Posts tagged Ups
Do You Want More Active Members In Your Club? Then Go Tell Someone To Fail!
Sep 24th
Many people love to quote eloquent speakers. Martin Luther King, “I have a Dream…” Mahatma Gandhi, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
I love the absurd. I seem to understand it better. So I quote Darren LaCroix, “Nobody comes to Toastmasters to be better speakers at Toastmasters.” We have goals to be better speakers for our community, our business or to give a Toast at our daughters wedding. They may be very lofty goals to some of us, but we need a safe environment to practice them. A place to screw-up and then recover, rebuild and try again. Our club culture is built upon that safe environment to stretch, grow and fail a few times. Without taking a few risks we will stay in our own safe bubble and never grow.
OK Tom again with that psycho babble. How can I get more active members in my club?
Take the opportunity to visit other clubs, meet-ups, networking events (chamber of commerce events work really well). When given the chance to share your Elevator speech, state very strong and loudly. “I invite you to come to Toastmasters and Fail!” That alone should increase your listening audience by 5. Repeat it once again, “I invite you to come to Toastmasters and Fail!” Someone will blurt out, “Why would you want me to fail?” Now you can explain how Toastmasters create a safe environment for you to take risks in speaking and leadership skills. This is a laboratory for your own speaking and leadership experiments. Build upon your successes. Identify your areas to improve. Take a few risks here before you go to your daughters wedding and be less than excellent.
A good friend was just elected club president of a well established Toastmasters club with a large membership. I told her how excited I was for her. I knew her enthusiasm would shift the club to greater active participation. Guests would eagerly return to visit at 7am. Members who hadn’t participated for a while would become more active. Then I said, “Joan, I will be bragging about you when you tell me the 3 times you Screwed-up. The 3 times you took a risk no one else had taken in your club. The times you stretched, risked and grew. Think about it. Five years from now will it really matter that you changed the room layout, made the chairs face 45 degrees to the right and someone complained? “
OK Tom again, how can I get more active members in my club?
Take some risks in your club. Annoy a few old curmudgeons with something new. Invite the person behind you at Starbucks to Come to Toastmasters and Fail. Over the past 6 ? weeks I have had numerous opportunities to speak before non toastmaster groups and 9 toastmasters clubs. I have invited face to face 78 people to come fail. So far this has resulted in 3 new members and 11 guests. It’s not hard and a lot of fun. Email me with when you Failed in your club and now what you are doing with that experience.
Cheers,
Tom
The man in the Hat
Tom@TomHobbsONLINE.com
Six Pack Exercises Are Hard, Boring and Tiring – Right?
Sep 22nd
Wrong! In fact – I will just say that again – wrong!
Six pack exercises myths abound. Most people believe the myth that all there is to getting abs is just endless sit-ups morning and night, before you go to work and then again before you go to bed. No wonder so many of us do not have the flat stomachs we want so badly! Imagine staring down the barrels of the prison sentence that is endless sit ups. I love being fit and keeping up with my training but that though fills me with dread.
I know that having washboard abs does not need to be boring. Sure some people may say that any exercise is hard and tiring. However certain abs exercises can be introduced as part of an overall fitness program and then I can guarantee you will not notice them as being particularly hard or tiring. And you’ll also be surprised because these exercises are not abs specific exercises. Yes, that’s correct. It is more than possible to give your abs a killer workout without doing abs specific exercises. Integrated as part of your exercise set in the gym or at home you will find these abs exercises develop core strength and really work your abs until they are firm and toned. Doing these abs exercises right and supported by the right foods in a varied and balanced diet is hands down the best way to achieving a six pack and getting rid of a loose belly for good.
Abs exercises that focus solely on your stomach and that are boring and appear like a chore will be less likely to be effective when compared with real abs exercises that develop core strength and require your belly muscles to work hard to provide you with the support and strength you will need to balance your body during the exercise.
