I recently joined Toastmasters. I’m impressed with how welcoming and helpful everyone is. So much so that I decided to go to my district’s “Fall Experimental Leadership Communication Summit.” As it turns out, my district produced last year’s world champion. It had to be good!
Indeed it was! So many wonderful backgrounds! For example, one gentleman told us how his toastmaster journey started. He would pull up to the parking lot, sit in his car for a few minutes and then decided that he will join, but he’ll do it next week. That went on for 4 months! When he finally showed up, he was so nervous during his first speech that he broke the lectern! What kept him going is a comment he got from one of the members who said: “You want to learn how to get better at public speaking? then you are in the right place!”
Now that nervous gentleman, Eddie Merla has a thriving, full time, speaking business.
Very inspiring story on so many levels, but what stood out for me is his story of what finally got him to try toastmasters in his late thirties.
At 19, he saw a street preacher in New Orleans and was captivated. He couldn’t get over how everyone walking by just had to pay attention, if only for a bit. That’s when the seed was planted. A seed that didn’t start growing until he showed up at his local Toastmaster chapter nearly twenty years later.
I think that it’s a great parallel to my life. Ever since I saw the Henry V’s movie in high school English class, I can’t get over how a seemingly simple line of “the fewer the men, the greater share of honor” can change the course of the war. I get it. It’s a play, but my heart stirred nevertheless. I was never really interested in public speaking until now, when the message is coming from the heart and not mind alone. Where much like Henry V, I want to turn the tide of the war against man’s heart.
It looks like I’m off to a decent start. I didn’t wait for four months in the parking lot to join, and I didn’t break the podium on my first speech.
It’s just so refreshing to hear yet another testimony of no matter how bad you think you screwed up, you can always get better.
I’m sure it will come in handy as I align my mind to follow the dreams that God placed in my heart.
What seeds were planted in your heart? How is your mind preventing you from acting on it?
Are you struggling in a relationship? Do you have a specific view of where your relationship should be, but don’t know how to get there?
You are stuck because your mind doesn’t see how you can improve the situation. That’s why you have a hard time taking action. You need someone to show you a new approach that will make transformation simple!
After the Relationship Audit, you will:
1. Understand how your actions are affecting the relationship.
2. Learn how simple skills will turn this relationship into a source of strength.
To book a free, 30-minute Relationship Audit, please click on the following link.
