First, let me preface this blog article by saying that the concept of "Confidence as an illusion" was given to me by a [supremely confident?] comic strip author... so don't expect lots of references to long-term studies and scientific measurements.The reality is that there are only two conditions you can be in. You can either have an accurate view of your own abilities or an inaccurate view. Confidence is similar to will power in the sense that neither of them exists and yet society is quite certain they do.
I'm not sure I agree that our view of our abilities is either "accurate" or "inaccurate". How do you measure the accuracy of our perceptions? Isn't that something that is subjective by nature? As Scott admits later in his article, it is often useful to be "inaccurate" in how you perceive your own abilities. For one thing, there are too many variables in any given situation to accurately predict with 100% certainty so we are always going to be inaccurate about our abilities to some degree. If it were possible to predict with 100% certainty, then where would the fun be in that?
Growth vs. Talent Mindset
It seems that Scott may have fallen into the "Talent mindset"which says that either you are good at something or you are not. If you fail at something, then don't bother trying again because you don't have the inate talent for it. The Growth mindset is very different. It says that any one outcome is simply an indication of how far you are along your progression to eventual success.
This is where confidence can play a key role. If you are using the Growth mindset and have failed in the past, your confidence can still be high since every outcome is simply feedback on your way to success.
Confidence is important because it gets you to TAKE ACTION. As a famous philosopher once said, "80% of success is just showing up" and confidence gets you to "show up". (I think it was said by Woody Allen.)
All members of Toastmasters understand the connection between good communication skills and performance at work, right?1) LoyaltyThe article goes on to say...
2) Honesty
3) Punctuality
4) Determination
5) Flexibility
6) Smart Appearance
7) Positive Outlook
8) Communication Skills
– Communication skills are key. Ensure your application and resume areIt is good to see that others are recognizing the importance of the skills that are developed by Toastmasters !
grammatically correct, ask a friend or family to look them over for you to help
catch any typos or errors. At interview think before you speak, choose your
words carefully and ensure they convey the message clearly. Don’t “um” and “ah”
– it is better to take a few seconds to compose an answer than to say something
stupid.
From (guest "blogger"):... 27-year-old museum curator turned a photo of her mother-in-law,
Sandra Whitfield, into the world's largest toast mosaic - comprising 9,852
slices.
Mrs Hadland roped in 40 friends to help her make the tribute, which she describes as 'a treat made with love and a sense of randomness'. ... The portrait, measuring 32ft 8in by 42ft 3in, set a new world record as the largest toast mosaic.
They used a battery of nine toasters to brown the slices of bread to varying degrees before arranging it to make the 32ft 8in by 42ft 3in picture at an arts venue in Mrs Whitfield's home town of Warrington, Cheshire.
After spending six hours painstakingly perfecting the image, Laura surprised her husband Mike's mother with the unusual portrait to celebrate her 50th birthday.
The enormous picture was confirmed yesterday as having set a new Guinness World Record as the largest toast mosaic.
Did you renew for 6 or 12 months?
I saw this online movie titled "Even Eagles Need a Push" and thought of Toastmasters...
Is your Toastmasters club like a Fitness club or a Successful Restaurant?The business model for your average mainstream gym revolves around automated monthly billing. ... New members sign up, often pay an up front fee, then agree to have their credit cards hit every month in advance. Depending on the contract, they may also agree to a minimum commitment (classically, a year) or a simple monthly payment structure. To end the monthly billing, a member must (a) wait until their commitment, if any, has run, then (b) send notice of termination by the precise channels laid out in the contract.
The alleged beauty of this model is that it shifts the burden of reselling and re-earning the membership fee away from the club and, instead, places the burden of termination on the member. Put another way, instead of the club having to resell members every month, the billing only stops when the member proactively says, “no more.”
Sounds like a killer business model, right?
But, here’s where it gets a bit ugly.
This same model also fosters:
* Widespread lack of innovation,
* Declining emphasis on remarkability and delight
* Exceptionally poor differentiation that requires non-stop aggressive marketing
* Uninspired, disengaged staff working for unsatisfactory pay, and
* A 40% annual drop-out that keeps the sales burden exceptionally high
Time to set goals for the year and plan for all the great Toastmasters events that are coming up in the next few months !
