You know the feeling: You gave the presentation of your life, you were on fire, and you met every question with a dazzling, intelligent, emotional, cogent, coherent answer. Every idea you could share with your clients or prospective clients found its way into your head and flowed bountifully into your words. But…
Now that you're driving home, suddenly you're not so sure. They seemed to love the first feature of your product, but there was something about they way they compared the second feature to your competitor's that might have indicated a preference for your competitor. And then there were those few awkward seconds when your attempt at humor went right over their heads.
And now you recall those few moments when you remember feeling yourself to be a bit "sales-y" or perhaps a little too desperate. And what about that piece of food from lunch that got stuck in your teeth? — and your tie was sticking out from under your shirt collar — and there's that stain you failed to notice until just now…
Growing your network, giving presentations, interviewing for clients definitely has its ups and downs. When the adrenaline rush starts to dissipate, the self-doubts — to which we are all susceptible — come flooding in. We begin to analyze everything we've done, finding enough fault with ourselves to replace all the confidence we had a few moments before with an empty, aching feeling that we've somehow botched the whole endeavor.
