Thoughts from a Mentor! By KC GOH
Its been a while since we last spoke. I like to share with you the
Three Awakenings of joining a toastmasters club. This is something
which I have experienced and I think it is important I share with you.
I wanted to ask our President to give me 2 mins to speak on this when
you ‘graduate’ but since this is adult learning, there is really no
graduation. And, knowing that I may go over time, it is best I put
them into words here.
What are the Three Awakenings?
You experienced the FIRST Awakening when you enter the door of Lion
City TMC and paid the fees to be one of us. You are awakened to the
idea that public speaking is important for your personal success, so
you set a goal to want to improve on your presentation skills. Some of
you aspire to be a trainer, a coach, or just to have an edge in the
next promotion. Whatever is the real reason, is not for me to know. My
role is to mentor you to ensure you get the results you want.
The SECOND Awakening happens around this time when you have started to
craft your speeches. You are awakened to the cruel fact that public
speaking is not really so much about the speaking but the writing.
When you are stuck with the writing, you begin to experience the next
cruel fact that it is not so much about the writing but also the
thinking. You suffer from mental block. You start to think - what
should be my next topic, what should I speak on etc.
I can understand your frustrations, like I said, too bad, we are not
President Obama blessed with speech writers to write for us, so we got
to D.I.Y. But trust me, please do not give up. If you know that you
are walking on the right path and it is your chosen path, you just got
to keep on walking.
If you stay where you are, the route ahead can only be tougher. CK
will tell you that public speaking is about keeping the butterflies in
your stomach in formation, BUT I rather say, it is also about keeping
the butterflies in your mind in formation. The butterflies are your
random thoughts and ideas. It is no coincidence that your Project 2 is
Organise Your Speech and Project 3 is “Get to the Point”. If you
cannot organize your thoughts, you cannot deliver a good speech.
Great speakers are great thinkers. If you want to speak better, you
got to think better.
Why do you want to learn to speak? Ask this question! It is because
you want to spread ideas and you want to change the thinking of
another fellow human being. That is the true purpose of making a
speech or any presentation. Why do you make a sales pitch? You want to
sell an idea! If you do not hold your own views, your own thoughts,
do not even try to speak because the art of public speaking has no use
for those who do not wish to influence the thoughts of mankind.
Some of you did not attend the last meeting because you probably think
you were not speaking why attend. But you missed listening to one
great speaker, Mr Koichiro, our new member from Japan. For those who
were present, you can understand what I am talking here. He may not
have a better command of the English language than most of you, but
what impresses me is his ideas and profound thoughts he gave us in his
speech. If I have his permission, I will email his speech to everyone.
His P1 speech contains the most powerful ideas – he reminded us that
we must be unique and it means using our skills where few people have
them and constantly look for the Blue Ocean where opportunities are
abundant. We listen to him and we listen hard not to fault on his
English but for his ideas. We were rewarded. His speech made a
difference.
Now, the THIRD Awakening. The third awakening is an experience which
you must create for yourself. No one can help you. The THIRD Awakening
is the most critical and sad to say few members get to experience it
because they did not go out to create that experience for themselves.
If you keep your public speaking skills within the four walls of the
Lion City TMC, the skills will just die a pathetic death. The THIRD
Awakening comes when you challenge yourself to speak in a
non-toastmaster environment and use the skills you have acquired in a
place when the audience is 100% non toastmasters. After you have given
the presentation or speech, if complete strangers, co-workers or your
bosses come to you and say “Hey, that was a great presentation, where
did you learn to speak like that?” or when you receive any positive
remarks from the audience is the MOMENT of TRUTH and that is your
THIRD Awakening. When that day comes, cherish it and relive it. You
know your effort is rewarded.
When you are in doubt of your abilities, recreate that moment over and
over again because now you can. If that day has yet to arrive, it
means you must work harder. If that day ever comes, please come back
to Lion City Toastmasters Club and volunteer your time and make a
difference to someone else. I wish that day will come very soon to you
and it will, if you continue walking the path you have chosen.
By K.C. Goh a.k.a Goh Kheng Chuan, Advance Toastmasters Bronze, Competent Leader.
