Friends of Dave #412: ✈ those aren't pillows 🚂 🚗
Gambling in Las Vegas and a reminder that fear is not real.
First, thank you Friends for the emails and texts about last week’s intro. Glad my thoughts struck a chord with so many of you.
It has a been an incredibly busy last few weeks for me, so I was unsure that I would be able to capture what I was thinking and feeling in that moment. I’m happy that I did and that it resonated with a bunch of you.
Among many things currently going on in my life, I have been helping organize and produce some progamming that was part of an event in Las Vegas this past week. If you follow me on LinkedIn, you probably have seen my posts talking about it.
It all ended up coming together really well, but I ain’t gonna lie — 💩 been a bit testy and tense leading up to it, particularly as the finish line was in sight. I guess that is to be expected when you are a bit of a perfectionist and set high expectations for yourself and others.
One of the aspects of the program that I had neglected to devote a lot of my brain space to: I needed to get on stage in front a fairly large group of people and share some of my thoughts about the program.
The role was part Master of Ceremonies and part narrator of a short story that I was crafting with the help of a bunch of other people. Leading up to the program, I spent zero time thinking about this as I was putting all of my thoughts and energy into making sure the story that was going to be presented on stage by everyone really popped.
The day of the event arrived and, aside from a few random mental notes I had been compiling over the course of the past few weeks, I had not put any work into the actual words I was going to say when the spotlight was on and the cameras were rolling.
Let’s just say I did not sleep well the night before this all went down.
In a bit of a small panic, I found myself wide awake at 4am, realizing that in a few hours I was going to have to get up and speak some words that would be heard and judged by a large audience.
Now, Friends, nothing that I and my colleagues were presenting was world changing. It was not like people would be profoundly impacted by the program and the universe would never be the same after the program we brought to the stage.
But for a few short hours, it was going to be something that was important to us — and to me. And I had not put any time into my own contribution to it and was gambling that I could pull it off.
So I sat up in my bed in the wee hours of the morning in my Las Vegas hotel room with my phone and I just started tapping out some thoughts on my Notes app. And when I got stuck, I went and took a shower — because of course that’s where we all do our best thinking.
With just a few hours to spare, I thought I had worked out enough decent content to fill my part — I just had to get it all together so I could capture it and say it on stage in front of a live audience.
Now, everyone else in the program was smart enough to put together slides, video and notes in advance that were going to be used as part of the production of the event. Me? There was no time for that — I was going to have to get up and just BS my way through it and make it look like I had done the same.
No pressure, right?
So there I was in my suite, half dressed, trying to memorize thoughts that I just put together and clumsily rehearsing a short speech I was going to give in front of a couple hundred people in less that two hours. WTF was I thinking?
After many failed attempts, I finally was able to get one solid version out of my mouth in front of a tough crowd that consisted of my open suitcase, my unmade bed and my event swag bag. No complaints from any of them…I guess was ready to roll.
Didn’t matter, showtime was 45 minutes away. I headed down and walked through the casino to the Main Ballroom where the event was going to be held. It’s funny — a few weeks ago I professed in this space that I was never a big gambler. I lied. I found it ironic that as I walked past all of the people at the slot machines, craps and blackjack tables trying to etch my hastily typed words into my brain that I, in fact, have always been a gambler.
As I got back stage and mic’ed up, the jitters started and words started streaming through my head.
What if I get up there and completely blank on what I was going to say?
What if I mispronounced people’s names I am introducing?
What if I start coughing and my voice cracks?
What if I trip walking out to the main part of the stage?
WTF am I doing?
This is not my beautiful house….this is not beautiful wife…well, how did I get here??
Then I reminded myself of something I tell others all of the time and written about here:
Fear is not real.
All of this 💩 I was thinking was not real — it was being created by my mind in the moment. It didn’t exist. I was not in danger. The world would not stop if I forgot any of my words or fumbled my delivery. The minutes would continue to tick and the show would go on as planned.
It was not worth ruminating over things that may or may not happen. It was not worth judging a performance I was going to make before it even happened.
And just like that….it was showtime….
The lights went on and it was my turn to step up to the craps table and roll the dice.
Friends, wouldn’t you know that I f^cking rolled a 7. I killed it. And the progam we put together rolled 7’s as well.
It was great — honestly, couldn’t have gone better. I came to Vegas, and left WAY ahead of the house.
Sure, if I had to do it all over again, I would have advised myself to save the last minute angst and take just a little time to get it all figured out in advance.
However if I was a betting man….I would probably bet that, given the opportunity, when push came to shove I would probably do it the same.
I guess it’s a good thing I have never been a big gambler….😜
XOXO
Dave
And now a few things to make you smarter…
Wealth distribution varies significantly across the world’s regions, reflecting the economic disparities shaped by differences in development, resource availability, and financial access.
The data comes from the UBS Global Wealth Report 2024 and encompasses 56 markets representing an estimated 92.2% of total global wealth. The UBS report’s data does not include a majority of African countries.
We are all addicted. Whether it’s drugs, alcohol, work, weight-loss programs, shopping, online videos, gossip, gambling, apps, comic books, at-home delivery, or new phones—we can’t seem to calm a relentless inner urge, a longing that will not be satisfied. The least visible but perhaps most harmful addiction is thinking ourselves right.
The years-long bureaucratic tangles that plagued passport renewals and first-time applications since the pandemic are finally over. Not only have US passport processing times bounced back to pre-pandemic rates—they're the shortest they've been in years.
A global decline in wine consumption is creating problems for vineyards: there are too many grapes, and there’s too much wine.
While Thanksgiving movies often get lost between their more famous Halloween and Christmas counterparts, there’s a lot of great cinema to feast upon before sitting down to turkey with the family.