You want your Toastmasters journey to be the best decision you ever make. You grow in confidence, overcome fears and achieve your personal and professional goals.
It took me a long time to decide if Toastmasters was right for me – four years, in fact, to visit and then join a club. Even then, I really did not know what I was getting myself into.
I knew that what I wanted to do was overcome my fear of public speaking.
Now, four years later, what I have achieved and still aim for far exceeds my initial goals.
Toastmasters has truly given me a platform to develop confidence. It’s given me access to a great support network, as well as amazing opportunities.
It’s taught me to go out there and just do it!
Toastmasters is more than just overcoming your fear of public speaking. It’s about developing a whole new respect for the self and becoming a leader who inspires others. What would I recommend when thinking about joining Toastmasters? If you want an amazing and rewarding journey in this organisation, I think you need a GPS to navigate your public speaking future!
- Set a GOAL
Those who know me know I keep raving about goals – but it is such a crucial element in achieving milestones.
I think you need to be SMART with your goals!!
S – Be SPECIFIC in what you want,
M – Have a way to MEASURE your success,
A – Make it ATTRACTIVE enough to inspire you to take action,
R – Be REALISTIC in making your goals achievable and
T – Put a TIME stamp on it.
An example of a SMART Goal is :-
By 30th June 2016, I have achieved my Competent Communicator (CC) award by delivering 10 speeches.
(TIP : Write in past tense to assume that you will achieve this goal)
- Create a PLAN
Now that you’ve got a smart goal, you need a plan.
How are you going to achieve this goal?
I highly recommend creating a spreadsheet that acts as a checklist to help keep you on track.
If we look at the goal of achieving a CC award, you need to plan how you’ll achieve your goal.
You will need to know when you’ll be delivering these speeches, where you’ll be delivering them, and what your speeches are about.
Creating a Plan provides a roadmap to success.
- Reach out for SUPPORT
With your goal and plan in place, now it’s time to reach out for support.
Share your plan and goal with your mentor, VPE, fellow members, colleagues and family members.
Not only will you have people to support and cheer you on, you’ll ultimately inspire others to create their own GPS.
It’s vital to know why it’s important for you to achieve this goal and what achieving this goal will bring you.
This is the process I went through in June 2014 when I set myself the goal of achieving the Distinguished Toastmaster Award.
At that point, I had only completed my CC, but I was really inspired to take on this goal.
My why was so huge that it inspired me to create a plan to achieve this award.
In June 2016, I’m proud to say that I’ll be achieving this award, and the journey has been an amazing and rewarding one.
It all started with setting a goal, creating a plan and reaching out for support along the way.
If you aspire to achieve more in your Toastmaster journey, adopt the GPS, be clear on your why and I know you’ll get to where you want to go.
Happy travels! – by Debbie Lee