The Divine Intervention

Having completed four speeches from the Competent Communication manual, I seemed to have hit a wall. Like a couch potato having second thoughts in only the second week of January about sticking to his New Year’s resolution of a daily dose of exercise, I began to soon find that Toastmasters involved a lot more work than I bargained for. To add insult to injury, there was also the unfortunate happenstance of many damsels having quit the club immediately after I set foot. The lack of ladies in the audience was indeed the last straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back.

It is in times of such grave crisis that real men often turn to their mentors; especially when your mentor is also the Vice President responsible for membership. Luckily for me though, my mentor is an expert not just at oration but also at inspiring adoration. Thanks to his intervention, I soon found many a muse — much to my amusement. While I do not wish to lower the status of this hallowed publication to that of a racy tabloid by going into further detail, suffice it to say that my quest for achieving the CC designation has received a much needed impetus.

A wise golfer once observed that in life, as in golf, it is the follow through that makes the difference. While I do feel close kinship with the below-average golfer saddled with a lousy swing, I have now found the renewed drive to make my next shot my best shot. And if I have one learning to share with the perspicacious reader of this rather prosaic prose, it is this: Turn to your mentor if you ever find yourself having a speaker’s block. More often than not, you will find a new door to knock on. Who knows, it might just lead you straight to your goal!

(Wrote this article yesterday for my Toastmasters club newsletter. But I am wondering if they would print such tripe! )