I Faced My First True Professional Meltdown — And It Led to an Eye-Opening Revelation We all know the importance of picking yourself back up after a failure. But I had always believed how fast you make that recovery was what mattered.

I recently bombed for the first time in my professional career. Like, truly bombed.

It happened in August. I was speaking at a conference in Las Vegas, telling a story I've told hundreds of times. Then something went wrong. My mind scrambled. I lost the thread. I stammered and struggled as hundreds of people watched. It was excruciating and embarrassing.

But here's the truly shocking part: It wasn't a disaster. People were happy. Grateful, even. They thanked me.