28 June 2009
Risky Flights
Yesterday Dianna and I joined some of our Dutch friends to see the Dutch made film Bride Flight which was filmed here in New Zealand. Set in present day, the movie flashed back to the 1950s and 1960s and examined how the four main characters’ decisions made then had affected their lives. The four met on the KLM flight that won the 1953 Air Race from London to Christchurch. Some of movie was filmed in the places I grew up such as Oamaru, Central Otago and of course Christchurch. IMDb said it was “a simple but solid and well acted drama with flair for locale and historic atmosphere.” We both liked the movie and later we found ourselves reflecting on the times in our pasts when we had made decisions that we could see had made a very real impact on our lives today. For me personally my contemplations took me back to the times that I took the greatest risks that actually resulted in my greatest growth – and I have to acknowledge that my years as a Toastmaster have contributed to the opportunities in taking some of those risks.
We mostly join Toastmasters to overcome a fear – usually the fear of speaking in public. However the real benefit of Toastmasters is the confidence we gain each time we actively contribute to our club meetings. It is a risk each time we stand up in front our club members – or any audience for that matter. But every time we do this “risky” thing our self-confidence slowly and surely increases. The added bonus of Toastmasters is that we receive some feedback from the risks we have taken. And every bit of feedback we get helps us to grow that little bit more. I read once that 50% of the decisions, or risks, a manager makes do not work out the way it was intended. This does mean that 50% of the risks a manager makes had a positive benefit. But that does not mean the “wrong” 50% had no benefit either because no matter what the outcome was the manager had learnt something from it. The message here is that it is better to take the risk and fall short than to have never risked at all, because you will never know the outcome until you try.
Bride Flight was a “feel good” movie. After watching it my resolve was strengthened to continue to take those risks because they are the time you can do the very best you can.
Take a chance! All life is a chance. The person who goes the furthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. Dale Carnegie
Gone Too Soon
One of my favourite Michael Jackson songs is “Gone Too Soon”. It is a song written for a friend of Jackson’s who died from cancer while he was a young person. The song talks about things that are here one moment and gone the next. Some of the examples in the song are sunsets, flowers, a rainbow and a comet. It seemed appropriate for me to remember this particular song this week after hearing about Jackson’s death. The song also reminds me that we should always be ready to take advantage of the things that are available to us when we have the opportunity – otherwise we may miss the chance when the doors of change are open to us.
One comment I often hear from Toastmasters is that they wished they had joined Toastmasters when they were younger. Often we find reasons not to do something. The most common thing we hear these days is that we are too busy to start something else. Time is a most valuable commodity and it should be used in the most valuable way, otherwise it is gone too soon. I believe that time spent at a Toastmasters Club is an exceptionally effective use of a persons time. However as a Club we must ensure that our meetings are run on time and are professional, and as members, we must make sure we take advantage of every meeting to advance ourselves and our fellow members. Also when we have visitors to our meetings we should go out of our way to show them what benefits we have personally had from joining the club – we are, after all, the most effective advertisement for Toastmasters.
The media will remind us over the next few weeks of Michael Jackson’s legacy. I believe that we as Toastmasters have a legacy also and we must be ready to share this with others at every opportunity otherwise the moment will be gone all too soon.
A Picture Tells a Thousand Words
Yesterday we went to a 50th birthday party of a friend that loves dogs so we made her a card featuring our two dogs Lucas and Poppy. They say you should never work with children and animals especially if you are taking photos of them. Dianna and I spent around half-an-hour photographing the dogs – posing them, getting them to look in the same direction, having a good background etc. - in an attempt to get at least one descent photo to put on the birthday card. Well after taking around 100 photos – thank goodness we have digital - it was time to select one. As usual around 80 photos were nothing much but because of our persistence in taking photo after photo until we felt we got it right we did finish by achieving about 20 really good photos and so we selected one that was just right.
Toastmasters’ is a lot like this. We are not going to have the perfect speech with the first presentation we give. In fact we will give many, many speeches before we start feeling
comfortable with our speech-making. But with every speech we make and with every evaluation we receive we gain something to add to our next speech that will make it that little bit better. For me – even after 17 years in Toastmasters – I am still learning to make better speeches and I still have every speech evaluated. This process is what makes Toastmasters such a powerful educational programme because every time we do something it adds to our overall learning, confidence and quality. Even at the party last night I spoke to chap who runs a national corporate training business who was singing the praises of Toastmasters.
Fiona loved the card we made for her and sat it proudly for all to see during the party – a little effort gave great rewards.
Star Trek Toastmasters
I have always been a bit of a fan of Star Trek so when the latest Trek movie came out a couple of weeks ago I made sure I was going to see it on the big screen. There has been an interesting move in recent “blockbuster” movies lately where they have gone back to the start of the story – these movies are known prequels rather than the opposite and more common sequels. Star Wars was the most notable when creator George Lucas made three prequels to the previous three Star Wars movies. Currently we have Terminator, X-Men and Star Trek prequels playing in New Zealand theatres.
In the Star Trek movie fans like me enjoyed seeing where the main characters from the original 1960’s TV series came from, how they got together and something of what lead up to what we already knew about them. The producers of the movie had a difficult task before them as they needed to satisfy the current fans while also making the movie fresh, exciting and understandable for a whole new audience that knew nothing about Kirk, Spock and the rest of the Star Trek story. Going by the film reviews and my own bias thoughts I think they did a remarkable job at staying true to the original foundation of Star Trek while also modernising it to be something of value to the future fans of the franchise.
This is something that our Toastmaster clubs also need to be aware of – being true to the original understanding and qualities of Toastmasters International while also having meetings that are fresh and exciting to both current and new members. I believe to ensure that this happens all seven members of the Club Executive – and for that matter any future leaders of the club – should attend Club Leadership Training which will be taking place over the next couple of months in your Areas. Keeping our meetings new, vibrant and relevant to our current members also means that it will attract new members as well.
I am sure that many people have become fans of Star Trek after seeing the movie because of its quality, time and effort that it took to attract them while also making the movie significant to current fans. To learn how to do this for your club ask your Area Governor for the details of your Club Leadership Training.
Picture from http://www.desktopstarships.com/
My Father-In-Law has worms – and he has given me worms too. Yes to further improve our gardens’ “bio-culture” Dianna’s father has given us some of his Tiger Worms. The whole idea of adding worms to your soil is to improve the overall quality of the soil. Worms mix the minerals and organic matter in the soil with the enzymes inside the worm’s tummy. This is called “lignin” and it acts like a glue to hold all this material together, making the minerals and nutrients more available to the plant in a slow-release form. So by adding the worms to our garden we are creating an environment that is going to encourage growth, substance and nourishment. This of course means that the quality of the produce grown in the soil will also be of a higher quality and hopefully, quantity. 