Speech #2 for Toastmasters

Okay, so I have to give a 5-7 speech the title in my 'communication and leader program' states project 2 as being "Organise your speech".

Second para states
"As a speaker your role is to tell others about yoru ideas and occasionally persuade them to take soem action. Your audience will be more receptive to yoru efforts if you take the time to assemble your thougths in a logical manner. Well organised speeches have several benefits..."


So what I wanted to talk about was Personal development and especially focusing on consistency and taking action.

So here goes;

Fellow toastmasters and guests. Personal Development. In particular Personal Development and Success. What is it and whats it good for??

I came to this question after pondering over another question.

Now I’ll just quickly go offtopic for a moment.

It is a question that most people probably ask themselves at least once in their lifetimes. [Pause]

"What is the meaning of life??" Now your probably sitting here, wondering What the!? [Pause], this guy is only in his mid 20's and he's wondering about the meaning of life, WHATS WRONG WITH HIM?!

I'll answer that question later..... Not about whats wrong me, but my take on the meaning of life...

Back on topic….

Success. [Short Pause]. I think it'd be fair for me to say that most if not all of us want success. We want to be successful in our lives. We want success in careers, relationships, money, family etc.
If you type in 'success' OR 'successful' in google, you'll find numerous sites that will encourage you to take on personal development. Basically, there is a strong correlation between personal development and success.

Okay great. But this leads to more questions. If I undertake personal development what will it give me exactly? How does persoal development work?? Are there any side affects with personal development??

First lets define personal development;
As a rough definition found on wikipediea for self help it states:
The term self-help can refer to any case or practice whereby an individual or a group attempts self-guided improvement^[1]—economically, intellectually or emotionally. The basis for self-help is often self-reliance, publicly available information, or support groups where people with similar problems join together.

Personal development comes in many forms, for example, exercising, wanting to lose weight, OR learning about investing for the future, OR toastmasters, wanting to overcome fears of public speaking etc.

Now these are aspects of personal development, and PD generally begins by people buying self-help books and starting their journey from there on.

Based on numerous books, blogs Ive read, and CD audio programs and podcasts Ive listened to, PD revolves around the following core ideas.

1. Persistence
2. Goal Setting
3. Strong beliefs
4. Determination
5. Positive thinking
6. Visualisation
7. Discipline
8. Courage
9. Patience
10. Networking
11. Time Management
12. Hard work
13. Confidence
14. Motivation etc

AND the list can go on and on.....

This is where problems start creeping in…. [pause]

What ends up happening, is you read one self-help, it gets you motivated, energised hyped up. You want more. You rush out to buy another book/audio/program. That book gives you another kick in the pants, gets you hyped up again.

This is the first problem. The motivation high that you get after you read/listen to these books/CDs only lasts a short while. You crave for another new book which will give you another short motivation high. You become dependant on getting that 'high" from these books/CDs. I kid you not, its an addiction. It probably explains also why these personal development gurus are multimillionares, they’re like legal drug dealers!


Going deeper into the problem; is how these ideas and principles are presented and sold to eager personal development newbie such as yours truly. As an example this is how most personal development material is sold "Hard-work is the key to success"; OR "positive thinking is the key to success" OR "Visualisation is the key to success".

What this sort of thing ends up doing is it creates confusion and narrow-mindedness.

(Maybe more can be said here…??)

Let me further clarify the issue. Think of the previous mentioned points as ingredients of a personal development recipe. Now lets think of a recipe for an omellete.

Roughly speaking an omellete contains the following:

1. Eggs
2. onions
3. tomatoes
4. chillies
5. salt and pepper.

How does one make an omellete? It involves breaking the eggs, cutting up onion/tomato/chilly pieces, beating up a mix of the eggs, onions, tomatoes, chillies. Frying the mix in a hot pan, while turning till its golden and then adding salt/pepper for taste.


So what determines that you will make an omellette the same each time?? (PAUSE and look at audience)

It would be taking the correct steps in sequential order that would result in consistency.

To quote Brian Kim "Instead of treating these priciples as seperate from one another or worse yet, focussing in on only one concept or priciple and blocking out the rest, youve got to see how all these pieces fit in the BIG PICTURE"

Lets think about toastmasters. Lets say we joined toastmasters to overcome our fears of public speaking. If we consult our experienced colleagues (point to Darren OR Marcel) they will tell you that Toastmasters will require of you;

1. Persistence
2. Goal Setting
3. Strong beliefs
4. Determination
5. Positive thinking
6. Visualisation
7. Discipline
8. Courage
9. Patience
10. Networking
11. Time Management
12. Hard work
13. Motivation etc

Now that is almost the same list I had mentioned earlier. To succeed in toastmasters, you cannot just say that with “hardwork” I can succeed, or with “strong faith” I will succeed. These are components that make up the bigger picture. [Pause]

Alright so what does one do to succeed that involves most of the above mentioned points.

From personal experience (Now mind you Im still learning, and there is a lot to learn) I said earlier with the omellete recipe that taking correct steps in sequential order would result in consistency, well the same applies with personal development;

It can be summarised as follows:

1. Have a burning desire to accomplish your goal or purpose (whatever that maybe)
2. Have faith that you will succeed.
3. Organise a definite plan AND take action on that plan.
4. Never give up until you achieve your chosen goal/purpose

The key to all four steps is consistency.

If anyone goes through these steps consistently, success in achieving that goal is guaranteed!

[Conclusion]

So to conclude. Personal Development should be a must for everyone.

Now provided if you find a teaching/methodology attractive, stick with it, and be consistent when you practice it. There may not be one correct method or person who has the secret. There are many great teachers out there, its upto you and I to find them (they are among family/friends/relatives/work colleagues/toastmasters)

If the advice they give resonates with you, take action, and be consistent when you apply it.

To answer my earlier my question “What is the meaning of life”…. (pause) I cant tell you that!. But what I can tell you, and I sincerely believe this, “your life is what you make of it”. [Say slowly for emphasis]