Some Funny Things Happened at the End of My Toastmaster Pathway: A Happy Dance, a Temper Tantrum, an Ah-Ha, and Some Personal Growth.

Here’s what happened.

My happy dance

A few weeks ago I completed what I thought was the last speech in my Toastmaster Pathway.

There are about 20 projects/speeches in a Pathway. Pathways are one of the tools Toastmaster uses for people to grow their speaking and leadership skills.

I gave my speech and participated in the rest of the meeting. When our Zoom meeting ended, I jumped out of my chair and did a happy dance around the room.

Literally.

Woohoo! You, Go Girl! Yeah!

I felt joy and delight in my accomplishment.

I sat back down and logged into the Toastmaster online system, closed out this speech project, and saw that my Pathway wasn’t really closed.

Hmmm.

There was something beyond Level 5. But, each Pathway only has 5 levels. What was this? Oh, it was noted as “Reflect on Your Path.” Ok. A survey? A thought provoking questionnaire?

I opened it.

Wait, what?!

It was another speech!

Another speech on the Pathway before I could officially close it out, be done, move on, celebrate my success.

My 6 year old temper tantrum

I am embarrassed to admit that I acted like a 6 year old for a good minute. I jumped out of my chair and stomped around the room. I pouted. I cursed. I whined. WTH?!

I caught myself in the middle of this ridiculously childish behavior and embellished it even more!

And then I laughed.

Laura, you Silly Girl!

Sweetheart, you are going to stay in Toastmasters and continue to practice your speaking skills, aren’t you?! Isn’t this just another speech?

Duh!

The unexpected is what keeps me learning and growing at Toastmasters

This happens to me again and again in Toastmasters. I have an expectation that is totally obliterated by the next thing on my Toastmaster Pathway. The next project is different than I expect. It makes me learn and grow in unexpected ways. It is so good for me!

For the past few days, I had been sketching out my next speech in my mind. That sketched out speech happened to be way different than “Reflect on Your Path”.

But, so what?

I paused. I caught my breath. I sat down.

My silliness had shifted me into a better mindset. A smiling mindset.

Ok, Laura, you know this next project is just going to be more of that personal growth stuff you love so much. Sweetheart, embrace the project! Do the work! Learn and grow!

Then, another funny thing happened right away.

Toastmasters as my coach, my mentor

I had an Ah-ha!

I saw that Toastmasters was my coach, my mentor, my teacher, my personal growth specialist.

I downloaded the Toastmaster PDF form that summarized this “Reflect on Your Path” project/speech. The form included 5 simple questions.

Hmmm. Ok. I am a life coach and I love powerful questions.

The 5 questions were simple but powerful questions.

The 5 questions were exactly the questions I would be asking one of my coaching clients!

• What were my wins, my successes, my achievements in Toastmasters during the whole time I was working through this Pathway?
• What were my wins, my successes, my achievements outside of Toastmasters during the whole time I was working through this Pathway? (Ooooh! This is so smart of Toastmasters… make me see that what I learned in Toastmasters translated to my Real Life!)
• Describe the impact of being a Toastmaster?
• Reflect on your next steps?
• Set new Toastmaster goals?

Pause, reflect, celebrate before you move on. Get clear about what I want to manifest next.

Huh!

These are the things I encourage my clients do.

Toastmasters! Thank you for being my coach, my mentor. Toastmasters! Thank you for making me do the work like my coach would.

I had already been thinking about some of my goals for the next year, but writing things down really clarified things for me. Writing down my wins made me really celebrate, do another happy dance, and appreciate how far I’ve come. It made me take time. Well earned time to pause, reflect, celebrate, plan.

My Toastmasters successes

Speaking.

Yes, I improved my speaking skills.

But, even more profound for me on reflection, was how much personal growth took place.

Here is a summary of my biggest wins. But I had many, many more.

Tools.

I learned all kinds of new tools that I would have never tried, researched, experimented with. Now, I can’t imagine my life without them! The biggest one is Zoom. My Toastmasters club went virtual with Zoom as soon as the pandemic started. Speaking on Zoom is very different than speaking in front of a live audience. Virtual meetings will be with us for quite some time, so I needed to learn how to be a professional speaker on Zoom.

Networking.

This project was soooooo good for me. Before I attended a networking event, I needed to have a plan, have objectives, have an elevator speech. What do you want to get out of this meeting?

Duh!

This project really made me see how empowering it is to set goals and have a plan for any event, meeting, activity where I interact with others. These things are critical to get clear about before I can manifest them.

Blogging/Writing.

I am a writer on Medium because of the Toastmaster Blogging project. The project required me to blog 8 articles in a month. I had to do research to determine where and how I wanted to blog. What was the right platform? What were my blogging goals and objectives? What topics or themes would I blog around?

I have been content writing off and on for years as a life coach. I had been away from writing content for awhile. This project brought me back to writing, made me dig deep on why I want to write, and made me get clear on what I want to write about.

The project ended, but my writing continued. I chose Medium as my writing platform in the project. It has been a great ride here.

Masterminding.

I have been Masterminding off and on for years. I recently created a Mastermind for a project and fell in love with this support structure all over again. It is so empowering, energizing, uplifting to surround yourself with like-minded people pursuing a similar goal.

So good!

A Mastermind has now become a foundational support structure for me, one that I will personally use going forward, and one I want to help and encourage others to use.

Service.

I love our small but mighty Toastmasters club. I continue to learn from all of my fellow Toastmasters. When I serve others - others that I respect, admire, and love being with — I serve myself so much more.

My goals going forward

Professional speaker.

I speak well in front of groups, but can grow into an even more polished, dynamic, inspirational speaker. I know Toastmasters will get me there.

A portfolio of speeches.

Many professional speakers have one signature speech. I’ve been shocked several times in my life, when I’ve eagerly awaited hearing someone speak again, only to hear the same speech. The. Same. Speech. Word. For. Word.

I want to develop 4–6 signature speeches so that I can be invited back to the groups where I fit and thrive, and be able to give another amazing speech…that is different from the one they heard before!

Practice speaking each month.

My goal is to complete my next pathway in one year. To give 1–2 speeches a month.

Final Thoughts

I love learning, growing, improving and Toastmasters is giving me that in a huge way, unexpected ways.

Thank you, Toastmasters, for being my coach, my mentor, my instigator of personal growth.

Thank you, Fellow Toastmasters, for your support, feedback, interest, care, kindness.

Interested in learning more about Toastmasters? I highly recommend them for growing your speaking, leadership, and organizational skills. Here’s a link to the “Why Toastmasters” handout and a link to the Toastmasters International home page.

I am a life coach, small business coach, and mastermind facilitator. I love to help others get really clear about what they would love to manifest in their life and work, show them they can have it, and help them create it. Visit me at www.lauraraduenz.com