Traveling Bee

A Bee is a wonderful creature to observe. They fly from flower to flower searching for nectar making the flower and the Bee stronger. Like a Bee, cross-pollination especially of ideas also makes Toastmasters clubs stronger.

Keeping my public speaking skills sharp is a challenge when I am away on business. I often will seek out a Toastmasters meeting on the Toastmasters International website for the city I am visiting and find a club meeting that fits my schedule.

Recently, my busy business travel season began. I had the good fortune to visit five clubs around the country, two in California, Coastmasters Toastmasters in Dana Point and Anaheim Breakfast Club. In Oregon, I visited Cascade Toastmasters in Eugene. In Texas, I visited Executive Toastmasters in Dallas. And finally, in Florida, I visited Highrisers Toastmasters in Tampa.

All these clubs had engaging websites that invited guests to visit. I was attracted by photographs of members posted on their websites and their meeting schedules were up to date. At all these meetings, I was warmly greeted and introduced to other club members. This gave me an instant connection which made me feel welcome. At each visit, I was invited to share my observations and impressions of the meetings.

The members were genuinely interested in finding out how their club was similar or different to mine. They wanted to be evaluated on what they did well and how they could improve. I also came away from each meeting with a host of ideas to share with my clubs to improve and enhance our gatherings. In some instances I even received a complimentary breakfast.

Visiting other clubs is enjoyable, enlightening and an added value of being a Toastmaster. Visiting other clubs out of state gives me a sense of having an extended group of friends where ever I go. My sales calls on the days I visited these meetings was superior. I have found this experience helps me to learn new ideas, keeps my skills up and makes me a better speaker. Bee adventurous. Bee courageous. Bee a Bee and cross-pollinate when you travel for business or pleasure. You'll Bee glad you did.

“On my way to being the best I had to fail to reach success.”

In our culture failure is often thought of as a negative. We strive for constant success. Winning is everything we are told. Second place is no place. Yet, without failure where would each of us be? Everyone has had failures in their life at some point. It could be a failure on a test. A failure to win a team sport. A failure to connect with that one opportunity because we feared the failure. We perhaps thought, why even try if failure is emanate?

Let me suggest that without the many failures I have encountered, I would not have reached today’s success. This begs the question, how can one overcome failure? Try once more, only this time differently. I am no expert on overcoming failure or reaching success. I can only share my experience of how I have failed and more importantly, how I have bounced back to triumph another day. Throughout my life I have played on failed teams, failed classes, had failed relationships, a failed marriage, worked on a failed political campaign, and failed to take out the trash. My response, who cares? So I failed. Big deal! After brushing off a bruised ego or body, I get up and begin again.

Failure is the natural progression of having tied to do something and not being immediately successful. This is where most of us stop and we become defeatist. The key to your future success is persistence. The 30th President of the United States, Calvin Coolidge once said, "Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan, press on, has solved and will always solve the problems of the human race." So, press on. Be persistent. Be determined.

Upon your next failure, ask yourself, what did I learn? How can I incrementally improve to the next higher level? What am I going to do to ensure a better outcome the next time? How can I use the experience to move forward and fail again? Yes, failure is rewarded when you try one more time and break though the barrier of the past. You will not reach your success without taking a chance at something you previously thought impossible. Plan, practice, persist and prosperity will surely be your reward.

When you reach, you extend the possibility for success. Stretch your mind to believe that without failure there is no reward, no success. Fail more often. Move your failure forward in your learning cycle. Fail in the direction you wish to grow and achieve. Fail is a four letter word like work, that will get you to the pinnacle of your dreams and goals. Work on your failures, don’t let your failures work on you. “On your way to being the best, failure will help you to reach your success.

Write it down in a Word document, read it aloud and then post it.

I recently had a friend ask that I buy her some Toastmasters manuals at a regional event she could not attend. I was happy to oblige. Via e-mail I asked where I could meet her to drop them off. She replied back on her so called “smart” phone. “Drop them at my house, I “love” at…… address.” When I pointed out that this was too much information, we both had a good laugh. My story illustrates a point about writing either by e-mail, smart phone or on a social media site.

Whether it’s for professional or personal use I always want to appear somewhat intelligent in how I speak and write. An idea I like to share with folks on postings for E-mail, Facebook, Twitter or any other Social Media is to write your message out on a separate Word document. Check it for misspellings. You may have “spell checked” a word that is spelled correctly yet it is the wrong word. I don’t know about you but my wife can’t spend all her time correcting my bad spelling. She has things to do.

Check to make sure any links you add work correctly and you are sending your reader to the right web site. I once posted a link and had omitted one letter. My readers were sent to an adult web site that most found a bit embarrassing about. I received a few unpleasant e-mails back, yet others thanked me. The point being this was not the web site I wanted them to find. Some asked what I really did in my free time.

