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.
by Toastmaster Jeneil Stephen VP Public Relations
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