
In today’s episode, I’m sharing a recent travel experience I had (spoiler alert: my worst flight experience ever), because it’s a good example of how to approach your plans in business and life. You’ll hear me cover how to take care of yourself so you can be resilient in the face of challenges, how to ask for and receive support, and ultimately how to get to where you want to go.
You have the power to create your own experience and your story about that experience, in a way that empowers you to achieve your goals. Listen in to learn how you can do that.
Find the full episode transcript and show notes at samlaurabrown.com/episode461.
In This Episode You’ll Learn:
- How to approach things that don’t go to plan in an empowered way
- Why taking care of yourself helps you be more resilient
- How to use self-coaching to overcome challenges and fears
- The value of asking for the support you need as you take action
- Why you have the power to transform your experiences (and an example of how to do it)
- How to own your experiences and learn from them
Featured In The Episode::
- Free training: How To Plan Properly As A Perfectionist with Power Planning
- Sign up for Perfectionists Getting Shit Done (PGSD) – samlaurabrown.com/pgsd
- Take The Perfectionism Quiz: samlaurabrown.com/quiz
- Sign up for daily Perfectionist Power-Ups – samlaurabrown.com/power
- Follow me on Instagram @perfectionismproject
Work With Me:
My coaching program Perfectionists Getting Shit Done (aka PGSD) teaches you how to plan properly as a perfectionist so you can get out of your own way in your business. To find out more about the program and sign up today, visit: samlaurabrown.com/pgsd.
Listen To The Episode
Listen to the episode on the player above, click here to download the episode and take it with you or listen anywhere you normally listen to podcasts – just find Episode 461 of The Perfectionism Project Podcast!
Subscribe To The Perfectionism Project Podcast
- Spotify
- Apple Podcasts (iPhone only)
- Google Podcasts (Android only)
- Stitcher
- Castbox
- TuneIn
- Overcast

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Introduction
Hi and welcome to another episode of The Perfectionism Project, a podcast full of perfectionism advice for entrepreneurs. My name is Sam Laura Brown, I help entrepreneurs release their perfectionism handbrake so they can get out of their own way and build a fulfilling and profitable business. I’m the founder of the Perfectionist Getting Shit Done group coaching program, which is otherwise known as PGSD. And for even more perfectionism advice to help you with your business. You can follow me on Instagram @perfectionismproject
Sam Laura Brown
Okay, so I just wanted to record a little episode about a recent experience I had, because it was just such a good example of like how you need to take care of yourself in order to be resilient and get to where you want to go, and also how to ask for and receive support so that you can do it, and also how to rest as well. I guess that’s part of taking care of yourselves. So I want to share this experience that I had. It was in January, and I was going to a mastermind event. I’m in a mastermind called $2 million group. It’s run by Stacey Boehman and I wanted to attend the event in person. So I was flying from Brisbane to Nashville, Tennessee to be able to go to this event.
So initially, the flight that I had planned to be going on like what was scheduled for me, it was going from Brisbane to San Francisco, just about 30 or 40 hours, and then going on a flight directly to Nashville. A couple weeks before the flight, though, is that got rebooked, and I was going to be going from Brisbane to San Fran and then across the country to Washington, and then down and back across to Nashville, Tennessee. So when I set out for this adventure, which is what it became, I was kind of just like expecting everything to go to plan. I’ve done a lot of traveling before. I definitely know that flights can be delayed and be canceled and all the things. But I think, like most perfectionists tend to do, we kind of have a lot of entitlement to things going according to plan, and we get very easily disappointed when they don’t go exactly to plan.
And so I realized, you know, is I had this sense of entitlement that, like, flights should leave on time, they shouldn’t get rebooked, they shouldn’t get canceled, they shouldn’t have technical issues, like all of that kind of thing. So anyway, I bought my flight in Brisbane, and it was awesome. There are so many good things that happened on this flight experience as well, but it was like half book, so I had a full row to myself, which is amazing. I was going to be able to hopefully get some sleep. But we ended up sitting in thetarmac for about 40 extra minutes, which doesn’t look a big deal, but about 40 extra minutes because the brake light wasn’t working.
