Being Thorough
I’ve always known that I was a thorough person when it came to absorbing and understanding knowledge and getting most things done. However, when it really mattered, I ended up not doing it, and paid the price for it. When I was in the Toastmasters, I was working real hard to get into the district competition. Back then, I had no idea about competitions and really got struck out badly. It cost me the 2001 District 51 Table Topics Championships, and many other speech titles along the way.
Since then, the pain and the dissatisfaction of knowing I did badly really pushed me to a point where I just had to keep doing. Keep doing until I got better. Better to a point where I could tell that just by being there on stage, I would win. That’s why 2002 was a landslide victory for me.
In the Toastmasters in 2001, I started building for myself a brand in public speaking. It was necessary because I had to go through plenty of embarrassment (I mean, I had people far more junior than I was in the movement who had more powerful speeches) to get there. Sometimes, when I got disqualified due to overtime, or when I got into one of those ‘motherhood’ (read trite, boring and typical) speeches, I learnt how to kick myself in the butt for not rehearsing or planning or being more thorough.
That’s why I decided to return back to the Toastmasters to totally embarrass myself once again. It’s ok to have people ridicule me and point out how rusty I really am, that it will be forever before I can win another speech competition. Heh - not that I have to, but it would be fun.
There’s so much I can learn out there and a whole lot more I should be doing in order to go to the next level in powerful presentations. I feel like I’m back at my speaking situation in 2000, but still in the process of progress to a far higher level of speaking capability now than ever.
The good news for you as a reader, is that I’m back in Toastmasters and you can visit me at my Toastmasters Club soon. We meet every 3rd Monday of the month.
Tags
Deep Thought, General, Toastmasters
May 30th, 2006 at 3:26 am
Hi Stuart! Welcome to Toastmasters again!! Good to have you back. I have seen you speak before a couple of times at NUS and I thought you were a great speaker (still). In my opinion, your stage presence is your biggest strength. Share with us more about your TM experience. :)