In the middle of a keynote, I spotted a man sleeping in the front row. Not nodding off but fully committed and unapologetically asleep.

I spent the rest of that talk trying not to focus on him, which made me focus on him more, ignoring the hundred and fifty people behind him who were very much awake.

I drove home and replayed it the whole way. Then replayed it again for the rest of the week. Dissecting every word. Wondering if I’d ever work again, because that’s what it still feels like when I don’t think I’ve delivered.

Six months later, someone in that audience hired me for one of the biggest storytelling programmes I’ve delivered.

I think about that.

How we fixate on the one sleeping man and miss the room that’s wide awake for us.

The story always lands somewhere. Sometimes, you just don’t always get to see where 💚