The rep I had not trained
I can walk into a county engineering meeting and anticipate every objection before it arrives. I trained for that the only way I trust: repetitions.
Then one message lands and my chest tightens and I want to answer before I have thought.
Same person. Two completely different levels of preparation.
What I am learning is that the space between what happens and what I do next is trainable too.
- What happens, and what I do next.
- There is a space between them.
- One question fits inside it.
- The answer changes what leaves the room.
When I started watching that space, the easy labels fell apart. It is usually not the person, it is a behaviour. Not a missing skill, an environment. And sometimes it is not them at all — sometimes I am the one in the wrong place.
So I run one repetition before I react. Is this the emotion of the moment, or the reality of it?
The answer is almost never the same.