... was stressful. But then it went well. And I even learned a thing or two.

About the same time as when I started this blog in December 2021, I participated in my first podcast as a guest. And not just any podcast, my all-time favourite Fintech one: 11:FS.​

I have been a fan for more than 4 years now and assisted to a Live event a few weeks after moving to London in 2018. It was such a fun and energising experience. It was also one of the first times I felt, rather than understood, the power of community.

The format is called Spotlight and its tagline is "Live in-depth conversation with the best and brightest industry minds". Quite a humbling - and stressful - promise.

Here is the result

And here is the process

How I dealt with it

Not great to be completely transparent. I was stressed for most of the day, which is funny for me because a lot of situations that cause stress to other people don't affect me. What gets to me is it's being on record and accessible to all online. Public speaking at events for example is fine, because I know it's limited in time and will only live in people's minds after.

The interview was taking place at 3 PM and I was quite busy with meetings in the morning, which forced me to snap out of it. I did one good thing: I openly spoke about how I was feeling to team members I was in meetings with, which led to 2 things:

• They reassured me that everything will be fine. It's easy to forget that when you're in the middle of a stressful event but you've certainly been through worse and got out of it alive. So yes, things will be fine.
• My team members saw it wasn't an easy thing for me to do but I still did it. We rarely see and experience other people's struggles. We often only see their successes, as they're easier to share, and it's quite detrimental. It makes you feel alone and isolated when going through a hard time, thinking it only happens to you.

What I have learned

💡Stress is okay

This calls for a cheesy (but powerful) quote:

Call it stress, fear, discomfort... It's a signal. When you get that feeling, it means you're onto something. It means you're doing something new, that challenges you. It means it's worth doing. Why? Because it's hard:

• It means others will give up and not do it.
• It means you'll learn something. About the task or about yourself. Do it enough and you won't feel the discomfort. It will be part of your toolbox.

Stress shouldn't stop you, it's just on the path to something you care about.

💡Don't hide your work

When the podcast episode got published, I felt a bit shy about sharing it. I didn't even watch it (to this day). Two of my female (you'll see why I am adding this info here) colleagues watched it first and shared it saying:

And it hit me. I've just read Lean in from Sheryl Sandberg recently and this is a subject she develops quite well but I still reverted to old automatisms. I did the work, conquered my stress and earned my seat on the podcast but felt like owning it would be perceived as bragging. Women tend to do this more than men, but it doesn't mean men don't. in both cases, it doesn't hurt only you, but others too. Adam Grant says it better than I would: