Goodbye! Don't Forget Your Ears!

I'll bang this out real quick as I have a date with the highway here in 20 minutes. I have a big prospect to see today for a follow-up meeting. Usually these are make or break type of meetings. I am going it alone, too, which is fine with me. My 'backup' usually screws things up.

I don't have a really big ego about most things. However, my ability to present is not one of those. I guess ego isn't even the right term, so much as well-earned confidence. I get told all the time presenting is my "gift". I don't disagree and I end up taking the point on these things anyway because I show up more prepared and more confident than my colleagues and I am also just better at extemporaneous presenting should the need arise.

So I am armed with all I need. Data, Concepts, Structures, Costs, Implementation Plans, etc.

The only thing I need is my ears.

Sometimes, I forget my ears.

It is an old axiom, probably as old as verbal communication itself that goes something like "You have two ears and one mouth... use them in that proportion."

There is a sign on the wall of our bathroom at the office that says "the quieter you are, the more you hear." Of course that seems to me a veiled threat in that particular room wherein all who dwell are presumably there for one of but three or four reasons, none of which are especially quiet. In this case, said room is about as sound proof as a drum. What exactly is that sign alluding to? Are people listening to me go to the bathroom? I am being as quiet as I can be? Is what I am hearing someone putting their ear to the door?

Back to the point. My charge-taking skills are well honed in relation to my shut-up and let the customer take you where they want to go, skills. I try to coach myself and work on it, but I find it hard to fight off the energy that I get naturally from these meetings.

I really like them. And I really like to do well. And I have control issues, (which by the way I come by honestly- and while it's not nice to point fingers, if I did, which I am not, they would be aimed squarely at my Mother, whom I love), which means in order to perceive myself as having done well, I need to control the meeting.

Only I don't. And I know this because it's true. But still, it doesn't make it any easier for me to shut up and let someone else drive.

I will fill you in after the meeting, but today is the day. I am going to sit placidly until the prospective customer speaks. And if they do not, my only question will be... "What would you like to talk about, today?"

Wish me luck. I have a 2 hour car trip to coach myself before go time.
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After my meeting, I will be playing poker. This will be the second time in as many weeks that I have played. I will be playing again next week.

Unlike the monthly friendly game I have inserted myself into, tonight's is a networking event. So, ostensibly, I am playing poker for work.

Hate the game, not the playa.