I Did It Again

I won another speaking contest in Toastmasters. This time, I am competing in Toastmasters’ annual Inspirational Speaking Contest. This competition, much like the Humorous Speech Contest, starts at the club level and goes to Area, Divisional, District, Semifinal and culminates in the World Championship of Public Speaking at the International Convention in August. I have some video of my qualifying speech, but I won’t post it here because I’d like to wait until I compete in the Area contest first. Speaking of which, the Area contest is this weekend.

My speech topic was on failure, and why it is not a bad thing. Too many people are afraid of failure, of being thought of as a failure, that they never venture out of their comfort zone. They worry that their failures will define them. But history is filled with a great many famous failures. I speak about Abraham Lincoln, who failed at running a business, failed in the military and lost twelve different elections prior to being elected President. I discuss Walt Disney, who was fired from his job at a newspaper because the editor thought he “lacked creativity.” I discuss Michael Jordan who, in his own words, “failed over and over and over again.” Did you know that Jordan wasn’t even picked to be on his high school’s varsity team? His coach told him that he wasn’t talented enough!

Failing is not a bad thing. It happens to everyone and so long as you learn from that failure, you can build on it in your next venture. Often, I see people afraid to make a decision or stick their neck out for fear of failure. However, would they only take that first step, they might find out that even if they do fail, they are even closer to their goals. A failure in the right direction is still getting you closer to your goal, even if you fail.

I challenge you, reader, go out there today and fail. For it may well bring you closer to success.