So, I’m having dinner with family friends a few nights ago, discussing the book with a couple that read (and loved) it, when out of nowhere it’s suggested that I speak at their next Rotary club meeting. Two days later. At seven in the morning.

“Absolutely,” I said, no knowing what Rotary was all about, or why in the world they would want me as a speaker.

With no time to write something up, I let a few ideas percolate over the next two days and decided to speak extemporaneously. What I ended up talking about was the challenge of replicating success, or “The Sequel Curse.” I tried to tie that into business and community service, explaining the difficulty we all have keeping our focus, repeating our past accomplishments, and finding the magic sauce that powers us forward.

By all accounts, it went really well. Lots of handshakes and congrats afterward (and a neat “Guest Speaker” pen). The first thing they do every meeting is ask for anyone to supply some inspiration for the rest, and during this meeting, nobody had anything. I worked that into my talk by suggesting that it’s inspiration that gives rise to dedication. If we don’t keep ourselves inspired by what we’re doing, we will either stop doing it well, or stop doing it at all.

After a fifteen minute talk I asked for questions, and there were quite a few (we ran over time without anyone complaining, another good sign). Some of the questions were about book writing, some were about elements of my talk. The interaction at the end seemed to suggest things went very well.

So, that was my morning. Now I’m at another (unscheduled) signing. Wish me luck!