No excuses

I'm really tired today, so don't expect a great post.
And before I begin, I just want to say that I haven't been feeling 100% recently, so my apologies if this talk is a little jumbled.
Oh, and did I mention that my PC went crazy and deleted my entire presentation last night? I've been up all night re-working it, but it might not have come out perfectly.


Rewind. And let's roll.

Forget the pre-emptive excuses.  Just give the talk. Just demonstrate the product. Just show off your presentation. Are you making these excuses because you think they'll get you off the hook? They won't.  Because you want people to give you an easy ride?  They won't.  Because you're worried that the audience won't give you a standing ovation?  Too bad.

The only thing these little statements demonstrate is weakness.

We all have bad days, good days, and intermediate days.  Life's a bell curve, and nobody's running at 110% all the time.

Do you ever start a speech with, "I'm feeling on top of the world today - absolutely amazing - so you should be ready for an awesome presentation" ?  At least I'd credit you with integrity if you did this. But no, you don't trouble to pre-empt your performance when you feel fantastic, so why bother when you don't feel so great?

Excuses aren't going to make your performance better. They aren't going to make your customers love you.  And they certainly aren't going to earn you respect.

Just get out there and be the best that you can be.