525,600 Minutes to a Better You!
How
do you measure a Toastmaster year?
by Gege Sugue
B&T TMC President, 2014-2015
525,600 minutes! 525,000 journeys to plan.
525,600 minutes—how can you measure
the life of a woman or man?
In truths that she learned, or in times
that he cried. In bridges he burned, or the way that she died.
It's time now to sing out, though the story never ends. Let's celebrate, remember a year in the life of friends. - Excerpt from Seasons
of Love, a song from Jonathan Larson’s rock
musical RENT.
It’s going to be a Happy New Year!
In the Toastmasters universe, the year starts on July 1. This
gives us a chance to celebrate the new year twice a year. Now, isn’t that fun?
And like we do in the New Year, it’s also a good time to
make some resolutions—this time focused on our communication and leadership
goals.
Do you want to finally earn that Advance Communication
Silver pin you’ve been lusting for for years? Do you want to focus on
leadership and answer the long-ignored call to be an officer? Or an
officer-in-training? Do you want to expand your horizons and get active with
the district? Or are you gathering the nerve to finally join a contest? Or join
again, this time to win? Maybe you’re thinking about going for that promotion
at work—for that post that requires you to do business presentations twice a
week, something you didn’t consider way back when stage fright always got the
better of you. Or maybe you’re ready for a career shift or upgrade, because
Toastmasters has made you more confident, competent, and courageous.
It’s really up to you.
It’s up to you to define your goals. And then plot out
strategies for achieving those goals. To make sure that you make good use of
the next 525,600 minutes of your life.
Without that strategy, without a plan, you stand to just
waste those minutes, those months, and then suddenly, you realize that a full
year has passed and you’re still in the same place where you were at the beginning
of the year, or the same place you have been for the past few years.
Unless that place is a glass-bottomed boat floating on the
Caribbean Sea off Belize, and you’re basking under the sun in your size 6
bikini, then you probably should get moving along.
Unless that place is your dream job with your dream
paycheck, I suggest you seriously think about your self-development goals.
Unless you are exactly where you want to be, there’s always
room for improvement.
Oh, any maybe your goal is a fun one—like traveling
somewhere you’ve never been to before, or learning a language, trying out a new
craft or art. Whatever it is, just do it.
And don’t wait another 525,600 minutes to do it!
525,600 minutes, 525,000 moments so dear
525,600 minutes how do you measure a year
In evenings, in lessons, in stories, in cups of coffee,
In speeches on Thursdays, in laughter, in smiles
How do you measure a year in the life of a Toastmaster?
525,600 minutes how do you measure a year
In evenings, in lessons, in stories, in cups of coffee,
In speeches on Thursdays, in laughter, in smiles
How do you measure a year in the life of a Toastmaster?
525,600 minutes to a better you. When do we start?
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