Almost a week ago, I published my first post on this, my brand new site. As I wrote, I felt compelled to share that a fear of failure can hold us back from trying new things. I wrote, and I published, and I sat back, pleased with myself for helping others.

The next day, I was to co-host my first webinar on Skype for my department. I felt confident in my skills, unwilling to allow a fear of failure to hold me back. The first show went so well! Our presentation was great, a high number of attendees, technology mostly worked, and comments from the audience were complimentary. Then, unbeknownst to me or my co-host and sometime between our 3 pm and 5 pm shows, disaster struck.

We had left our laptops hardwired and ready to go for the 5 pm show. There were no power issues, no network problems, but everything still went haywire. Neither of us could present the PowerPoint we were using. The spinning circle that we all fear was present on both of our computers. I took deep breaths and tried to think rationally through the problem. Everything I tried failed. Frustration built and I wanted to cry. What had happened?

And then I remembered my blog post from the night before. Fear of failure holds us back. I rolled away from my computer for a couple of seconds and then remembered that our team lead was also a presenter. I quickly emailed the presentation to her and called with a request that she take over and show the PowerPoint.

An old saying, “Physician, heal thyself” came to mind. I had been so busy sharing what I just knew was beneficial knowledge with all of you amazing readers that I neglected to give myself time between webinars to reboot. Thank God for having an extra presenter who always answers her phone!

No matter how good we become with technology, failure is still always a possibility. Have courage, and try not to let that fear hold you back.