So they said, Okay, we just need to get the engineers on, like, check a few things, and then we’ll be on our way. And actually, I think we’re on there for an hour and a half, but we were meant to be arriving like landing sooner than plan, and they said we’re gonna land 40 minutes after the scheduled time, so it’s not gonna be too different. So anyway, had that flight. And also, as a side note, me and turbelence, I’ve talked about this before, and I, through this whole experience, have a different relationship now with turbulence, but I was like self coaching on the plane, using the self coaching model and working through like, okay, there’s my thoughts about turbulence that are freaking me out, and then there’s the physical reaction that I’m having that I then have thoughts about making me feel even worse.
So anyway, I seen all this self coaching on that. And just like, really, it was so amazing too, to just get to this place mentally where I realized that I was as safe on the plane in turbulence as I was at any other time. And instead of, you know, have people like, oh, you know, planes never crashed when it’s like, not from turbulence and all this stuff and like, but it’s not 100% safe. And trying to get to this belief that it was 100% safe is where I was getting stuck. But believing that nothing is 100% safe actually created so much safety for me of like, okay, well, this is about as safe as anything else, and nothing is 100% safe. So okay, brain, it’s okay to be a little bit freaked out by things, but also you’re never completely safe, because the human experience, that’s just how it works.
So anyway, I had that journey, got some sleep, and what ended up happening was that we did land when they said we would, which is about 40 minutes after the time that we had meant to arrive. What I hadn’t realized is that my flight to Washington only had it was like an hour until that flight was going to go. And I didn’t realize it when I left Brisbane. But definitely on that flight, like I was looking at the map of the San Francisco Airport to figure out, like, Okay, where do I need to go and how much time do I have? I realized it was going to be really, really, really tight, like, basically impossibly tight, because when you go from pretty much anywhere, I’m sure, but Australia to the states, you need to go through immigrations, there’s always a long, long, long line. And then also, like, any kind of customs checks, they do it a bit differently in this state, because a lot more stringent in Australia.
But anyway, you have to do that as well, and then get yourself to the gate and get onto the plane to, like, basically, if everything was going to be perfect and immigration had nose line. I was maybe going to make the flight. So, long story short, okay, with hundreds of other people who were also missing that flight, and as I am going through the customs part, because they pulled me aside, like when I was actually going through immigration and getting asked the questions about why I was there, the guy didn’t say a single word to me, and then he just locked my passport in a little box and gave me the box. And I was like, What do I even do? So anyway, he put me to the customs. I went. There. They were like, Do you have any food? I was like, I have a muesli bar. And they were like, what muesli bar? Like? Granola, whatever. I couldn’t even think of the words to say anyway, got through that, but at that time, my flight to Washington was taking off.
So then what happened was that everyone, like there were so many people who were trying to get that flight that didn’t make it onto it. So and there are other people from my flight I that were getting different connecting flights, and they could make it to theirs, but me and maybe like 30 other people were trying to get onto that flight, and we didn’t make it. So we got put in this queue for United Airlines to get rebooked onto a flight. We’re just kind of like waiting there no idea what’s happening, or, like, when the next flight could be, or whatever. So then eventually the airline starts automatically rebooking people, and we got notified, like, when the flight would be on that we had been rebooked onto, and the flight I was rebooked on was going to be happening 24 hours later, and the event I was going to I was going to be arriving at 6pm on the Sunday, and it started on Monday at 9am so like, hey, that’s still going to work for me to have to wait 24 hours.
