On August 26th, 2010, at 5:30pm I thought of making a phone call that I'll probably regret for the rest the week. I thought of calling Debra Bradley, our contest chair for the Humorous & Evaluation Contest that I won't be able to make it for the Contest.
I arrived 25 mins late but lucky me, the Humorous Contest that I've signed up for only began the 2nd half of the meeting. After the first 2 speakers presented, I went on and presented my Humorous Speech, a speech that I prepared about 2 hours before the meeting, including the driving time from Foster City to downtown San Francisco.
When I was at the Club, I felt so bad... and that the thoughts came up .. "Wish I had more time..... "
The winner was announced and "Yes!!", I'm the CHAMPION at my Club Contest!! I thought of winning many times in my mind, but I never thought that I could make it this time cos of 2 hours preparation!!
Nevertheless, I made it. The lesson learned, never prepare last minute!! I promised my Club, I will make a better speech for the Area Contest.
But... frankly, 80% of winning attitude is to show up at the Contest. Am I the best speaker at the Club? No... definitely not and far from it!! 2 other speakers who had signed up, pulled out and few other International Speakers participants, did not enrolled in the contest. Regardless of what the reasons are, by merely showing up at the contest (despite late :)), I'm, already a winner, so as other speakers that evening.
But the other thing I realized, is that it is not 2 hours of preparation that got me to win the contest. It's the hours and hours of preparation I've spent when I started my Toastmasters Journey way back in 2003. I remembered spending 12 hours preparing for my 1st speech, 8 hours for my 2nd speech and countless hours attending Club meetings after meetings..... that eventually pay-off.
Every time we invest time in learning something... we are putting money in our Bank. So, don't think of time wasted and no return. It's an upfront cost that will yield tremendous benefit in the long run.
While there are still a lot more I could learned and improved on my communication skills, I now feel, I appreciate more of the hard works that had been put in.
Being an Asian, with thick Asian-accent and winning a Humorous Contest in United States is no laughing matter. Today, I pat my shoulder and say..... "I deserved a rest".
If you have did something, no matter how big or small it is... pad your back and tell yourself "You deserved it!!"
Tomorrow I'm heading off to Santa Barbara for my Triathlon Race on Saturday. This will be my first official triathlon (1 mile swim, 33 miles bike and 9 miles run).
Here is my 1st speech at Golden Gate Toastmaster Club.
Kian
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
Crunch Make Me Cry
Howdy!!
Hope all is going well. It had been a while since I blog. But there are soo.... much going on in life that I forget that I need to "pause" and take a look at myself. Perhaps, some reflection of my life!! :)
It was sometime last week, I walked into "The Republic", a classic American bar & grill located at the prime Marina district in San Francisco. I was there with the meetup group, where Suzanna & Erin shared their thoughts on "Story Telling.... How To Market Yourself". I'd not only benefited from the 2 hours experience but I also bumped into Brianna & Vinny, 2 of my TNT team mates during Winter Season.
Everything in lifes happen for a reason, and there is something bigger that brought me to this event. In this event, I was introduced to Stephanie's "Breathwork" session at The Crunch, a crunchy & sporty gym outlet located at Union Street.
The next Saturday, I got myself a "FREE" pass and went for Stephanie's 45 mins breathwork session. I don't even know why I was there for!!
There....... I had a breakthrough!! A pretty amazing breakthrough, I would say!!
With only 2 steps breathing techniques for 45 mins, I was vibrating on the floor of the studio. The feeling of vibration and being electrocutes on my fingers, palms, arms and then my thighs. When I continued the breathing technique, I felt I breath even harder and tears started to flow down my cheeks... In less than few seconds, I was crying like a baby on the airplane.
No joke, it just came!! I don't even know why I'm crying!! Both my hands and legs were vibrating and I could totally feel them lifting off the floor.
But, why the vibrations? As I understand, the more I breathed, the more oxygens I took in. Therefore, the cells in my body started to spins and created the vibration effect.. think it's called "Energy"!!!!
But, why do I cry? :( ...... Until the last few minutes of the session, I realized, why I'm crying. :) I remembered during the session, I asked myself this question.
