Getting Rid of the “What if” or “If Only” Factor
This past Saturday I attended the National Speakers Association New England chapter’s meeting.
I’ve been wanting to attend one of their meetings for many years, but I’ve never had the courage to go alone; so I invited a good friend of mine, award-winning storyteller Mike Harris, to go with me.
I crawled out of bed at 4:45 a.m. I picked Mike up at his home at 6:30 a.m. We arrived at the meeting place in Framingham, Massachusetts after two windshield wiper refueling stops (one was combined with an “Oops, we went the wrong way, but we needed to stop at a CVS store for more windshield wiper solution anyway” turn-around) with a few minutes to spare.
The keynote speaker was good. The information was useful. He asked each of us to make a commitment to one action that would move us closer to our professional goals.
The time spent talking with the members and other guests was insightful. I learned that several of the members are part-time speakers like me, working full-time jobs and doing keynote speeches, training seminars and workshops on the side.
But the greatest benefit of attending was that I finally got rid of the “what if” and “if only” doubts that have plagued me for a couple of years.
“What if I had attended a National Speakers Assocation meeting sooner? Would my speaking career be in high gear by now?”
“What if I am missing out on the tools and resources that are vital to my success?”
After attending the meeting on Saturday, I am confident that no matter what happens with my speaking career, I will not look back and say: “If only I had attended an NSA meeting.”
To say that the organization has fallen off the pedestal I placed it on is unfair; but in some ways that is what happened. I learned that the membership requirements aren’t quite as demanding as I had thought. I learned that membership in the organization doesn’t mean you are a exceptional speaker.
I’m sure that eventually I will attend more meetings and join this organization. But for now the magic and mystique of it has been replaced with a dose of reality. I see now that the members have as many questions as I do. I see that the members are struggling with the same things as I am. They don’t have all the answers, but together we can probably brainstorm a bunch of possible solutions.
Do you have a “What if” or “If only” opportunity you want to pursue? Is there something you think might offer answers or solutions to one or more of your challenges? If there is, what can you do today to address it? What can you do to turn those possible “What if” or “If only” factors into known answers?
They may be the key to the locks that are keeping you chained in place. Or they may not. But until you explore them, you’ll never know how things might be different if only…