Actually, I want to be there so bad for the whole whole thing. So I’m setting this line still like I’ve got an email about it being read book, but I was waiting this line to get my natural tidbits or whatever. So you have it all organized. And then I had this memory of something that Brooke Castillo had shared on one of her podcast episodes that she had learned from Dan Sullivan, which is that if you have the money to solve the problem, you do not have the problem. So I was like, I could actually just buy another ticket and get myself on another flight. Like, surely. I mean, San Francisco Airport it’s a very popular, big, whatever airport. Surely there’s going to be another flight between now and tomorrow, when there’s other fighters that’s going to get me into Nashville.
So I looked online when I was in the queue. I didn’t want to lose my spot in the queue, but I looked online and I tried booking I found a ticket. I tried booking it, but I couldn’t because I had my, like, Australian credit card or whatever, and it didn’t like that. So then I realized, Okay, I’m just gonna actually, like, really cut my losses, and I am going to leave this queue that I think queued up in for like, 45 minutes, which felt like forever after such a long flight, gonna leave this queue, and I am going to, like, ask someone for help about, like, where do I need to go to be able to book this ticket in person? And then I went over to the desk. I can’t remember even what airline it was, um, one of the major ones. Anyway, it was with a different airline, not the one that I was like, I’m just I am totally okay with paying for a ticket, and even if I don’t get reimbursed, like, I am okay then losing that money, because what I want to do is get there on time, and so if I need to pay a little more than I thought in order to do that, then I’m willing to do that.
So I walked over and I got in line, and there was a very long line, and I got in line and I bought a ticket. It was a paper ticket, which I will tell you more about later if that was a problem, but it was a paper ticket, but my details were down for this flight, and I now had, I can’t remember exactly how long it was, but quite a few hours, this was happening all at like 7am that I was meant to on the next flight. And I think the flight, from memory, was leaning at like, leading at like, 2pm so I had quite a bit of time in the San Francisco Airport to just like, walk around. And this is part of it, too. What I actually ended up doing was reading it like because I knew that I had, like, some long haul, well, not leaving long haul flies. But I basically viewed that it was still going to be a while until I was getting to my destination, like my new eta was going to be, like 11pm at night.
And so what I did was I set up my Apple Watch to like track that I was doing a walk, and I literally walked around the airport in. Circles for 30 minutes, like, pretending that I’m going for an actual walk. I was like, I need to stretch my legs. I need to take care of myself, and so I’m just gonna, like, go for a walk around. And, like, I didn’t even listen to a podcast. I was just like, I need no input, no output. Just like walking around in circles. It’s a big output, but, like, I was in my little um place, in the gate, or whatever. So it wasn’t that big. I was just walking around and around, probably looking a bit weird, and then I was due to get on that flight. But what happened was that flight got delayed, and so having had like five flight be delayed, I was already stressed that a delayed flight means a missed flight, and there was no much time between when I was landing and when the next flight my connecting flight had to go.
So now, instead of going to Washington, I was going through Dallas, which was actually a much better route anyway. So that flight to Dallas got delayed, and they didn’t tell us how it was going to be delayed for we were waiting at the gate. You’ve probably had this. We were waiting at the gate just finding out that, like, boarding soon, boarding soon. We’re like, well, the plane was meant to leave, like, half an hour ago, and we are waiting for the flight. By we, I mean me, because I’m not traveling with anyone else. I did a FaceTime at that point with Steve and the kids, but I had just been waiting for so long in that airport, and then to be waiting there, not knowing when it would leave was stressful, because I was only gonna have, I think it was gonna be an hour 10 between my flight, actually, no, I’m not in Dallas yet. I’m getting ahead of myself. I am in San Francisco trying to get to Dallas.
Okay, I’m in San Francisco, right there, so many hours, and I was trying to get to Dallas and to then go on to Nashville, and all the same that I said is true for this situation, that we were just waiting indefinitely for this flight to leave, and there was only going to be a very short amount of time to get onto my next flight. And if you have, yeah, done lots of traveling. You know that there’s the amount of time it says on your ticket, and then there’s actually you getting off the plane, and in this case, my bags were going to go straight through, so getting off the plane, I didn’t need my bags, but I did need to wait for everyone to disembark and then go and get to the other gate, and then that plane will board about 20 to 30 minutes, or finish boarding about 20 minutes before that flight leaves.
