Happy Republic Day from Talk Tsu Toastmasters

Today we celebrated Republic Day in Trinidad and Tobago. We became a republic 44 years ago.

A republic is defined as a “state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives…..which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch.”

In a monarchy you rule because of the station you were born or married into. Monarchs felt that the right to rule was their divine right – they were pre-ordained to be King or Queen by God. Some even asserted that as a Monarch they were not accountable to an earthly authority (such as a parliament) because their right of rule was from divine authority.

In a democracy you rule because you were chosen by the people to represent them in parliament – your station is of no relevance.

My dear reader…what is your vision for Trinidad and Tobago as a Republic 4 years, from now ? 10 years from now? 20 years from now? 44 years from now?

What is your vision for Trinidad and Tobago Toastmasters clubs?

What is your vision for yourself ?

We made a choice to become a Toastmaster. What choices are we going to make to ensure we get the most of our Toastmasters experience? Because as the saying goes, “if you don’t know where you are going, how are you going to know when you get there?”

So what do you want to accomplish as a Toastmaster in the next six months? next year? next five years? Write it down. What do you have to do to get there? Start planning. Map out what you need to do every week, every month, to get there. Are there any major obstacles to these goals? For instance other goals such as personal, work or studies? Then just start. Stop. Start Over. But keep going. Perfection is not the key but persistence is.

Our nation’s watchwords as stated by Dr. Eric Williams are “discipline, tolerance and production” as Trinbagonian Toastmasters let us use this to work towards our goals because as stated by Denzel Washington “Dreams without goals, are just dreams and they ultimately fuel disappointment.”

So just start. Start logging into Pathways more frequently. Volunteer for roles at Competitions. Take part in a competition. Give speeches at other clubs. Mentor an incoming Toastmaster. Join a committee. become a member of the Executive. As stated on our coat of arms: “together we aspire, together we achieve.“

If you are not a Toastmaster. Take the first step. Attend one of our virtual meetings and see how Toastmasters can be a stepping stone to becoming a better communicator and leader.

by Toastmaster Jeneil Stephen VP Public Relations

No Mistakes, Only Lessons

When Thomas Edison was inventing the light bulb, he was asked by a reporter, “How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?” Edison’s response to this was, “I did not fail, I just found 1,000 ways it would not work.”

To grow, to become better, we must receive feedback. This feedback we tend to classify as ‘success’ – if we get the outcome we want and ‘failure’ if we don’t get the outcome we want.

What if ? We stop classifying these results as success or failure but just considered it all feedback – pure and simple. Feedback that lets us know that we need to change how we are doing thing, that there are scenarios we have not considered or perhaps we are not putting in the required effort.

Because, in truth and in fact, you have a tendency to learn more when things don’t go the way we expected, than when we do. For myself, my failed projects or goals not accomplished allowed me to really think about what I did wrong, forced me to reevaluate the way things were done and gave me the impetus to put things in place to ensure that I do better next time(s) around (it may take several tries before you get the result you want). This is why, when managing a project, the retrospective – thinking about what went good and bad is a critical component of project success.

In Toastmasters you are given the opportunity to get feedback in a myriad of ways: as your speech is evaluated, as meetings are evaluated, as guests give their comments on our meeting and as we take up leadership roles – indicated by the success of our clubs and districts.

If you think about a diamond, it’s beautiful isn’t it – as it glistens in light. But if you think about it, a diamond is just “a piece of coal that handled stress exceptionally well.” So when mistakes occur, rather than viewing your mistakes as failures and the mistakes of others as slights, consider it all as feedback. Consider it as an opportunity to grow, to learn about your behaviours and thoughts, to understand how you react to others and to draw to your attention your internal dialogue when you feel that you have fallen short (if it’s too negative you may even give up rather than keep going).

Always remember, only fake diamonds are perfect, ALL natural diamonds have a bit of imperfection – so our goal is not to be perfect because like diamonds- nature made US ALL imperfect.

So as we attend our Toastmasters meetings, serve in various roles during meetings, give speeches, evaluate speeches and serve as leaders on the Executive, Areas and Division, when we are challenged, embrace this process of becoming a diamond. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Always remember that you don’t have to be perfect to be a good Toastmaster. You just have to show up and make good on your Toastmasters promise.

“A diamond is just a piece of charcoal that handled stress exceptionally well”

by Toastmaster Jeneil Stephen VP Public Relations

National Pride

Find your leadership. Find your club. Join us this Thursday 3rd September, 2020 as we celebrate National Pride – all nationalities welcome.

Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts” – Winston Churchill. In this year- 2020, a year where we are battling a pandemic (Covid 19) it is a challenging time from both a health and economic perspective. We are challenged but yet we continue on.

Talk Tsu Flyer – National Pride Meeting Theme

Join Talk Tsu as we celebrate 58 years of Trinidad & Tobago being an Independent nation. We are a but a young nation (not old enough to get a pension as stated in a meme).

When you consider that other more developed countries have been around for hundreds of years, we have made progress for a young small Caribbean nation. Yet-there is always room for improvement. There is a lot we can do better. We have a lot to learn, to improve, to do better. It takes all us of us as Trinbagonians to do this. Still, we should take pride; pride in how far we have come and pride in how far we want to go.

We should take the time to acknowledge all of our small victories so that they would eventually add up to something great (as stated by Kara Goucher). As Toastmasters, we can contribute to the growth of our young nation, by improving the communication and leadership skills in our communities – two of the important components to success at our schools, offices and government institutions.

One of the main barriers to the development of leadership and communication skills is confidence. As a Toastmaster, you are given the opportunity to overcome this barrier, through Toastmaster’s supportive environment of mentoring and feedback; helping you to find your confidence as you work through various communication and leadership projects. Through the support of your fellow Toastmasters and online materials tailored based on your personal leadership and communication goals – your selected “Pathway”, you will see your leadership and communication skills flourish. For those of us who have been fortunate to attend the Executive Leadership training – it’s a treasure trove of information that assists you in your development.

So take that first step. Come spend an evening with Talk Tsu.

by Toastmaster Jeneil Stephen VP Public Relations