You can’t make excuses for yourself when you’re in front of an audience. You have to do the best you can without divulging your aches and pains.
There’s a tradition in show business: “The show must go on.” Actors and performers have a code of honor: They are not going to deprive their fellow performers of a day’s pay. (And they’re not going to let an understudy take their part!) If they are healthy enough to stand on their hind legs, they will perform.
And when they do, they don’t draw attention to the fact that they are under the weather. They give it their best shot and hope for the best. Amazingly, adrenalin tends to help us transcend our misery. In fact, performing in front of a crowd is a vacation from whatever ails you. Probably because it allows you to focus on something outside of yourself.
We hear all kinds of excuses running through our heads—I didn’t have enough time to prepare; these are not my slides; I just flew in on the RedEye—you name it, we’ve got a million of ‘em.
Keep it to yourself. When you speak it aloud, you distract the audience, look like a whiner, and undermine your ability to do your best.
Just as water will find a way out of a pipe if it sees a tiny crack, we will find a way out of giving it everything we’ve got if we give ourselves an excuse.
Ladies and Gentlemen! Please welcome the No Excuses Presenter!