The Finish Line
District Officers, fellow toastmasters and Guests, how many of you did a review of your DCP and amend your action
plans after my talk at the Achiever's Day I ? There is only a few of you but you have a second chance to made amends today.
Human beings are creatures of habit and we are repeatedly what we do. Whatever attitude that we displayed in
handling toastmasters matters will inevitably be translated into our attitude in our own life. When somethings happen, you have
three choices a) let it define you b) let it destroy you or c) let it strengthened you.
a) Let it define you
The fear of failure is one factor that can define your life. Fear is False Evidence Appearing Real. It exist only
in your mind so do not let FEAR overwhelm you and put you out of action. You can use a little fear as a catalyst or stimulus to
propel your growth but remember it is not what we do not know that is preventing us from succeeding. It is what we know that is
preventing us.
b) Let it destroy you
Many people do not complete what they started. They quit the moment they encounter some difficulties. It
is very easy to quit but you are letting the difficulties destroy you. Nobody care whether you have a good headstart or how far
you go in your journey. They are only concern with who is the first person who cross the finish line. Winners never quit ;
Quitters never win. It is your choice to be a winner or quitter.
Thomas Edison is defeated many times before he discover the light bulb which illuminates our life. He is not
defeated but view it as having discover more than 1,000 ways "How not to discover the Light Bulb". The lesson we draw from
Thomas Edison is that "if we see the exact same event from a different perspective, we will see an entirely different level". A
man is not finished when he is defeated; He is finished when he quits. Do you still want to be a quitter ?
You need to believe in yourself.
You need to have faith in your abilities.
You do not need to be better than everybody else as
there is always someone better and smarter.
You only need be better than what you have done yesterday.
You can recognise your own talent, work hard on it and develop it into skills that can be used to accomplish your
goals.
You will also find that the only limitations, you will ever have are the ones you put on yourself.
c) Let the event strengthened you
When the storm comes, some people build walls and wait for the storm to pass. Others build Windmills to tap the
windpower and dances in the rain. We cannot control the wind but we can control the sail as it catches the wind. We need to set
the sail of our perspective and use the wind to move us forward towards our goal. If these goals are important to you, you will
find a way. If not, you will find excuses. The hardest things in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn. Your
journey in Toastmasters should be a bridge to cross and you need to do what you can, with what you have, whereever you are to
tap the full benefit of your toastmasters' experience.
You can be the best you can be as you are the creater of your own destiny.
If you believe you can, you probably can
If you believe you won't, you most assuredly won't
It is your life so take a shot at your dreams and make it into reality by using the events to strengthened
you.
You can live by Choice, not by Chance
You can make changes, not excuses
You can be motivated not manipulated
You can be useful, not useless.
Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiaism. Even if you are on the right track, you'll
get run over if you just sit there. The surest way not to fail is to be determine to succeed. I've always believe that if
you put in the hard work, the result will come. If you do things half heartedly, then you can expect half hearted results. If
you are going to doubt something, doubt your own limit in success. Life is too short to have a victim's mentality so say to
yourself that "I'm going to be better. I am going to let go of the past and embrace all that awaits me. "
You are born to win, remember, you beat millions other sperm to be the winner, But to be a winner, you must plan to
win, prepare to win and expect to win. Some people give up because they tend to look at how far they still have to go instead of
focusing how far they have gotten already. Division U Toastmasters, we have already accomplished about seventy over percent of our Division goals and is a
stone throw from the finish line. Let's ignite our fire again and exert more vigorous effort and cross the finish line with a
bang.
