Here's a fun story:

My first ever partner presentation as an Instagram employee was to a room of 50+ people at the Global Nike HQ in Portland. This was not normal. Generally meetings we have are less than 5 people, and are in much lower pressure environments.

I was nervous.

Nike HQ on its own is intimidating for a ton of reasons. The style, decor, and history in that campus is amazing. And I was afraid of failing in a shrine to greatness.

To make matters worse, my boss had sent me a new deck the night before that I barely had a chance to look at.

Most intimidating though was my four colleagues sitting next to me. I was brand new and cared so much about impressing them and making them know I could hack it. I had worked with them as a partner for years...but this was the first time I was their teammate. I was up first.

After brief introductions I was called on to start my presentation. In front of 50+ people I turned to my computer to change to the second slide...and my elbow hit the dongle...and the cord fell from my computer, off the table, off the elevated platform I was on, to the ground.

I looked like a total idiot. I had literally Bill Bucknered in a hall of greatness. I had to jump off the platform, grab the cord, plug it back in, compose myself, and deliver the next 30 minutes of my presentation.

After that boof though, I actually felt fine.

Presenting was breeze from then on because I had already done the thing I was most afraid of doing right at the beginning. I wasn't going to look like a bigger idiot after that than I already did. And the presentation went great. We landed the narrative and I grew a ton.

I remember hearing a story that Lorne Michaels tells SNL cast members the first time they go on stage to look directly into the camera and take a deep breath right away. I think this is the same.

Something I've always tried to do since then. Do the most scary thing first.