Read your message out loud. Ask yourself, does this make sense as written or can I make it more powerful with fewer words? How is my sentence structure? Can it be easily followed? People often write in abbreviation these days. I have to reread their messages to find out what they are referring to. Unless you are texting, please do not abbreviate common words. I could have written TMI in the first paragraph, yet how would you know that it meant, Too Much Information?

When I am finished with what I have written, I read it out loud. I write just like I speak, yet sometimes it will not read well. I therefore have to recompose what I have written. When I am satisfied with the way the message is reading, I copy it and then paste it in the place I wish it to appear.

These suggestions have saved me from having to retrieve a message I was about to post. I followed this process with this article. Yes, it is one more step in a busy day, yet I like to prevent problems rather than fix them. Mistakes will happen, yet you can fix many of them by taking this extra step before you hit “send.” Happy postings.

Practice, Practice & then Practice some more.

Basketball Hall of Famer, Ed Macauley once said, “When you are not practicing, remember, someone somewhere is practicing, and when you meet him he will win.” Whether you are playing a sport, a musical instrument or rehearsing a business presentation, practice makes you better at what you do. We often look at those who are successful and say, “gee it must be nice to be so talented or lucky." I doubt luck plays a part for most of those at the top of their fields. Top tier people make their own luck by practicing their craft. Most of those that are talented or lucky work darn hard practicing even more to achieve their success to make it look easy. I am sure there are the one or two percent that don’t have to do anything extra and they can get along with their “Midas touch” for a while. Yet, luck usually doesn’t last forever.

I know from my many years of being in business that it takes constant practice to keep and maintain a top tier performance. You might say, how does one practice in business? Several ways. For me, I am constantly reading books, blogs and interesting articles that keep me current on trends, ideas and personal stories that inspire me to constantly practice new ways of doing things. I try to do or implement at least one new thing a week into my routine, often times more. With 52 weeks in a year, that’s 52 new things I learn to do. With practice I can become an expert at many of them. By learning a new idea and implementing it in a way that works for me, often helps keep me engaged, active and eager to learn more.

While driving I listen to books on tape or a podcast that teaches me new ideas. I visit my local library and check out the latest offerings. This also helps me to practice and become a better listener. Listening has become a lost skill. I practice listening often and try to think before I speak. (I can hear my wife now, yea right.)

As a Toastmaster I try to rehearse speeches, quotes and bits of information I find interesting, so I am constantly at the top of my game when called upon to do a impromptu talk or a longer speech. Preparing and practicing for the opportunities that arise, makes it look like it is easy and natural. As any world athletic or musician will tell you. They are not getting paid for their performance today. They are getting paid for all that practicing they did to be at the level they are at today.

What do you do in your business that you practice day after, to be the best? I bet you can do one more thing today, then yesterday and then one more, the next day. Practice makes you the best you can be. Now practice some more so you can go out and win.

The weather is always changing

My eight year old Granddaughter Shelby is obsessed with weather. She is visiting from her home state of Tennessee with her parents. Shelby started asking me questions about the clouds, rain, thunderstorms and tornados, all recent events back home. Was the thunder louder in Colorado than Tennessee? Do we have tornados? Would she see hail? All these rapid fire questions as I read the morning newspaper. I answered as best I could. “I want to be a Meteorologist,” Shelby said as she asked if she could read the weather statistics in the paper. Then, once finished reading the numbers, Shelby asked if I would turn on the Weather Channel to see what was happening back home. After breakfast, Shelby wanted to go the local library because she NEEDED to get some books on weather. Off we went.

We checked out several children’s books and DVD’s on the subject. Once home Shelby devoured the books by reading one after the other to me. Then we watched the DVD’s. My little sponge began absorbing all the knowledge she was acquiring for these sources. Shelby’s thirst for knowledge and her willingness to learn and be taught about things she did not understand was fascinating to observe. Shelby’s curiosity about how nature works and interacts with the environment got me thinking of how adults often lose this same trait and why they need to figure out how to get their enthusiasm for life-long learning re-started.

Often in business we believe we know it all. We have, been there and done that, so why learn anything new? Or, perhaps we are the pro or the go to person at work when others want to find out about something. Yet, in my many years in business I know of only one constant, that is change. The only way I can stay up with this change is to constantly be learning. I am curious how things work as well and how they interact and what my role or place is in their function. Shelby’s quest for weather knowledge reminded me of the following;

Always ask questions - How else can we learn? Asking questions does not mean you’re not smart. It means you want to learn and understand more. Ask lots of questions. The only question I have ever found to be not well received is the one not asked.

Look for the source - Seek information whether it is at the library, on-line or from an expert. Others have come before us and have more experience or know where the sources of information are. Be a life-long student and the teacher will appear.

