What do you usually do on a Sunday?
Rest & rest, go out for a movie, meet friends, spend time with family, just
idle in front of television or work (for Mr. & Ms. Workaholics).
I tried something new, something
different on this sunday. I attended a meeting of knowledge @ Toastmaster
International. It is a club of & for people who are working together to develop
an inbuilt talent we all have, but often don’t attempt to nurture.
As I walked into the room, there
were many people from different walks of life – students, strugglers,
executives and senior citizens (introduced as 60 year old kid). All had come
with an objective and a common goal to get over their fear of public speaking. The
session was conducted in a class 5, room in a school in Rohini. Sitting after
decades on a school bench and noticing the “wall of the week”, I read through some
cloud shaped charts on discipline, perseverance - words we often studied but
seldom understood their importance at that age. I was just visualizing my days
in school, when a round of claps brought me out from the flashback.
The session started with
pleasantries where I got to know about people and their vivid interests.
The group I was with, is a
club of members where I had joined as a guest along with other such anxious
people, joining them for the first time. In a group of 12 odd people, some
people were holding their hands tight, memorizing something as if they had to
appear for an exam. Within a few minutes into the session, I did realize that
it indeed was a test of their shyness, their fears and their ability to
structure their thoughts into an inspiring speech.
With other senior members,
taking up roles of evaluation, orator’s nervousness was visible in their
shaking hands and the use of AHs, Umms, pauses in speech. But one thing which was
common in all of their speeches was the brilliance of their thoughts, their
views and the research which has gone into their speech. They had written it
with passion, researched thoroughly which took attention of everyone in the
room. They have definitely spent time, tried to make this worth a topic people
would love to hear.
How often in a HCOCH life, do we take
out time reading about a new subject or even thinking about something
different? But these people here have actually taken that initiative to think
beyond, share their thoughts and learn in the process. Their speeches had
stories of successful people like Steve Jobs, references of things they read
from books and their experiences of life.
While listening to them, I was just
thinking of the hours they would have spent writing and rehearsing their
speeches. How much self-confidence, they must have gained from where they
started in this club and how different will their level of knowledge be, when
they reach the final level in this club.
I obviously was comparing where I
stand, when I “as a guest” was called on the podium too. I cursed my friend,
but she had already warned me that you will be picked. With a pounding heart, I
walked to the podium. An impromptu topic was given to me and I had to speak
about that for a minute. I confessed that am more into writing at leisure than
speaking, but I quickly wrapped up what I could say about the topic.
Fortunately, I didn’t fumble, but would I say I was confident and expressed
myself well…I would say “No”.
Communication is a key trait of a
manager and we do this all the time in office. But is that efficient or
effective enough, for a level I aim to reach. Will I have the same impact
someday, as these orators had on me today? It will all be possible, if I
nurture this missing skill and if I try.
Am sharing this with you, to
encourage you to act beyond the monotonous life we share. Develop your forgone
interests and take a step into improving your skills to achieve greater success
in life. It will not only give you pleasure but take you forward into a
beautiful world of “KNOWLEDGE”.
Still thinking what is HCOCH ;-)??
It means Home-Cab-Office-Cab-Home and I learned this today. Happy learning!!
