You got this.

“The presentation was a grand slam. The biggest value you left for me was validation that the script and approach was good...it set me up for success.”

This quote is from a thank you note sent by a client after she presented at a sales conference. I spent considerable time with her in the weeks before the presentation, helping her to clarify the content and practice her delivery.

But what my client found most valuable was my cheerleading! Throughout the process, I would remind her that she was telling a powerful story, that she had earned the right to present this great content to the audience, and that she had every reason to expect to succeed.

While I would have loved to have invested a few more hours in preparation, I concluded our coaching sessions not with a few last pointers, but with a single idea, one that that we all should internalize each time we head into a high-stakes presentation:

You did the work. You are ready. You got this.