Pursue Excellence and Success Will Follow

 

Last Monday, after the installation
ceremony, on the way home, I was walking and chatting with Gloria. I was
talking about how the Toastmasters have benefited me for the past several years
and that’s why many of us, as senior members, still stay here and attend
meetings. That conversation inspired me to think about the topic I am going to
talk about today. Pursue excellence and success will follow.

 

 

As an English major, I thought my English
was quite good before I joined this club. To be honest, I even thought that I
didn’t think this club will help me much at the very beginning because I spoke
English much better than most of the members. I thought that I probably would
not make too much progress. But gradually I realized that I was totally wrong.
I was wrong in three ways.

 

 

First of all, being better than others is
not good enough. To be a successful speaker, I want more, more than beautiful
pronunciation, more than precise vocabulary, and more than correct grammar.
There are still so many things I need to learn to be a successful speaker. Following
different projects in the manuals, I learned the importance of many other
things, such as speech organization, gestures, eye contact, humor, speed, tempo,
etc. Therefore, to achieve the goal, the only way is to pursue excellence. To
be better than others is easy. The difficult part is to be better than myself.
The new me should be better than the old me. So, pursue excellence, and then success
will follow.

 

 

Second, to be a successful speaker, speech
itself is not everything. The idea behind the speech is even more important. Whenever
I was organizing a speech, I tried to figure out what message I would like to
deliver through my speech. It is always the message implied in the speech that
touches people’s heart. It is always the message that enlightens and inspires
the audience. It is also always the message implied in the speech that make people
think about something in a whole new way. Before I delivered my message, I needed
to think deeply about it first, so I had an opportunity to review my life, my
job, my study, or books I read, in order to find a proper message to talk
about, and this thinking process benefited me first, before it benefited anyone
else.

 

Last but not least, to be a successful
speaker doesn’t only mean that I can deliver wonderful speeches on the stage.
It also means to be a successful communicator even off the stage. Delivering a good
speech on the stage but acting as an arrogant hypocrite only makes my speech a
faking performance. I need to believe in what I say so I can make people
believe me. I need to persuade myself before I persuade anyone. And only when I
truly mean what I say and only when I do things with that belief, even off the
stage, I can convince my audience. So the reflections before and after every
meeting made me not only a better speaker on the stage but a better
communicator off the stage, when I communicate with my family, my friends, my
colleagues, or even strangers, such as guests who visited our club. Generally
speaking, it made me a better person.

 

 

After realizing these three points, I know there’s
always room for improvement. But maybe you would wonder if I have ever thought
about quitting from the club. Yes, of course I have, and I guess maybe many of
you have too. It is always feel safer to avoid the possibility to fail, to lose
face, or to embarrass ourselves on the stage. There are many excuses we can
pick when we are afraid to step out of the comfort zone. Especially when we see
some members just gradually disappeared and we would probably start to think whether
we should stay and keep delivering speech after speech or keep attending
meeting after meeting.

 

 

After a long day on Monday, some people
choose to watch TV, relax at home, or have dinner with friends at a nice
restaurant. Why do we rush to the Toastmasters meeting after work? Sometimes we
even don’t have time to have a quick bite for dinner. Why do we take
assignments or deliver speeches when others can have a relaxing Monday evening?
Does anyone put a knife on our necks and force us to do this? Absolutely not.
Then what is the reason?

 

 

The reason we’re still here is because we
want to be a successful speaker. The reason we didn’t quit is because we want
to be a successful communicator. The reason we are still the members of
Toastmasters clubs is because we want to be a successful wife, husband, mother,
father, daughter, son, colleague, student, teacher, doctor, salesperson…the
list can go on and on. We want to be a successful person. And I've seen so many
members are on the way to be a successful person.

 

Our strong officers installed last Monday
have demonstrated that. Our president demonstrated that she is not only a good
speaker, but also an efficient worker in her office and a great leader who can
attract so many capable people to work with her. Our senior member Kendrick
Huang has proved that with persistent practices, he has become a successful
leader and a confident speaker. Our even more senior member Dr. Jap also showed
us that even he speaks beautiful English, even he has a great persuasive power
whenever he talks, he never stops coming to our club to help others to be a
good communicator, and which made him an idol that we all attempt to learn
from. These people are not born with these talents and abilities. They are who
they are because they are Toastmasters.

 

 

So here we are, sitting in this room,
taking our assignments, delivering speeches, listening to speeches, giving
applause, and we will keep doing all of this in the following numerous Mondays.
Just as the leading character said in the movie Three Idiots: Don’t pursue success. Pursue excellence, success will
follow. My dear Toastmasters, let’s keep attending meetings and keep delivering
speeches, and keep taking assignments, and keep giving applause. Could you give
me your word? Yes or no? Great! I’ve seen the success is following you!