And so you don’t have as much time as it might look like. So this plane, we’re waiting for it to leave. We don’t know why. It isn’t leaving. Everyone’s kind of whispering around trying to figure out, like, what’s happening with this flight. There are a few other people who were getting connecting flights who, like me, were a bit stressed about the situation, and there was nothing that could be done. It was just a matter of waiting to get on that flight. I was starting to have a look online already to see, like, Okay, if this flight gets canceled, like something happens. What am I going to do? So anyway, eventually we board this flight, and it’s going to be 40 minutes now between when we land and when the next flight takes off.
But just before actually no in the air, we got an email, we find out, and this is me finding out through others, because I have a paper ticket, so I’m not getting any emails. So we find out by the attendance making an announcement that there are a series of flights that have been delayed connecting flights, which is good news for those who are in a rush to get that flight that you’ll have a little bit more time than you might have thought. So my flight was one of those flights that I found out was going to be a little bit delayed, but not by much. It was still going to be a rush. And so what I decided to do on this flight that was about, I think, like two and a half hours, three hours, I can’t remember exactly, is that I was going to break my usual jet lag routine, which is to not go to sleep until, ideally, you’re at your destination and until it’s night time. So that means, like, having to stay up for a while if needed. But instead of doing that, I was going to sleep on the plane, because at this point I really felt like I have no idea what’s actually gonna happen, and I’m gonna need my energy if shit happens, because I am exhausted.
And so instead of trying to, like, stick to this perfect jet lag routine plan that I had, I needed to adjust it and adapt and get some sleep. And I am not great at sleeping on planes, but I just decided, like, I’m just gonna, if I need to just rest with my eyes shut, like I’m gonna do whatever I can to be rested for any future problem solving that might need to happen. I’m so glad that I did, oh, my god, I’m so glad that I didn’t. So anyway, I was on this tiny plane, wasn’t that anxiety, but we had no space, and I was sleeping with my head, like on the what’s it called, the rest thing in front of me, like where you put your food. And I was jammed in between, thankfully, two lovely women, but I was jammed in there trying to get some sleep. And by the time I woke up, it was nearly time to land, and I was thinking about, okay, now how am I gonna get to where I need to go?
So I got up, I spoke to a flight attendant. I also did this when I was on that first flight across, and I realized I’d be like, Okay, I need help, I need support, and I’m gonna talk to someone who knows. So I went to the flight attendant and said, like, Hey, this is my situation. I’m trying to get on this flight. Do you know anything that I don’t know? Like, can I like, what can I do to give myself the best chance possible? I was looking online to see, like, the map for where that flight was leaving from, like, what gate, how to get there, and all of that kind of thing. Also the lady next to me, I said, like, Hey, you’re getting a connecting flight, because I am, and I’m in a big rush, and if you could possibly, like, help me get off this plane as quickly as possible, that would be a meansy. So it turns out, as I mentioned, like, I think they said there was 105 people who needed to get a connecting flight, and I know not that many more people on that on the plane.
And so everyone, they’re like, Okay, if you have a connecting flight, stand up like and come off the plane first. If everyone who doesn’t, please be patient, because some people are really trying to catch a flight here. So me and almost everyone else stands up and starts to shuffle off the plane. As you know, when there’s a big crowd, everyone’s walking really slowly, so getting off the plane and going to the gate. So what happened was, when I got to the gate for my flight, I had enough time, like I was running through the airport, but I had enough time, and we were all like, everyone who was there for that flight was there ready to board. So we got on the flight and actually looped into this as well. On the walk to that flight, I was talking to this guy who I was like, because I’m just basically at this point trying to, like, talk to anyone I can to help me and to help figure out what is going on.