Why do I cry? And I responded to myself. I now know why I cried. Once I realized it, my tears kept pouring down my cheeck and I was sobbing!! :(
Then, I started asking myself the 2nd question. Does this matter to me 5 years or 10 years from now?
In that moment, I stopped crying, and my breathing regain it normalcy. I started to calm down.... It took me extra 10-15 mins before I opened my eyes and slowly walked out of the studio. I chatted with Stephanie and other breathworkers and we all shared our experiences. It was an amazing experience!!
I was more focussed and I can feel my mind clearer after the session.
Hhmmm.... isn't this amazing?!? But, what does this means to you
With no expectation, from a networking event, I met 2 friends, whom I had never met since our last training and to a totally unrelated, breathwork session.
Since, I have such a wonderful experience, I will re-visit Crunch Gym again this week. Who knows, what's the next "breakthrough" or "emotions" I'll have this very next time.
Perhaps, you should also give it a try. If you're curious of what breathwork is all about..... you can google it or if there's a Crunch near your place, you can check out if they have the same session. Get a FREE pass and visit www.crunch.com.
Who know's, this might be your next breakthrough!! :)
Have a splashing week!!
Kian
Hope all is going well. It had been a while since I blog. But there are soo.... much going on in life that I forget that I need to "pause" and take a look at myself. Perhaps, some reflection of my life!! :)
It was sometime last week, I walked into "The Republic", a classic American bar & grill located at the prime Marina district in San Francisco. I was there with the meetup group, where Suzanna & Erin shared their thoughts on "Story Telling.... How To Market Yourself". I'd not only benefited from the 2 hours experience but I also bumped into Brianna & Vinny, 2 of my TNT team mates during Winter Season.
Everything in lifes happen for a reason, and there is something bigger that brought me to this event. In this event, I was introduced to Stephanie's "Breathwork" session at The Crunch, a crunchy & sporty gym outlet located at Union Street.
The next Saturday, I got myself a "FREE" pass and went for Stephanie's 45 mins breathwork session. I don't even know why I was there for!!
There....... I had a breakthrough!! A pretty amazing breakthrough, I would say!!
With only 2 steps breathing techniques for 45 mins, I was vibrating on the floor of the studio. The feeling of vibration and being electrocutes on my fingers, palms, arms and then my thighs. When I continued the breathing technique, I felt I breath even harder and tears started to flow down my cheeks... In less than few seconds, I was crying like a baby on the airplane.
No joke, it just came!! I don't even know why I'm crying!! Both my hands and legs were vibrating and I could totally feel them lifting off the floor.
But, why the vibrations? As I understand, the more I breathed, the more oxygens I took in. Therefore, the cells in my body started to spins and created the vibration effect.. think it's called "Energy"!!!!
But, why do I cry? :( ...... Until the last few minutes of the session, I realized, why I'm crying. :) I remembered during the session, I asked myself this question.
Why do I cry? And I responded to myself. I now know why I cried. Once I realized it, my tears kept pouring down my cheeck and I was sobbing!! :(
Then, I started asking myself the 2nd question. Does this matter to me 5 years or 10 years from now?
In that moment, I stopped crying, and my breathing regain it normalcy. I started to calm down.... It took me extra 10-15 mins before I opened my eyes and slowly walked out of the studio. I chatted with Stephanie and other breathworkers and we all shared our experiences. It was an amazing experience!!
I was more focussed and I can feel my mind clearer after the session.
Hhmmm.... isn't this amazing?!? But, what does this means to you
With no expectation, from a networking event, I met 2 friends, whom I had never met since our last training and to a totally unrelated, breathwork session.
Since, I have such a wonderful experience, I will re-visit Crunch Gym again this week. Who knows, what's the next "breakthrough" or "emotions" I'll have this very next time.
Perhaps, you should also give it a try. If you're curious of what breathwork is all about..... you can google it or if there's a Crunch near your place, you can check out if they have the same session. Get a FREE pass and visit www.crunch.com.
Who know's, this might be your next breakthrough!! :)
Have a splashing week!!
Kian
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