To expect or not to expect. Well I would say please have expectations and hope. These are your drivers. But change the way you expect.
Jane prepares her presentation for the forthcoming client meeting. She expects the following.
A. Her presentation covers the subject completely and there can be very few questions.B. Whatever questions arise she would be able to answer as she already knew them.
C. The mock clients she faced were all completely convinced about the bright prospect of the venture.
D. She could satisfy all her critics. In fact they were all praises.
All and all she had it all covered.
D day is here. She decided to reach her office 30 mins before time. So she did dreaming of a handsome bonus and maybe a promotion while she drove.
The boardroom was prepared for the meet. She logged on and transferred the presentation from her thumb drive to the system and checked on the projection. Once she was satisfied with everything she settled down to check her official mails.
Let us replace Jane with June. Their presentations are identical and she too has gone through the same set of critics and everything else. Only their thoughts were different.
The night before the presentation June was considering a failure. There were no reasons why the project would fail. But what if? She was smiling. It was her way of thinking. So she worked out for a while and came up with 5 more prospective clients who had a good chance of responding. She also figured out 2 ways to tweak the presentation that may attract 3 different clients. She laughed at herself though because she was confident that tomorrows meeting would be a grand success. She fell asleep and her sleep was uninterrupted and sound. When she woke up she was fresh as paint. She drove down to her office enjoying the crisp weather as atmosphere control was turned off and the window was down. On reaching office she loaded her presentation, made sure that the projection was working and settled down to check her official mails.
"Regret......." bottom line, the meeting was called off from the client side citing unnatural and unavoidable circumstances. and it was not just the meeting, it was the deal itself.
Jane was completely shattered. The fall from the morning high hurt her badly. She slowly picked up her stuff and walked into her boss' chamber.. He too looked pale and completely lost. Jane sat down. Her boss gained composure and asked her whether she would prefer a few days off? Jane agreed and admitted that with her state of mind she would not be able to contribute anything to the organisation for a while. She got up and left slowly.
June was disgusted. She was angry. She took a few deep breaths then got up and marched into her boss' chamber. She found him dejected and he looked miserable. "I have another plan" she said and handed over the thumb drive. He plugged it into the system and within minutes he started taking interest in the new idea. After an hour of studying the new plan and making a few phone calls he was able to secure another client meeting the day after tomorrow with a few modification in the project specifications. They spent the rest of the day in working out the modalities of the new variant of their project. When June reached home, she was exhausted. She barely managed to fix a light meal, had dinner and was asleep the moment she hit shack
Conclusion -
Always have a plan B and if possible an alternative for Plan B.
Expect the unexpected or unknown. They are the spoilers and they happen.
Always insure. It gives you protection from these scenarios.
Finally - It feels good as long as there is hope. So work today to avoid hopelessness from creeping into your mind.
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