Tonight, I presented at IgniteBoulder5, and I have to say… it was one of the more amazing experiences of my life. Why? Because I feel like I did the impossible. Success or failure, I was already planning my next Ignite presentation. It will be called “Fake it til you make it,” because that’s basically my philosophy. It’s been called self-deprecating, and whatever, but let’s not focus on that right now.
The point is that confidence is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Look at it this way:
Do confident people tend to be more successful?
Do successful people tend to be more confident?
I find both to be absolutely true. And if that’s the case, where does a poor, under-confident schlub jump in? The answer is that you just jump in. If you have to fake it, fake it, because you are capable of more than you realize.
So I didn’t do the impossible. And I wasn’t faking it. But I did a presentation (with a great deal of help from my wife and the IgniteBoulder organizers!)
I’m fried, really. There will be photos and video tomorrow. For now, I want to express my gratitude to everyone who came out, everyone who heckled me (it really did help!), everyone who supported me, and all the kind words I received afterwards. It was a truly amazing experience, and I’m grateful to everyone who made it possible.
Oh, and to the Boulder Theater. Wow. What a great venue for this!