With the onset of the new year, many people naturally take time to reflect on the last year and also look forward to where they want to go and what they want to achieve with their lives.
These thoughts often manifest themselves in the form of New Year Resolutions; the making of which, and whether they work or not, often polarises opinion.
Personally, I don’t buy into New Year Resolutions myself as I’m not particularly good at keeping them. Instead, I often make New Month Resolutions; smaller resolutions that are a lot more tangible and easier to achieve.
Having said that, I did once make a New Year Resolution for 2010 that I did achieve and have kept ever since, and that was to go to Toastmasters and become a better public speaker.
Going to Toastmasters for the first time has to have been one of the best decisions I ever made. In the 3 years of being a Toastmaster I’ve done things I would never have dreamed of doing before I joined: given a Best Man’s speech, spoke at Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park, given public speaking workshops, spoken at charity fundraisers… and this all stemmed from a New Year’s resolution.
I know from speaking to other Toastmasters that a lot of people also came along for the first time after similarly making a New Year’s resolution and considering that all of them were still coming proves that this is one New Year’s resolution you can actually keep!
No matter how much you think you hate the prospect of public speaking I can guarantee that you will find Toastmasters an incredibly safe and encouraging environment to get over any fears you may have. All it takes is that first step to actually come along to a meeting and find out what we’re all about. You may find it hard to believe, but before long you will even begin to enjoy it and look forward to speaking in front of an audience.
So if your goal for 2013 is to become a better public speaker, take that first step, come along to a meeting and find out for yourself what an incredibly rewarding and gratifying pastime this can be.
It’ll make you a better person, it’ll make you a better public speaker, it’ll make you more confident; it could well be the best decision you ever made.
