Many of us are familiar with the tale of The Tortoise and the Hare. The hare, fast as lightning, thinks that he has the race in the bag over the slow tortoise. The tortoise, making slow but consistent progress, eventually wins the race. I think of myself as a tortoise - I'm not fast but I move forward in a consistent manner, and learn new things along the way.
Not too long ago I was at a class in my gym, and the goal this particular workout was to complete as many sets as possible in a set amount of time. We had a new hare in class who was speeding through the workout and pretty soon he was huffing and puffing trying to catch his breath. Me, the tortoise, progressed at my usual slow but consistent pace. And guess what? Both the hare and I completed the same number of sets within the set time!
In my Toastmaster journey as well, I'm a tortoise - I may not speed through my speech projects or have ambitious goals to attain DTM within a short timeframe, but I am slowly moving forward and constantly improving. I'm also enjoying myself along the way - because learning should be fun!
The beauty of Toastmasters is that it's a self-paced program where you can go as slow or as fast as you like. I've been around Toastmasters long enough to see club members be like the hare and race through their first ten speeches and attain their CC award. But there are plenty of us tortoises, taking our time to attain our education goals. I personally think the tortoises have a better experience and tend to be in for the long haul.
Whether you choose to be a tortoise or a hare, Toastmasters will work for you - it's really all about you and how quickly you want to finish your journey. So, which are you? The tortoise or the hare?
Ana Ortega, ACB, ALB
Photo Credit: Elsita (Elsa Mora) via Compfight cc
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