Do you remember the date your last received a Toastmaster’s Educational Award? Was it over six months ago since you received an Education Award? If so, then like me, you need to get back on the educational wagon.

Why We Fall

I got quite a shock this morning when I was looking up some information on the Toastmasters website. Looking at the Educational Award history, I discovered that it had been almost two years since I received my Competent Communicator and I was five speeches and two leadership projects away from my next educational awards.

I found myself contemplating the reasons I have been so slow to achieve my awards and it not was from my lack of attending meetings. I attend at least five meetings a month at three clubs, so I knew that was not my problem. So what was the problem?

Motivation and Opportunity

My failure came not from lack of attendance, but lack of focused attendance. The past few months, I had lost the motivation to move forward and didn’t take the time to look for opportunities to speak, organize events, and push myself to get the numbers I needed to get the awards. I abandoned the goals I had set for myself and needed to get back to what was important.

Getting Back on the Wagon

Like many of you, my professional career makes getting speeches completed tougher and tougher. However, if I want to succeed at being a better speaker, then I need to take the opportunities to speak whenever they are presented. For example, I have two speeches left to give in the Professional Speaker manual. To complete the speeches I:

1. Took a motivational speech I was working on for a class and adapted it for a club setting.
2. Am going to practice a technical keynote I have to give for the professional seminar.

With both of these events scheduled, I can now focus on getting though the last three projects in the Interpersonal Communications manual and finishing the last two projects in the Competent Leader manual.

Finding Motivation

For me the motivation is to set an example for a new club and a club struggling to achieve their goals. As President, it is my job to set the tone for the organization and drive people to find their own goals to achieve. Setting an example by completing my projects is motivation for me.

What would get you back on the wagon?

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