Workshop Facilitation - Biggest Takeaways

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Hey bud,

For the past couple of weeks I’ve had the privilege and opportunity to facilitate 2 different workshops.

One was a 3 day Leaders’ Planning Workshop with the company that my dad runs.

And the other was a 2 day Team Building workshop for a client that was referred to me.

And we just concluded this team building workshop at 12 noon today (Jan 13).

Why am I sharing this?

Well, to be frank with you, since I focused on preparing for these back-to-back workshops so much — I didn’t have the bandwidth to ideate and write this newsletter as I normally do.

And so here I am sitting in our hotel room writing this out at 3:45pm to be sent at 5:00pm.

Talk about cramming. Haha.

Instead of writing about personal branding in this week’s letter (as I originally planned), I’ll instead write about 3 big learnings and takeaways from facilitating these two workshops.

Let’s get into it.

Repetition is the Mother of all Learning and Mastery

I’ve been facilitating live workshops like this since 2022.

The first time I decided to stand in front of an audience to facilitate a workshop I was terrified, but also excited.

It took me 2 whole weeks of ideating and preparing to get things right.

But after 2 years of regularly facilitating workshops and learning sessions, it’s come to a point where I wake up on the morning of the workshop and it feels like any other day.

I was telling my sister, Gaea, on the morning of the leaders’ planning workshop how surprised I am that I don’t feel much of the jitters anymore right before starting the workshop.

I wouldn’t say I’ve mastered facilitating workshops like this, but what I can say is that I’ve come a long way from before I started doing this.

So, if there’s a skill you want to develop and you are nervous the first few times, know that it’s normal to feel that.

It’s still unfamiliar.

Trust the process, keep repeating the actions that develop that skill, and you’ll be surprised at how far you’ve come.

When You Release Attachment to the Outcome, Things Just Fall into Place

There were many times that I was very attached to what the participants will takeaway from the workshops I run.

However, it just made things rigid for me.

When I started to release my attachment to the outcome and let whatever lands for the participants land, I became more relaxed in how I did things — which also made the participants relaxed.

This also allowed me to focus on what really matters: being present with the participants and whomever I’m working with.

I can also see this idea from the lens of going after goals.

The more attached I am to the goal I set, the more elusive it becomes.

I don’t know how else to explain this phenomenon where things fall into place when we detach from the outcome other than…

We have less resistance within us, and so what needs to happen for us to achieve our goals happens.

It’s weird, but sometimes the way or path to achieve our goals isn’t the path we planned or expected, and that’s okay.

Maybe the other way that we didn’t plan on actually helps us reach our goals faster. We won’t know not unless we are open to possibilities and we are detached from the outcome.

It Feels Wonderful to Be Supported by the Ones Closest to You

The Team Building Workshop was a very special one for me because it was one of the first times that Bea joined me to assist me.

As I facilitated, she handled music and taking care of the other needs of the workshop so that I could focus on being of service to the class.

And I realized that we make a really good team.

I’m really looking forward to more workshops where Bea and I can continue to work together like this.

It makes us feel more like a team than we already are.

Coaching Spotlight

Before I conclude this letter, I wanted to highlight one of the coaching conversations I had earlier this week.

Charlene, one of the readers of The Empowered Entrepreneur, booked a session with me and we were able to have a productive conversation.

She was struggling with finding clarity on what goals to focus on this year because she wanted to do a lot of things.

Throughout the 1 hour coaching conversation, it became apparent that her heart was leaning toward one goal in particular and we were able to flesh out that goal and break it down into actionable milestones and steps.

Here’s her message to me after our conversation:

With that, I wanted to let you guys know that I’m freeing up more of my time to be able to talk to you and see if I can be of help in solving a problem you face.

Whether it’s imposter syndrome, self-sabotage when it comes to goals, overwhelm with what you need to accomplish — I got you.

If you want to book a kick-off conversation with me, you can do so through my website here.

In Conclusion

So again, here are my 3 takeaways from facilitating the back-to-back workshops I ran these past 2 weeks:

1. Repetition is the mother of all learning and mastery

2. Release attachment to the outcome, things usually fall into place

3. Be open to being supported by others — especially loved ones

Next week, we’ll talk about personal branding and how you can use it to develop opportunities for yourself whether you are a sales professional, entrepreneur, or a full time employee.

Talk to you then!

All the love,
All the power,

— Zach Marañon

P.S. Whenever you are ready, there are 3 ways that I can be of help to you:

1. Follow me on Instagram here if you want a source of bite-sized ideas and content that can help you reach your next level in life.

2. Book a free kick-off conversation for one-on-one coaching here if you are an entrepreneur or sales professional currently looking to create solutions to a problem or challenge in your life but you seem to be stuck.

3. Download my goal setting guide here if you are wanting to create clarity on your desired outcomes (Free until 100 downloads — and then I convert it to a paid resource).

P.P.S. If you are from the Philippines and are looking for a personal mastery workshop to help you experience growth and transformation, check out Discovery by I Am Plus Coaching and Training Systems. It’s where my journey of self evolution personally got fast-tracked.