James C. Collins once said, “Discipline is consistency of action,” a sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with. Creating new habits that form the bedrock of your daily life isn’t easy, but once established, they can be life-changing.
My journey as a Toastmasters member since 2017 exemplifies this idea. Reflecting on my early days, I realize I wasn’t as disciplined or intentional as I should have been. Being part of the Tottenham Speakers, which meets every Monday evening, I initially struggled to adapt when my schedule changed. It wasn’t until early this year that I decided to take my commitment seriously.
Looking back, I was meandering through life without discipline or clear goals. I wasn’t delivering speeches every two weeks, nor did I practice consistently. Many globally recognized speakers perfect their speeches over time, often taking what could be in some cases a year to refine a single presentation. This behind-the-scenes effort involves constant adjustments, adding humor, or crafting a compelling call to action. I, on the other hand, was mediocre and lacked dedication.
In 2024, I made a pivotal decision: either commit fully to my speaking journey or give it up. Choosing to commit transformed my approach. I changed clubs to one that meets on Thursday mornings at 7:00 am, forcing myself to engage weekly. I began practicing the same speech multiple times until it became a winning piece I could rely on. My goal is now sharply focused on becoming an inspiring and motivational speaker.
This commitment has clarified my speaking plan. I now practice every two weeks, incorporating teleprompters to get comfortable with reading from a moving screen, and delving deeper into the art of speaking—from vocal variety to facial expressions. This journey has been challenging but rewarding, underscoring the importance of discipline and consistent action.
When I asked myself, “Am I going to commit to my speaking journey or not?” it was a black-and-white decision that has positively impacted other areas of my life. Now, I am clear about what I want and am dedicated to the process of achieving it, understanding that it requires continuous effort behind the scenes.
My ultimate goal is to command the hearts and minds of others as a speaker. Through discipline and consistent action, I am making progress. James C. Collins was right, and I believe mastering anything requires this level of dedication.
Three Top Tips from My Personal Experience:
Be Open to Being Vulnerable:
Allow yourself to be vulnerable in Toastmasters meetings. Embrace mistakes, fumble through table topics, and strive to improve your speech planning and delivery. Consistently practicing, whether online or in front of a camera, is crucial. Being okay with looking silly is the start of mastery. Don’t control everything or take yourself too seriously; let go and become great!
Schedule Time to Practice:
Mastery comes with practice, which often highlights what we don’t know. This can feel overwhelming but signifies progress. Without practice, improvement is impossible. What isn’t scheduled doesn’t get done. Just 20 minutes a day can make a difference—time you might otherwise waste.
Push Yourself Outside of Your Comfort Zone:
I constantly challenge yourself. When I joined my new club, I committed to speaking every other week. While I didn’t always want to, this commitment prevented me from coasting along. By pre-scheduling my speaking dates, I forced myself to rise to the occasion. The joy and sense of accomplishment after each meeting are milestones of discipline and consistent action. As a results-oriented person, I need to see growth, no matter how small, every day—small steps lead to big achievements.
My vision is to inspire and motivate people to achieve more.
Start your journey today and commit to consistent action.
Title: Public Speaking
James C Colins says that “Discipline is consistency of action”.
I tend to agree creating new habits that become the bedrock of your daily life is not easy to install but once you do its life changing. For me I have been a Toastmasters member since 2017, and during this time on reflection I was not as disciplined or intentional then I should have been, well being a part of Tottenham Speakers we meet every Monday evening and when my schedule changed, I never really got around to dealing with it until early this year and so fast forward 12 months.
Looking back I was wondering leisurely through my life and what I mean by that is that I was not disciplined with doing my speeches every two weeks nor did I have a clear goal on what I wanted to achieve, nor did I have the consistency to practice the speeches I was developing and if you think about it some of the best globally recognised speakers have perfected their speeches and what people don’t know is that one speech could have taken them a year to prefect, we don’t see the work that went into that million view TedTalk but it was probably consistent trial and error adjusting the title of the speech, adding in some guaranteed jokes or adding a profound call to action to motivate or add a persuasive agreement.
So, there I was mediocre and not giving it my all and then this year in 2024 I said to myself, I am either going to comment and do my speaking or I am going to call it a day and after making this decision to commit to my speaking journey I have not looked back and my speaking career continues after a year of paying for Toastmasters and not doing anything about it (who can relate!) I decided to change clubs so that I could commit to the process of weekly meetings on a Thursday morning at 07:00am, I then committed to practising the same speech multiple times until it became a winning speech I could catalogue for whenever I needed it and my goal is razor sharp to become a better inspiring and motivational speaker.
I am glad that I decided to commit myself to this process because now I am clear on my speaking plan every 2 weeks, and I am working on implementing my practice into using teleprompters to get more comfortable with reading from a moving screen and to delve even deeper into the art of speaking from vocal variety to facial expressions and to using the frame that we use on screens.
It’s been a challenging but rewarding time for me but one that has been pivotal when I challenge myself with the question of “Am I going to commit to my speaking journey or not” and it was that black or white and it has done me well to ask this question across any parts of my life and I am now finally becoming clear about what I want and committing to the process of getting it and it takes work in the background.
My goal is to become a speaker that is able to command the hearts and minds of others and happily I am getting stronger in this area because it takes discipline and consistent action and so James C Colins was right, and I would also go as far to say it is essential if you want to master anything.
I have 3 top tips from my personal experience:
Be open to being vunerable:
I allow myself to be vunerable at my toastmaster’s meetings, I allow myself to make mistakes, to fumble my way through table topics and to become better at planning my speeches but also being disciplined and consistent at practising my speeches either online or in front of a camera, being OK with looking silly is the start to mastery, don’t control everything and don’t take yourself too serious just let go and become great!
Schedule time to practise:
With practise comes mastery and learning sometimes highlights what we don’t know, and it always feels like a long list of things still needed to learn but this means and shows progress but without practise we can not improve and as we know what is not on the calendar does not get done. Just 20mins is all you need to start; I am sure you waste that time doing something else – hmmham
Push your self outside of your comfort zone:
I do this all the time so I can demonstrate it this way that as soon as I started with my new club I wanted to “Well I knew I needed to” speak every other week, do I want to speak every other week – not really, could I just coast along like I mentioned above and just make up the numbers well yes I could but will I be a better speaker No and so I push myself to make myself uncomfortable and I pre plug in all my speaking dates to force myself to rise to the occasion but I am glad I did because the sense of joy of accomplishment that I feel after each meeting is a milestone of discipline while consistently taking action, it makes me happy and because I am a results oriented person I love to see progress in my life and it does not have to be big but I need to see growth each and every day.. small steps to big places.
My vision is to inspire and motivate people to achieve more but you start your journey today!
