I had that "disembodied voice" feeling. You know the one I mean?

I could hear myself talking, but my voice seemed to be coming from somewhere out side of me, and I was rambling on - completely on autopilot.

Did you ever see that video of the car with the gas pedal and steering wheel stuck, going in circles at 30 miles per hour? That’s not too far from how I was starting to feel.

Why was I in that state?

Well a couple of minutes before I got on the call I was telling a friend of mine about the second call I had scheduled for that night. I decided I was going to just "show up and do a stream of consciousness" on the topic, completely in the moment.

While I’m sure he meant well, his response was something like, "Holy crap are you crazy? They’re recording that as an infoproduct and you’ve never talked on this subject before! Dude, you’re in deep s**t".

Thanks, "pal".

Now, I do know better than to let that kind of "negathinking" get to me – it rarely does anymore. I’ve learned to trust that I do some of my best work when I just let myself show up with intention to just serve and share in the moment.

Don’t get me wrong, I show up in places where I feel like I know what I’m talking about…but I prefer to be guided in the moment by participants and conversation more than having a "pat" presentation.

But this time, that little voice started nagging…

"But Lou…What if this time, nothing comes to you?"

"If your colleagues, prospective clients and partners here you bomb, that could be the end your career!"

"What if you go totally blank and have nothing to say?"

Yada, yada, yada….

You know that voice?

That damned, treacherous voice…I call it "The Trusted Enemy"(tm)

So in a nanosecond I go from relaxed comfort, feeling passionate and purposeful to a state of fear, doubt and anxiety.

Well, there I was…right in the middle of a teleseminar with a group of my favorite people, the people I most enjoy supporting, the people I want to give my best to…and I’m having a friggin’ out of body experience.

Great timing.

I remember thinking my energy felt dry and mechanical, almost forced — can you say "CP3O"?

I was requesting responses lethargically and I’d get one or two meek replies and just move on (by the way, god bless those two folks on the call that responded – whoever you are!)

To compensate for the bad line, I started shouting into the receiver. Well, that wasn’t working when the line was bad…I wonder what I put those poor people through after I dialled back on a good connection and kept right on shouting at them.

To top it off, I had put together a very special offer that I was excited about and proud to share with this group. Through the fog of that chatter in my head the offer felt hollow and remote to me. And, frankly, the results showed it.

As the clock ticked past the top of the hour, my anxiety heightened, as I realized I was shaving precious time off the few moments I had to prepare for the next call.

As if I could really do anything by then anyway.

I rushed through the Q&A, dismissed the last few questions and "waved" a hurried goodbye as I bolted off the call.

I wasn’t happy about it, but I was relieved to end the suffering (mine and, I project, theirs).

My friend, who was hosting the call, rang me up right away and I shared my feelings.

Bless him, he did his level best to reassure me that it all served a purpose, and that it was meant to go that way for a reason, and what was the lesson to be learned.

But geez, I was having none of it. I wasn’t in the mood for spiritual mumbo jumbo and platitudes right now (at least that’s what my Trusted Enemy was telling me).

All I knew is that I had 26 minutes before the next call…

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In my next post I’ll share with you the experience and results of the two subsequent calls.

Before then, I’d love for you to post and tell me if you’ve experienced this kind of thing yourself and, whether you did or not, what strategies do you know that work FOR YOU this kind of situation, and what would you have done in those 26 minutes?

Until then, sign up for the next f’ree Teleseminar Fortunes Intensive preview call, and see how I do…LOL. For a current schedule and teleconference access info, send a blank email here.

Until the next post, here’s wishing you success and fulfillment,

Lou