I’m afraid of that event.  I want to succeed this year, but there isn’t any real fear element involved in what motivates me, or the benefits I’ll receive from this activity.  But it will definitely challenge me.  And it will challenge me daily.

Today it was public speaking.  Later tonight, it will be mingling with my coworkers at a semi-formal event.  In a few days, it will be writing almost 1700 words a day on a story I started over 30 years ago.

 

In other news, I did not write my post yesterday.  It wasn’t the first post I missed this month, and I still have a pretty strong excuse.  I had a work emergency to deal with, and wound up creating my PowerPoint and working that issue until 1AM.  Work comes first, and I’d already busted on Blog-tober when the kidney stone knocked me down.

I will try to finish the month out strong, but there’s no guarantee.  What I might do instead is write up my planned posts for the 30th and the 31st in advance, post them on the appropriate days, and maybe take a break before going into November.  I’m no longer feeling all that motivated to write a post each day, especially when I’m scrambling to find something to talk about like today’s post.

Maybe I’ll feel differently tomorrow.