Be awesome!
Toastmasters 10: Inspire your audience.
I've graduated from my Basic Speech Module today. Yey! I feel ecstatic. Here's the speech I delivered.
Is fear killing you? Let me tell you a story.
One morning, a man saw the “Angel of Death” walking into his town.
He was brave enough to ask, “May I ask why you are here?”
The Angel of Death said, “I’m going to kill ten thousand people today.”
The man stepped back in horror and ran all around town. He warned people, “I just saw the Angel of Death. He said ten thousand people will die today.”
But when nighttime came, seventy thousand people died.
The next day, the man saw the Angel of Death walking out of town. He called after him and said, “Wait! Wait! You said you were only going to kill ten thousand people. But there were seventy thousand who died last night!”
The Angel of Death shook his head, “I killed only ten thousand. Worry and fear killed the others.”
Is fear killing you?
90% of the things you were worried about ten years ago, you laugh about them today. Am I correct?
When I was in my senior year in high school, I was worried about my future. Which college should I go? What profession do I see myself practicing in the future? Would I be good at it? At a limbo, the future was an uncertain scary place.
When I was 20 and just graduated college, I was beside myself with worry about the future. I had just signed a job offer with the most prestigious American-based multinational IT company that came into play in Cebu market 2 years ahead. I felt honored and lucky. I was on a roll! I was a working adult. How would I fair in a competitive working environment? Would I be able to survive it?
When I was 25, I was a total wreck of what to expect. I thought I had everything planned! Yet there I was, almost reaching the calendar age, and feeling so little has been accomplished. Soon I'd be saying goodbye to my youth and the things that could have been done. That was scariest.
Now here I am 29 (yes I do look 22 and young for my age.. LOL), and the only thing I worry about is how much time I spent worrying.
We worry.
* worry about school projects and exams
* worry about finishing college
* worry about classmates laughing at your hairstyle and clothes
* worry about boyfriend seeing someone else. Now, you thank God he was seeing someone else. Good riddance!
* worry about if your boss liked your reports. You later learned he didn't even read your reports.
What does it mean? 90% of the things you're worried today, you'll laugh about them tomorrow.
Someone once told me that life is like a wheel. Probably much to the influence of a TV series, Gulong ng Palad. Worse, I used to believe it. I used to believe it for several years. When you're up, there's no other way but down. When you're down, there's no other way but up. So when good things happened to me, I'd get really scared. If I'm laughing too hard today. I'd worry what would happen to make me cry hard tomorrow. Somehow I just knew it would be bad. Yes, some of my worries do come true but 90% don't. I'm stressing over the 90% of the things that didn't happen. What a waste of time!
Let me share with you three steps of faith that I learned from inspirational speakers and from books:
· Step One: See the Dream
· Step Two: Sow the Dream
· Step Three: Surrender the Dream
See the Dream
Do you really know what you want in life?
Here's what you do: Imagine all your dreams are already fulfilled. Dream in vivid Technicolor—complete with sounds, smells, tastes, and feel.
If you dream to be financially wealthy, live in a big house, have a family.. then picture yourself wearing nice clothes, neatly dressed. Feel the marble floor, smell the scent of your swimming pool, picture the plants and flowers in your garden. Vision yourself smiling, laughing, and living your dream as if it is already happening now.
The reason many people don’t receive God’s blessings is because they have a limited capacity to receive those blessings. The problem isn’t in the Supply. (It’s infinite.) The problem is in the Receiving of that Supply.
So how do you increase your capacity to receive?
By increasing your vision. When you increase the size of your vision, you increase the size of your blessings.
See your dream. Feel it.
Sow the Dream
How? By your actions! Nothing happens unless you act.
Love your job. Be passionate about your job OR do something you are passionate about. Invent something like Steve Jobs! Be the nerd that you are!
Move. Act. Do something your passionate about.
Use what you have. Don't fall into the trap of
"but I don't have a college degree…"
"but I don't have enough connections.. my parents are not rich"
"but I'm not good in math, etc"
Don't look for what you don't have.
Surrender your Dream
Shocked? You may ask, why see the dream and sow the dream when in the end, you'd have to surrender the dream?!
Yes, surrender your dream. Let it go! Relax. Be in the state that if you don't get what you want, you won't lose your mind.
I've noticed that when I am too tense and desperate for money, very little comes my way. There are just too many extra unplanned expenses. When when I relax, money comes rolling in. It's the same with dreams.
In summary? See the Dream. Sow the Dream. Surrender the Dream! Kick fear out the door. We have no need for it.
You know the saying, "It's better to be safe than sorry"? Well, it is such a crap! I say, dream! Aim higher! You know what's better than being safe? Being AWESOME! Be AWESOME!
Fellow Toastmasters, good evening!
<The picture that you see is the visual presentation I showed on the LCD screen. I do not own the pictures. I've gathered them only from the internet.>
