Manual: Competent Communicator
Assignment: Speech #1 “The Ice Breaker”
Comments: It’s been almost 2 months since I joined the Toastmasters club in my area and today I gave my 1st speech – my icebreaker. As usual, I prepared for it in the 11th hour but I am glad I did it. I got encouraging reviews from my club members and I can’t wait to give my next one.
You know, preparing for this icebreaker was not an easy task. What is it about me that I would want you all to know. Who am I? What a tough question? I thought to myself: If I am a word in the dictionary, what would be the synonyms that define me? Hmmmm… lets see. Lazy, Stubborn, Selfish, Couch potato…. that wasn’t going anywhere.
Then I remembered. It struck me that this is not the first time that I have had to reflect back on my life and ask myself that question. So, I thought: Why not take this opportunity to talk about what happened on the day I turned 30.
The day I turned 30 I remember being so paranoid. Everyone around me said that I was experiencing a mid-life crisis. Maybe I was. I thought about the 30 years of my life that had gone by and I asked myself… What have I achieved? Did I make the right choices? What could I have done more? I thought about my experiences, the lessons I’ve learnt and the choices I’ve made. I didn’t have all the answers but I did not want to quit asking. So, I decided on May 12th of 2007 that I was going create a website to talk about my life through my experiences.
I’ve always wanted to collaborate with others. We are fortunate to live in a world where collaborating across borders, countries and continents is so easy. It is so easy to share thoughts. But what’s easy is not always done. The website is my way for us to collaborate.
I call my website lap31. Why? I am Formula 1 “Schumacher” fan and I also love driving. I’d like to think of life as a F1 race. We are the race car drivers trying to get to the checkered flag. Some of us are in the lead competing for a podium finish, some of us are falling behind, some of us are being lapped and some quit. lap31 is a pit stop, where we stop and analyze the laps we’ve completed; where we can talk about what we’ve achieved, what we’ve learnt, the choices we’ve made; where we prepare for the laps ahead… but are we ready to lead?
Today, lap31 is nearing a total of 2000 visits with an average of around 10 visits per day. It’s not a lot but it keeps my passion alive. I am the main contributor and being a Manager by profession, I write a lot about leadership, team motivation and global project management. Through my writing, I have been fortunate enough to meet a lot of bloggers out that who share my passion. I learn from them and they motivate me to continue writing.
I hope you have learnt something new about me today and I am glad I got this opportunity to talk about my passion.
Thank you for listening.
Did this post ignite a thought? Join us and mirror your thoughts on the 13apples facebook fan page.
Ahh! The spirit of competition and the desire to run after your passion is very prevalent in your writing.
I was able to envision the Ferrari team signaling Schumacher to make a pit stop to change tires and he ignores them and floors it. At the last minute he cuts in front of his opponent to win the checkered flag in the rain. Ferrari takes the Drivers Championship and the Constructors Championship once again.
Of course it looks fairly easy from the sidles, but it takes countless hours of work on each team member’s part to achieve this kind of success. That is were teamwork, collaboration, and vision are vital.
Congratulations on Lap31 from one Tifosi to another.