Toastmasters Inspiration Speech – Personal Development – Stretch Yourself

Personal development is lot like a rubber band.

It can stretch us,

it can propel us to distances we could not imagined

but only if we don’t let ourselves get pulled back.

 

Have you ever tried to take on a new habit?

Have you ever tried to stretch yourself and do something a bit crazy?

Like learning a new language, training to run a marathon, or joining toastmasters? Have you ever said to yourself,’I’m going to go on a new fitness regime, and I’m going to buy this Ab Pro Master and workout everyday for 3 months until I have 6 pack abs’.

What usually happens?

After only a week or two you no longer use it, and you must put up with it’s hurtful evil glares as you pass by it in the lounge room until one day in a KFC induced frenzy of guilt and self loathing you do the only sane solution and pick it up and that is to put it away in the shed where it stays to this day!

Or is that just me?

 

Like a rubber band we all start from a neutral position until one day we have an urge or an desire to be somewhere or do something we have n’t done before. Lose weight, get fit, be nicer. We start making an effort, we initially feel good and the rubber band starts to stretch. Propelled by our progress, we lift a few more weights, give a few more toast master talks, and talk to some new clients and the rubber band stretches some more.

 

Until we get to this stage – you and the rubber band are fully stretched.

It’s at this point, at this moment of tension and exertion any 1 of 2 things can happen.

 

The first thing that usually happens is that life happens or people start saying

‘Why are you trying so hard? Have a break, have a Kitkat.

Lets go out drinking… careful you might fail and look like a fool.’ And if others don’t say it we say it to ourselves. And slowly the weight of life, others, and our lack of discipline weigh us down, dragging us back until the rubber band relaxes and we return back to neutral position.

 

Or secondly, we take charge of life, we don’t heed the naysayers and we tell the voice inside to ‘sit down, shut up and hang on for the ride’ and we allow our goals, our dreams our new habits to pull us up, and we enjoy the fruits of our efforts.

 

But you can only do this if you have a big enough WHY.

 

Without a big enough WHY you’re like a rocket ship without enough fuel and gravity will pull you back down to earth. With a big enough WHY you can burst through the stratosphere!

By stretching ourselves and using the tension we created we allow ourselves to arrive to a new place.

 

And if we keep doing this, stretching and allowing our goals to pull us forward. Stretching and moving forwards until one day,

you wake up a different person, in a different place in a different world.

Not that anything has changed but because you have.

And that is what makes all the difference.

 

So tonight, decide to be like a rubber band –

and go stretch yourself!