I have a dinner tonight that I’ve been looking forward to for a long time.

I’ll be meeting a new colleague and compadre that I highly respect and like despite the fact we’ve never met*. Super stoked. Of course part of the prep for this dinner, is to figure out the perfect outfit. I mean, I’m a girl, duh. Goal of course to compile something I feel great in that also showcases the easy balance of quality, comfort, quirky, and cool, given the location, meeting, and of course me. (*If it doesn’t feel like you, always ditch it and keep trying stuff on even if your room ends up looking like the aftermath of a tornado. It’s cool.) Anyway, so I determined said outfit, feel great, and am looking forward to a great night.

What this got me thinking about was a similar experience I had when I was invited to the wind tunnel in Colorado one year during their biggest event. They brought me in special, I was set up to lead a seminar on goal-setting, coach the participants, etc. So when I arrived in Colorado, I was thinking similar things.. like,

I want to make a good first impression, look good, feel good, you know, the usual stuff when you care about what you bring to what you do and who you meet.

I happened to be wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt that day over a long-sleeved t-shirt. I’m sorry if this is gross, but I was nervous and started sweating in my armpits. #waterfalls #notdown Obviously I didn’t want to show up with that goin’ on, so I took off the short-sleeved shirt while I drove from the airport to the tunnel with the plan of putting it back on when I arrived before going in.

Good plan.

So I arrive, awesome, tunnel, big event, woohoo! Put my short-sleeved tee back on and head inside. Hey everyone, so great to be here, yay, thank you so much for having me! Happy greetings with the girls at the front desk. One of the head guys comes out to greet me, big hugs, we catch up a little bit, and then he starts to give me a tour of the facility. (Super awesome place, by the way, Skyventure Colorado.)

Now, I’m not sure when this happened, but at some point, I realized mid-tour…. that my shirt was in fact on inside out. And backwards.

Yeah, you read that right… I had just rocked up to this place I’ve been hired to rock up to… and I’m wearing my shirt inside out and backwards.

Hahahahaaha! I still find this so hilarious to this day. When we realized this, we both immediately cracked up and I immediately made fun of myself for all the aforementioned lead-up, and comically gratuitous failure to look cool.

What’s most awesome about THIS… is that it points us back to the very simple fact…

none of us have to be “cool.” We just are cool as exactly who we are.

If that’s a well-intended inside-out t-shirt and a bunch of belly laughs.. that’s awesome. You are awesome. We are awesome. Know it, and just enjoy being your awesome self.

XO

 

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POST UPDATE 2016: *Peter Shankman is the cryptic character in the special dinner mentioned above, and obviously we have since met and become great friends and colleagues since this night (Click here for Peter’s post reflecting on the same first meeting dinner haha awesome). I am also a member of his excellent mastermind, Shankminds. I count myself lucky our paths have crossed the way they have in this wild life, and I couldn’t recommend his stuff more highly. Whether you attend an in-person Shankminds mastermind day, join the virtual Breakthrough group, or just see him keynote, I give a high recommendation on all fronts. Thank you, Peter, for everything!!!

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