So I heard him. I talked to him because I overheard him saying to someone else that he was getting on a flight to Nashville, but that he had actually been rebooked onto a different flight. So when that flight got delayed, some people got rebooked onto one a little bit later, um, this, like red eye flight, and some people just got, like, on the same flight and didn’t get rebooked. So anyway, I was talking to him, and he, like, watched me get on the plane, because he got rebooked and I didn’t. And I also had no idea what was happening, because I had a paper ticket. They had no way to contact me. Like, even though they I would have given her my email address at the desk, I was not getting any email notifications where they like, check the app, check that. I just I tried so hard to get my ticket to be digital, and I just could not, for the life of me, figure it out. I talked to all these different people, like, random people, like, Hey, can you help me find it? Says, I need this number. Like, I don’t know where to find that number, and I just couldn’t figure it out.
So anyway, we go and sit on this plane, and we’re just waiting again, and it’s meant to be taking off, and it’s not. And so what they said we’re sitting there for about half an hour during this time, like, I just need to be able to, like, in case I need any more help, like, I’m just going to talk to wherever I can. And so I was talking to the man on the flight next to me, like, as in, sitting next to me on the seat. I was like, hey, like, where are you from? Just like, chit chatting, which, on a flight I normally like to say a polite Hello, and then I don’t want to talk, because I don’t want to end up having to chat the whole time. And so I was like, hey, you know where you’re from, whatever. Which I’m so grateful I did that anyway. I’ll tell you more in a second.
But after about 40 minutes again of sitting on the tarmac, and they said, like, you know, there’s an issue with the seatbelt light, like, the seatbelt light isn’t coming on, so we need the engineers, and we need to figure out this issue. And so we’re sitting there like, okay, it’s just a little light. It should be fine anyway, after sitting there on the tarmac, they say, Okay, this flight isn’t going we can’t fix this issue, and everyone who was on this flight is being rebooked for tomorrow. So the devastation, I was like, Oh my God. Like, I have just bought a completely new ticket, and just like taking all this energy to get this different flight path, and then I’m getting told I’m going to be rebooked anyway, and I could have just stayed with my original flight and gotten there at the same time, I was just like, so exhausted by this point, I’ve barely gotten any sleep. I’m on the other side of the world, by myself trying to get to this event, wanting to be there in time for day one. And they’re like, Hey, you’re going to be rebooked. Your flight will leave at 6am tomorrow, which also sucked, because by this point it was like 10pm and so obviously you need to then figure out where you’re gonna sleep and be back at the airport, like at 4am or whatever it was gonna be.
So I was like, Oh God, this is not what I want. So everyone’s disembarking the plane, and then the guy next to me and his wife, who’d been sitting somewhere else, but his wife was lovely, and they like, you know what, we actually have been rebooked onto this other flight, the one the other guy, old mate, from the flight before, had been booked onto that is going on, like, the other side of the airport, and it’s going to be leaving really soon. And I don’t know how many seats there are, or, like, if we’re actually rebooked, or like, what the situation is. But basically what ended up happening is everyone thought in that flight, because no one wants to be like, rebooked for a 6am flight the next morning. So everyone kind of got wind that there is this other flight that’s leaving, this red eye flight that is leaving, and with an ETA arriving in Nashville of about 2am.
So everyone from this flight is sprinting across the airport. It was actually this like, crazy frenzy. Anyway, we had to go on, like, the airport trend and this whole time as well. I have no idea what’s happening, because I don’t get any updates about my flight. Or, like, had I been rebooked from this flight? Or, like, I don’t even know if I’m rebooked onto the flight tomorrow, because I literally, like, don’t have, I just have a piece of, like, old school paper from the 90s that says what flight I’m on. So this the man’s wife, like, took me under her way, and so did the man. But like, the one was just so chatty and friendly, and was like, Hey, come with us, and let’s figure out if we can get you on this flight too. So I because before she said that, like, and I was just like, walking up the stairs, and then I happened to see them. I was like, Hey, where are you going? I was like, about to write down and just be like, Oh my god, do I just actually get a hotel room in Dallas and watch the whole event online, like, I’m so close, but I feel so so so far away, and I want to be there so bad. But like, what else can I do if there isn’t another flight until like, 6am tomorrow? There’s not going to be a flight sooner.
