One week ago today, I shared very sad news with you about the passing of our beautiful little puppy, Stella.

She passed away very suddenly last Sunday, January 30th.

With her passing, I was faced with an impossible decision.

You see, we were right in the middle of the Sales Mastermind Bootcamp in-person event. We had 80 of our clients in town for this training that I was leading.

We were fortunate to have a great faculty working with us during the event, and I was able to lean on them when I got the call from Holly that Stella had passed away.

I was able to leave my faculty in charge as I rushed to the vet’s office where Holly and I said our goodbyes together.

As I held Stella and said goodbye, in the back of my mind, I knew there were 80 people back at the hotel waiting for me.

…People who I had a responsibility to deliver top-notch training to in exchange for the investment they had made.

I had a few choices in front of me.

The first decision was, do I finish the day or do I turn it over to Rick Ruperto and the rest of my sales faculty and let them take the lead?

They would have done a great job, I have no doubt. And everyone in the audience would have been very understanding and sympathetic to what Holly and I were dealing with…

But I knew in my heart that I owed it to myself to continue on with the rest of the training.

The next decision I faced was whether or not to tell my clients what was going on with the caveat that I won’t be at my best because of the emotional weight that I was now processing…

But again, I thought to myself, the truth is, I’m responsible for their experience.

Me telling them what had happened with Stella would make this about me and not about them.

This is their experience that they had invested in. And I knew I didn’t want to have their energy shifted and focused on me.

That wouldn’t serve them to the highest level. I knew I could do better.

Again, no doubt, if I had shared the news, they would have all been incredibly understanding and kind and gentle.

And I’m sure the event still would have been a success.

But it wouldn’t be the best that it could be.

Something I learned a long time ago from one of the great speakers in our industry, Bill Gove, is that "a pro is at their best regardless."

…Regardless of what’s going on around me or within me.

To live into my commitment to myself and to those I serve; to bring my best forward, I knew the right decision was to continue moving forward, keeping everyone’s focus on the training and the experience at hand.

…And not weighing down the room with my personal challenges.

So, I went back to the hotel after saying my final goodbyes to little Stella, and I circled up with my Team and shared what had happened.

And I told them that I was all in, that I was committed to seeing this commitment through to the end for each of the people who had come - who had invested in themselves and in this experience.

We didn’t share the news with anybody in the bootcamp, even afterwards when a group of about 30 of my high-end mastermind clients came into mine and Holly’s home for a pizza party.

We still didn’t share the news.

This wasn’t about me. It was about them. It was about giving what I had to give and pouring into them to the best of my ability.

The temptation to make it about me was a strong one, I will admit.

And it would have been an easy route to go.

But isn’t it so true that usually the easy route isn’t the best route? The easy path doesn’t tend to lead to the most growth and to the best experience for everyone involved…

So, let me encourage you today to think about where in your life you’re choosing the easy route versus the best route.

Are you making it about you rather than the people you serve?

And if so, how can you shift the focus to be your best and to bring forward your best?

After the event wrapped up, Holly and I very deliberately created space in our schedule to grieve and to celebrate the beautiful life that Stella lived and the joy that she brought us.

It is certainly important to take time for yourself to process the things you need to process; to allow healing to come in.