Wednesday, February 18, 2009

The Smartest Thing I Ever Did...

There is a "meme" or recurring idea / topic floating around blogs on the internet about "The Smartest Thing I Ever Did..." and Div.E Governor, Croix Sather, forwarded me this link...
In his blog article, Thom Singer says ...

One Of The Smartest Things I Ever Did was....
....to join a Toastmasters club.

...I timidly attended my first meeting of the Balcones Toastmasters Club in Austin, Texas ....and discovered that I was not alone in my fears. Over the next few years I improved both my abilities and my confidence in delivering presentations.

What is the Smartest Thing you've ever done?

The smartest thing I've ever done (aside from joining Toastmasters which is obviously a "given") was probably getting married... but not for the reason you might think.

Some people may not know that I am currently divorced which makes it even stranger that I still consider getting married one of the smartest things I've ever done.

The reason is that, in hindsight, I can recognize that while the relationship with my wife was not always "easy", I definitely appreciate how much it made me grow as a person.

I have a better appreciation for the dynamics of relationships now. I can empathize with other people more than I did before. I have a clearer understanding of my own point of view and have even developed (a few) better habits as a result of my marriage.

Don't get the wrong idea. I'm definitely still a "work-in-process" and there were many reasons the relationship did not work out but I would not trade my marriage for anything.

How about you? What was the smartest thing you ever did?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Dave,
The smartest thing I ever did -
Continuing my education. Going back and finishing my degree, taking weekend intensive training seminars, and finding (even hiring) mentors. You can't get through life alone.
Glad you liked the link ... Croix