Did you know...
... that you can order just the evaluation guides from the CC
manual for only $1.95 ! Click here to order them from TI !
Did you know...
... that you can get credit towards a manual speech for any speech you do as part of the Tall Tales or International speech contests? It just needs to be evaluated in the manual by another Toastmaster !
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Have you thanked your club officers recently?
Seth Godin had a very short blog post (so short I pasted the whole thing below) about the future of Libraries....The future of the libraryWhat should libraries do to become relevant in the digital age?
We had a great turnout at the Toastmasters Leadership Exchange last Saturday (12/12) in Manchester, CT and a number of people took advantage of our video setup and created videos for the D53 YouTube Challenge .
District 53's
Karin von Kaenel was officially dubbed by the 2008-9 National Hobo Queen (and current Area A4 Governor) Carmine Coco DeYoung at the Area A4 speech contest on Wed. Sept.30th.
Karin also received a certificate (so she can hang something on the wall when she is out walking with the walking stick) !
EVALUATION CONTEST
First Place – Michael Cummings, Cartus Magnus
Second Place – Don Lococo, Socially Speaking
HUMOROUS CONTEST
First Place – Daniel Rapley, Wooster Heights
Second Place – Croix Sather, WestConn
Third Place – Belle Garafola, Barnum Square
Pictured below (l-r)...
Dan Rapley, Croix Sather, Belle Garafola, Michael Cummings
From left to right...Jim Sacco estimates that his son Josh has watched "Miracle," the film about the 1980 U.S. Olympic men's hockey team's legendary upset of the Soviets, nearly 150 times. Apparently, the movie has made quite an impression on the young fan. ...... No professional coaching. No fancy editing. No script, because Rizzo hasn't learned to read yet -- he was just 4 years old when his father filmed the speech earlier this year, making it all the more remarkable.
One of my favorite authors, Seth Godin, had a short but insightful blog post today titled, "If Craigslist cost $1" and since the deadline for submitting Toastmasters dues is Oct.1st, I thought it would be appropriate to share his key point ....Money creates a sort of friction. In the digital economy, magical things can happen when there is no friction. You can scale to infinity. On the other hand, sometimes you want friction.
If you lead a group that allows anyone to join, for free, your group might be large, but it's not tight, it's not organized to make important change. Commitment slows things down in the short run, but ultimately aligns interests.If your club still needs to submit dues, please do it today (or tomorrow). If you are using a credit or debit card, dues can be submitted by a club officer via www.Toastmasters.org. Just be sure to get them paid before the deadline of October 1st.
We have all seen it on TV... the interview on the courthouse steps with a million microphones all crammed in front of the attorney's face.Now, you just have to come up with some scenarios to serve up to your club members as TableTopics !Preparing your Message for the Interview
- Don’t talk to reporters without giving yourself time to prepare the message.
- Don’t dodge questions!
- Answer the question in eight seconds or less and bridge back to your main message for the next 25 seconds or so.
- If a reporter asks you a complex, detailed, five-part question, focus on answering the one question that leads you back to talking about your message points.
- When listening to a reporter’s question (and you must listen very carefully), don’t think about how your vast database of knowledge can provide 10,000 new facts to answer every nuance of the reporter’s question. Instead, focus on how you can honestly answer the question in a way that allows you to talk about one, two, or three of your message points.
- Remember, questions don’t matter. The subject matters.
Michelle Russell over at copyblogger.com wrote an interesting article about writing ... which could very easily be applied to your speech for the upcoming Humorous speech contest.... Write for yourself, edit for your readers ...1. Find the spine of your content and stick to it
2. Cut the first paragraph
3. Don’t over-spice your words
4. Watch out for “creep-in” words
5. Cut exaggerations
6. Find a more precise word
7. Reuse the leftovers
This Word of the Day comes from the Norwalk (CT) Toastmasters via their new Area Governor, Peggy Jean.— in·sou·ci·ant \in-ˈsü-sē-ənt, aⁿ-süs-yäⁿ\ adjective
— in·sou·ci·ant·ly \in-ˈsü-sē-ənt-lē\ adverb
