Today is Tuesday, so this post is on creating positive personal impact.
I got an important lesson in creating positive personal impact yesterday. That lesson was “remain calm, no matter what.”
This lesson came as I was getting ready to conduct a complimentary teleseminar for people who purchased my new book “Straight Talk for Success.” I had agreed with Peggy Murrah, Virtual Assistant Extraordinaire, to call in at three minutes before the hour. Peggy was handling the administrative details and recording of the call.
About ten minutes before the call, my headset stopped working properly. This freaked me out a bit because I would have to do the call the old fashioned way, holding the phone in my hand. But that was nothing…..
When I attempted to call into at 57 minutes past the hour, I got a message that said, “Due to local telephone company trouble in the area you are calling, your call cannot be completed.” That shook me up a little bit.
But Peggy is not the VA Extraordinaire for nothing, she had a back up service ready to go. She sent the number to the subscribers -- and the teleseminar went off about seven minutes late.
Peggy was very cool and calm – and prepared. Her back up service was the equivalent of carrying a spare bulb for the projectors I used to use in the old days.
I was a mess. Punctuality is one of my curses. I am always on time. I hate to keep people waiting, especially people who have purchased my book and are kind enough to join a teleseminar to listen to what I have to say.
As Peggy was letting everyone know the new number to call, I sat and took a few deep breaths. I focused on what I was going to say – not the fact that we were late. Once the teleseminar started, I was cool and calm and ready to go.
Thank you to those of you who tuned in. Sorry we were late. If you missed it, we will have a replay of the call up on the web very soon.
The common sense point here is simple. People with positive personal impact are able to remain cool and calm even when things are exploding all around them. I have two suggestions for how to do this. First, be prepared. If you know your stuff and have a backup plan, you’ll be able to deal with unexpected setbacks easily. Second, center yourself when unexpected problems happen. Take a few deep breaths, concentrate on what you are doing, not the distraction caused by the problem.
That’s it for today. Thanks for reading. Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense and to subscribe to my weekly newsletter “Common Sense.”
I’ll see you around the web and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.
Bud
PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand, my fundraising page is still open. Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.
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