So anyway, she’s like, come with me. Let’s figure it out. Let’s see if we can make it happen. And so what we ended up doing was sprinting across the airport, like, to just the number of times I ran across the airport in this like, 24 hour period, but sprinting across the airport trying to get to this flight and just see, like, how many seats are available. And it was kind of like just this frenzy as well at the desk. So everyone’s like, this big blob of like, everyone a bob of a crowd. Everyone’s standing smooshed together, instead of, like, in this kind of orderly line. Everyone’s in a line, but not really, because everyone’s trying to push in in front of each other, because everyone wants to get on this flight. And so I was talking to this guy next to like this other guy, because again, at this point I’m like, I need help from whoever I can get it from.
So this was the point where I was saying to this guy, like, Hey, I’m trying to figure out, have I been rebooked onto this flight? Like, do I can I actually just board straight on, or do I need to be in this long line, or whatever? So he was helping me, which was so nice. And he’s like, Yeah, let’s like, we’ll get you on this flight. He’d been rebooked onto it. We’ll get you on. And I like, so that the pilot, God bless him. The pilot came out, and he obviously like, I mean, he just seemed like the kindest man to say this, and who knows the situation, but he was like, I’m willing to wait here for as long as it takes for everyone to be able to get on this flight. There’s lots of seats, and I’m just willing to wait so we can all go to Nashville.
So when he came out and said that there was like a sigh of relief from everyone, people were getting rebooked onto the flight. There wasn’t any issues like, and obviously that airline, like, wanted to get people onto this other flight. They had a flight going already. It was had lots of empty seats. And so there was this flight that we were all getting on, and got on. And so I got into Nashville at 2am got an Uber, got to my hotel, FaceTime Steve and the kids, because it like translated across to dinner time from memory, sometime when the kids were awake. So I was just like, hey, how can we move out with the kids? And then I went to sleep at about 3am the event started at 9am and I just like, the whole time as well, was doing all this different self coaching and journaling, whatever, when I had the energy and I was just like, how is this happening for me? Like, what are the lessons from this? Like, there’s gonna be a lesson just in the flight alone, before I’m even at the event, and just being able to actually go through that experience and just see, like, Okay, I had this expectation, this entitlement, that just because I had a ticket I was gonna get there, that every like, the planes should leave on time, as I was saying at the beginning, they shouldn’t be delayed, that they shouldn’t be canceled.
They shouldn’t have all of these minor tech issues with them that can’t be resolved, and I should just be able to land on time. And it’s really annoying if I don’t and, like, it just should happen, and to just actually see, like, Oh, I just didn’t actually know, like, I just underestimated the effort that would be required for me to successfully get there. And just like, the number of times I had the opportunity to just resign to, like what was happening. And I actually chose like, I am going to create the result I want, which is being at that event when it starts. And I’m going to be there with energy and with focus, and I’m going to make the most of it. I’m going to the other side of the world to go to this event. Steve’s looking after the kids for the eight days that I’m gone. I’m going to make this worthwhile. I’m definitely not going to be there complaining about the flight. I’m not going to be there being tired. I’m going to take care of myself. I’m going to rest what I need it. I’m really going to do everything I can to get the experience that I came for.
And it just really was this like identity shift throughout it, that instead of just like going with the flow and like not making a fuss, I made a fuss. I asked for and received support, and I decided this is where I am going to get to by this time. And I got myself there. And I think there was, for sure, a certain amount of luck and all of that involved as well, but also, like, just being able to know that, like, if I hadn’t stood up for myself and being committed, I would have land, and it wouldn’t be a big deal, but I would have landed the day after, I would have just gone, okay, I’ve been rebooked onto a flight. What else can I do? I’ll go find a hotel. But I was like, no, if I have money to solve the problem, I don’t have the problem, I’m gonna go buy another ticket. Okay, this one’s been displayed. Okay? This one has been now canceled. I’m gonna be rebooked. No, I’m gonna run to the other side of the airport, even if I might make it there, and I’m still not on that flight.