Ask for help - Find a mentor or seek a person who is willing to show you the way. Don’t be fearful of asking others for assistance. Done with humility, they will jump at the opportunity to help.

Stay curious - Always be willing to learn something new. It engages your brain and keeps one mentally fit. Look for new ways of asking and learning. Put two dissimilar things together and see what happens. Look at each day as a new adventure.

I am looking forward to today as Shelby and I learn more about the weather at the museum. I can’t wait until her first, “Hey GrandBrad how come….

Is Using Humor the Deciding Factor in Winning a Contest?

How do you improve a skill you wish to excel at?

I find folks who are better than me at that skill and study them. Seeking improvement in my oral communication skills, I attended the Toastmasters District 26 Conference which included a Table Topics Contest, educational sessions a business meeting and the highlight, the International Speech Contest which was held on May 20 & 21, 2011 at the Embassy Suites in Loveland, Colorado. I went in particular to learn and understand what makes a winning speech. The International Speech Contest for the District is the pinnacle of success for those contestants who win their Division Contests. After watching and listening to the contestants, I observed all of the speeches encompassed the four “H’s” of public speaking according to the 2000 World Champion of Public Speaking, Ed Tate, Head, Heart, Humor and Heavy Duty, (Its significant).

Each contestant was poised as they gave their speech. They all approached the contest professionally and with well polished presentations. Each one had personal and powerful stories to share. I also observed that International Speech Contest Speeches are strong on the Head, Heart and Heavy Duty. This can bring about a dramatic tension that in a five to seven minute speech, can be significant and overbearing. The one element I noticed and counted during the contest was the amount of laughs each speaker received in their presentation.

Here is my observation;
• In Thomas Judson’s speech, “Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” he received four laughs.
• In Joan Janis’s speech, “Wings,” she received six laughs.
• In Chuck Maher’s speech, “The simple secret, we get to play,”
he received seven laughs.
• In Stephen Doherty’s speech, “Pull that ripcord,” he received ten laughs.
• In Paula Cowen’s speech, “Embrace uncertainty,” she received sixteen laughs.
• In Rich Hopkins’ speech, “Change the rules. Change the reason,” he received
eighteen laughs.

Without giving it away, who do you think won, first, second and third place in the District 26 Speech Contest? You guessed it. Rich Hopkins won first, Paula Cowen received second and Stephen Doherty came in third. I have no way of knowing if their using humor and getting more laughs had anything to do with the outcome of the winners. All I know is, from my observation, the speakers who used humor to break the tension of their speeches from Head, Heart and Heavy Duty, placed higher than the other contestants. Learning from these champions, I will work at inserting more humor, where appropriate, into my speeches.

What observations did you make while attending an International Speech Contest at a District Conference?

How is your PMA?

What, you don’t know what a PMA is? Simply this, Positive Mental Attitude. I have the opportunity to volunteer as facilitator for the Colorado, Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Seminar otherwise known as HOBY. As I prepare for three days of teaching high school sophomores, “how to think, rather than what to think,” I am reminded how important it is to always be positive. PMA applies to more than the privilege of working with youth; it is an integral part of my professional and personal life. In the world of business, attitude is everything. Give me an optimistic, positive, personable individual over a negative naysayer any day. PMA will get you through the toughest, most stressful times in business and in life. PMA will help to focus your thoughts on what’s important to you. In my personal life I recite the Optimist Creed everyday and find its positive message a reminder of what’s important as I face each day.

In the 1950’s Earl Nightingale wrote and recorded, “The Strangest Secret” http://bit.ly/krQ1AP
The premise of his recording is, we become what we think about. As Mr. Nightingale says, “Actually, it isn’t a secret at all…But very few people have learned it or understand it.” Our success in life depends on using the greatest gift we have, our mind. We can choose to be a success or failure. We have free will to do whatever we set our sights on or reach goals we choose to accomplish. Having a PMA is a choice. The question is, are your choosing wisely?

As a child I can remember reading Watty Piper’s classic, "The Little Engine That Could” Remember, “I think I can, I think I can,” as the little train chugs up the mountainside. What happens as you grow up? You forget that PMA, like, “I think I can,” does get you to where you need to be.

PMA is also a way of life for me. It is something you have to incorporate into your daily routine. I recall my running in the Boulder Bolder 10K. I had never run a race before. I trained, yet I knew if I was going to finish I would have to work on my mind more than my physical being. At the time I had just read Brian Tracy’s book, “Focal Point.” In it is a line that I committed to memory. “Yard by yard it’s hard, inch by inch it’s a cinch.” I repeated that line all the way to the finish line.

Having a PMA will help you cross your own finish line by reconnecting you with your commitment to success. When you decide for yourself to have a PMA you will be like all my HOBY Ambassadors, the one word of choice to describe all good things, OUTSTANDING.