Did you ever feel like you belong in some sort of twelve step program because you are curious?
I had a friend ask, “How do you find time to do all the stuff you do?”
Answer number one. I have a wonderful wife who understands my need to explore the world around me. Without her support I don’t believe I could participate in so many things.
(Memo to self, remember to reciprocate)
Number two. Planning. I plan my work and social calendar to take advantage of as many concerts, events, films, lectures, readings, seminars and speeches as I can. These opportunities fill me up with the never ending desire to learn and experience life. Joseph Campbell the world renowned scholar and Mythologist once said, “People are not looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive.” I agree. The place I consistently learn the most from are my three Toastmasters club.
Yes, you read that correctly, three clubs. I know, I am a junkie. Most of the Toastmasters I know are. Once a week on Tuesday mornings from 7:00am until 8:00am, I attend the Erie Express ors. This small hometown club gathers at a local church where our meeting topics vary from learning about a program helping to feed the earthquake victims in Haiti to understanding the finer points of crochet. Learning and laughing along the way.
My Thursday Club also meets weekly and is called the Chamber Ad Liborators. This 7:30am until 8:30am club is more business focused and is associated with a chamber of commerce. Speeches here are often practice sessions for a meeting presentation or helping managers and sales people improve their business skills. This club excels in humor and the members enjoy networking at breakfast afterwards.
My third club meets twice a month on Saturday’s from 10:00am until 11:45am and is called Liberty Toastmasters. From this clubs inception, the members have had a passion for public policy and politics. This club is an issues focused group based around the United States Constitution. The members are activist and political junkies. This is a fast based and dynamic group, often giving the feel and appearance of an advanced club.
Each club has its own personality and culture. Each club gives me the opportunity to work on various skill sets and techniques. Each club has taught me something new about attitude and application, connection and conversation, trust and timing. Every week I have the pleasure of listening to half of dozen or more presentations that my fellow Toastmasters share. I learn more about issues, ideas and individual members than most people know about their own family. The really awesome part of belonging to three Toastmasters clubs is after five years of participation, I am often sought out to mentor new members. I am not an expert speaker, yet, having learned from my peers, I am in the unique position and privileged to share my experience helping others achieve their communication and leadership goals.
Want to learn more, faster? Join more than one Toastmasters club.
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