It just made me realize that. And just see how at different times in my own journey that I’d be like, well, what can I do instead of actually fighting for it and being committed to it regardless of the result. Because there was never any guarantee that I was going to get there, but I was willing to put in the work that I could and to be exhausted but take care of myself and all of the things so that I could get there and be able to to reframe the whole thing in my mind as an adventure, to like, not have any kind of disappointment about it, or any kind of feelings about it, but to just be able to go into like, Okay, I’m gonna tell myself, I’m so well rested. I’m gonna get to sleep. I’m gonna wake up have my little like, I took these instant oatmeal sachets to mix with hot water in a cup in the hotel room. So I did that. I got to the event, and like, I didn’t complain about when people asked me, like, how was the fight? I was like, it was a journey. It was an adventure.
But I was like, Okay, and here we are, and let’s go. And so it was just so powerful. And there’s this saying of, like, throwing your hat over the wall where you, like, if you imagine, like, a big, tall wall, throwing your hat over the wall, so that you’re forced to, like, figure out how to get over the wall, instead of being like, Well, we’ll see. It’s like, okay, I’m gonna, like, give myself a real reason. And I didn’t, in this case, have that real reason. Like, I could have said I would just get there a day late, and that’s totally fine, and I’ll watch the first day online or whatever. Like, I can figure it out, but I was like, I am going to get there, and I’m committed to doing it. And it really was this identity shift in so many ways. And then I feel like that’s just, like, carried on.
So many of the lessons from this flight have carried on and just changed the way that I show up and, like, go after what I want. And even just little things, like, when I was on the flight back, they were like, as I was getting onto the flight, they were like, okay, so you’re gonna have to check your bag. This is the second of the third flight. You’re gonna have to check your bag, and it’ll meet you in Brisbane. I was like, gonna be in Brisbane 24 hours later, because I had an eight hour stopover in San Francisco. Because once I got to Nashville, I looked at my flight home, which had a very short layover, and I was like, hell no, if my flight from Nashville was like five minutes delayed, then I could miss my flight from San Francisco to Brisbane, and that flight only goes once a day, so I rebooked myself onto a different flight. I gave myself an eight hour this is how I framed it in my mind, an eight hour work day from San Francisco Airport instead of leaving in the afternoon, the day after the event finished, I left in the morning, and then I set myself up for a workday from the airport, and then I was going to have three flights in total, instead of two. But I didn’t care, because I just knew that layover time, it is not enough, and it’s going to be so stressful if I’m even delayed five minutes.
So when I was boarding my flight to go to San Francisco, and I’m about to have, I think, I was going through Dallas, I was about to have this eight hour period of time in San Francisco and then go on to a 14 hour flight home. At the time, I’m also wearing jeans, and I’m just like, not like, I want to have, like, a toothbrush, and just like, I want to be able to get change. And they were like, Okay, you’re just going to have to have your handbag and your checked luggage. Like, we need people to check their luggage, their carry on, and no one’s been offering so you’re going to have to do it. Be one of the I know 30 people who are going to have to do it. And it, just like, at certain times, I would have been like, okay, that’s really annoying. But fine. I was like, well, that’s not gonna work. That isn’t actually going to be an option for me. I need to get this bag onto the flight.
