Chia Wood, Idaho Speakers

I’m celebrating my first professional speech this month. In case you’re thinking ahead to yours, here is the best part: once you’ve done it, you don’t ever again have to give your first professional speech! Isn’t that nice?

My speech was wildly successful-according to my definition of success: I didn’t embarrass myself, the audience understood my message, and I didn’t criticize myself after it was over. Hoorah!

I suppose some speakers would want more than seven people in the audience, most of them personal friends. But I was happy to have such a safe group for my big night. And perhaps the really ambitious would want to make more than $12, but I was happy to make anything at all.

The reason is simple: in Toastmasters, I have taken many baby steps in a direction I never planned to go at all. Every step has been forward, and as a friend recently observed, “You’ve come a long way.” Baby steps are sure steps. A big leap can end in a big fall, but small risks have resulted in steady learning, and most important for me, increased confidence. I didn’t join Toastmasters for confidence, but that is the primary benefit I’ve gained from it. Who’d have thunk?

So here’s to baby steps in unknown directions. May yours be as full of joy and adventure as mine have been.