Look what I learned

I was thinking about a college class I took when I learned to speak publicly for the first time. I know it was required in earlier schooling too, but I would hardly call what I did then "learning", unless the lesson was how to blush down to your neck, stammer, have stomach cramps and wet your pants. What struck me was how easy it became when I perceived it not as a "report" or a "speech", but to simply tell a group about something you already know. This would be more of a presentation, but it taught us, well me, how to speak up, use visual aids, and finish with Q and A. My breakthrough speech was "how to saddle a horse". With very little preparation we were to stand up and explain our "expertise". I thought people would be bored with what I thought was a simple task, but it turned out, because I knew something that others didn't know yet, I could use big words like pommel and latigo to establish legitimacy and to hold their attention, used a step by step explanation because, after all, you have to do the saddling in a precise order unless you want to be kicked or subsequently fall off, and when it was done does anyone have any questions and sure enough they did! I was empowered! I learned the lesson of public speaking again out of college and worked for a temp agency that put me on with ATT wireless in the early days of cellular phones. I found while selling a contract and a 'free' phone, that what I was simply doing was explaining something to them that they didn't already know, and when they felt like they were empowered with the knowledge, they were ready to sign up. The simpler and clearer I could make it, using the big words but also guiding them to know and use them too, the faster the sale. And the smoother the speech goes. And the more people learn.

Success Defined

To laugh often and love much;

to win the respect of intelligent people

and the affection of children;

to earn the appreciation of honest critics

and to endure the betrayal of false friends;

to appreciate beauty;

to find the best in others;

to leave the world a bit better,

whether by a healthy child,

a garden path

or a redeemed social condition;

to know even one life

has breathed easier because of you


Thanks and thoughts go out to the Ray and Hall families who have lost a loved one, Becky Hall, to cancer at 63. I knew her when she was young and I was younger, but I felt I knew her so much more after attending her funeral, by all those that stood and spoke of her from so many facets of her life. I couldn't help but peek into my own passing and envision who might be there and what they might say about me.  I would be honored to be able to say that I checked off this list of success without hesitation.