A client messaged me yesterday. She did a big presentation and was waiting for feedback on it.
“I feel like I was lame” (at least she did not say ‘I was lame’)
I asked a couple of questions about the stake and background. Turned out she did not come into the presentation with the level of preparation she usually does.
As a result, she spoke too fast, was stressed, and as she was presenting, she kept criticizing herself, resulting in more stress, talking faster, etc.
A couple of hours later, the results were in: great feedback, she got what she wanted from it.