My alarm woke me at 5.30am this morning and I left the apartment at 6.30am to drive about 50 miles across the Pennines to our Leeds dental workshop.
Weather was pretty grim – fog and frost – and the traffic was a nightmare. I came to a standstill at 7.30am right on the tops of the moors, with the fog billowing around 3 lanes of stationary commuters and commercial vehicles. We sat for a while until a crawl began through the darkness.
Instead of my planned arrival time of 8.00am I rolled in 30 minutes late and with half of my delegates already sat with coffee. Its quite freaky to have to set up the laptop, digital projector and sound system with a group of brand new clients watching who you don’t know yet.
Anyway – we kicked off at 9.00am on the dot and I delivered that “day one” workshop to my startled rabbits again (see earlier blog on the effect that my radical views have on new audiences).
A big room today – around 100 people and many team members attending for the first time. I have to:
a. build rapport with a variety of ages and skill sets;
b. deliver the radical material to unbelievers;
c. entertain the returning clients who have heard it before;
d. keep to time;
e. watch the body language and eye contact to make sure I’m not losing or unduly offending anyone.
The day flashes by and I then drive back over the hills to Manchester – more fog, more traffic and, of course, at this time of year its dark again.
Back at my apartment I’m keeping up with emails and preparing for a teleconference at 7.45pm (local) this evening with over 250 eager listeners (coaches) who want to know “how I do it”.
I’ll be finished at 8.30pm before a quick domestic meeting and then off to bed before a 5.00am alarm call tomorrow – and a drive down to Birmingham for 2 days of coaching.
This is why I’ll be taking 14 weeks vacation this year and 3-day weekends. I’d go potty and burn out otherwise.