And so instead of getting like, angry about it, and this is, I think, just like, such a powerful thing to remember, but like, people want to help you when you were being nice and kind. And so what I did was I was like, I said, any chance at all? Like, I know you probably can’t, but I like, I really need this bag so badly. It’s another 24 hours till I be with this bag again, I’m gonna be sitting the airport. Like, can we please do it? It’s like, okay, probably not. But like, take it up to the flight and ask the flight attendants, and we’ll see. So I got onto the flight, and I was like, do I just flip off this tag and, like, pretend I can just have my bag on the flight, and they didn’t, like, you know, tap my shoulder and say, anyway. I was like, gonna leave my tag on, but I’m gonna just say. Like, hey, is there any chance at all that I could possibly have this bag on this flight? I really, really need it. They were like, Okay, sure. Like, have a look that you might not be able to find somewhere, but if you can put your bag there, and it’s fine and I could do that, I did do that.
So I had my bag with me, and there were just those little moments of like, standing up for myself and what I needed that. I know some perfectionists don’t have issues with that, but a lot do, and so that was really powerful. And another experience that I had, that I feel like as well, was kind of like a flow on from this flight, was when I was in Nashville for the event. So there was a three day event, then a day off, and then one more day for people who were in the $2 million group, and not just the 200k mastermind. And so I knew that, like, pretty much everyone from the mastermind was going to be there on the Friday night.
And I asked around, like, does anyone have plans? Like, thinking it’d be really nice to do a dinner like, I’ve traveled from the other side of the world. I would like to not just be sitting by myself in a hotel room, even though I’m an introvert, and so I asked around, and nothing had been organized, and I think a few people had plans, but nothing had been organized for the group. And I just found myself being like, Oh, that’s a shame nothing’s been organized. And then it was like, oh, because I need to be the one to organize it, and I’m the leader in this situation in terms of organizing this like, I’m guessing, if I want it, other people want it, so I posted in the Facebook group. Pretty much everyone was like, Yes, I would love that. I found a place for us to go to dinner. I booked the dinner. We had the dinner, it was lovely, and it was just such a great experience of like, oh yeah. Like, I’m actually the leader in this situation.
Like, I don’t need to just sit back and wait for someone else to create the experience I want to have. Like, I can actually do that, and I can lead the way. And instead of me assuming, like, well, if someone else wanted to do it, they would organize it. Like, no, we’re all thinking that. Then no one’s going to organize it, and then we’re all just going to be like, either doing these last minute plans or just, like, not seeing each other and leading each other I lotknow a lot of other people in the mastermind were new to it as well, and so they didn’t know other people already, or anything like that. So it was just such an amazing experience, and it was so tiring in terms of this fight. It was so tiring and exhausting, but it just like reminded me of the power I have to create my own experience and to create my own story about that experience. So if it is shit like it was, that doesn’t have to carry on with me.
So all of that said, it’s been interesting to listen to this story, but this is such a great analogy for like when it comes to business, you think like you make your plan, and obviously I teach planning as well, like you make your plan. But then there’s also knowing that you are probably, in some areas, going to be underestimating what’s required. And then that’s your opportunity to step up, not to be disappointed. So it was the most beautiful lesson in so many ways, and the fact that it was so painful really forced me to, like, wake up to it and be like, Okay, what’s the lesson here? Because I’ve got, there’s got to be a lesson because of this sucks so much, so I need to actually find the good in this. And I was able to do that, and it’s just really served me since.
And I want to invite you to, if you have had any experiences like that to really own it and like, Oh my god. How amazing Am I that I handled that like I did, or as well, any future upcoming experiences you have where you’re a bit disappointed because things aren’t going as you thought they should to be like, Okay, if I was actually going to be all in on getting this result and willing to do it, even if it might not pan out, what would I do and how would I take care of myself so I have the energy to execute that, and what support do I need to ask for and receive in order to allow me to do that as well? So with that said, I will wrap up this story here. I hope you’re having a beautiful day, and I will talk to you in the next episode.
Outro
If you want to get shit done without burning out, then I invite you to watch the free training that I’ve created on how to plan properly as a perfectionist with power planning. By the end of the training, you’ll be ready to start using power planning today to get your perfectionist mindset on your side so you can get out of your own way in your business. To sign up and watch the training. Go to SamLaurabrown.com/plan.