"Good or Better?"

As President of Talk Club Letterkenny, I love talking to members after meetings to find out what their experience of the night has been. Following a recent Talk Club meeting, a club member shared his observation that “all the speakers were very good tonight… … … a tough act to follow!” Alarm bells sounded when I heard this because the goal of a Toastmasters meeting is not to produce “good speakers” but rather to support all members to become “better speakers”.

Carol Dweck, author of Mindset: How You Can Fulfil Your Potential, suggests that we focus on getting better rather than being good because the former is about learning whereas the latter is about assessing yourself against some notional idea of what good is, or isn’t. If you set yourself learning goals, you will be focused on improving, that is, doing something better than you did it before, rather than avoiding failure, i.e. being “not good”.

This also means that you are competing against yourself rather than against others, and especially others who you deem to be “good speakers”. I encourage Toastmasters to remind themselves about what prompted them to come to Toastmasters for the first time, often asking them to reflect on:

·         Why did you join Toastmasters?
·         What did you want that you felt Toastmasters could help you get?
·         How will you recognise that you have been successful in Toastmasters?

Once you are clear about your end goal for joining Toastmasters, you can consider what your goal is for the year ahead. For example, what do you want to be able to do by the end of May 2016 that you can’t do now? What or how many speeches do you need to deliver to achieve this? What roles do you need to have taken on to accomplish this? What supports do you need to make those speeches or take on one of those roles? What will support you in getting there? Experienced members of Talk Club Letterkenny will support you to create the plan for you to achieve your goals

I recall being in the gym one day and seeing someone new who had joined. They appeared to be in their late 60s and were carrying a lot of weight. They were wearing brand new trainers, a new track suit, had a towel around their neck and a sweatband on their forehead. As I warmed up, I watched as they slowly walked on a treadmill and I couldn’t help but wonder what brought them to the gym. Over the next week I saw them each day I was in the gym and I continued to wonder until one day it hit me: they were in the gym because they wanted to get better, whatever it was that “better” meant to them. They weren’t competing against the people lifting weights or against the people in spin or aerobics classes. They were competing against themselves and very likely had a simple goal: to be better tomorrow than they were yesterday. And they were doing it one step at a time.

What do you need to do next to be better tomorrow than you were yesterday?

Come to the next Talk Club Letterkenny meeting to see and hear how we can help you achieve your public speaking and leadership goals.

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Talk Club Letterkenny was established in 2008 to provide a supportive and positive learning experience in which members were empowered to develop communication and leadership skills, resulting in greater self-confidence and personal growth. Our core values are Integrity, Respect, Service, and Excellence. We also make sure we have a lot of fun doing this.

We meet on the first and third Tuesday of every month, from September to May, at 8.15 p.m. in the iTek (Swilly) Building on Business Park Road, Lisnennan, Letterkenny, Co Donegal.

Guests are always welcome to come along to a meeting and there is never any pressure on anyone to speak unless they wish to. We never forget that every person who walks through the door does so for their own reasons. And we never forget that each of us once walked through the door for the first time as well. We look forward to greeting you if or when you decide to come to a meeting and walk through the door for the first time.

For more information, email us at talkclubletterkenny@gmail.com or call Connor McDonough on 0876480457.

Connor McDonough is President of Talk Club Letterkenny for 2015/2016.