Page 5 - Voices! - September 2015

Keeping The Commitment and Meeting Goals

By Nathan Cook, ACB, Area 72 Director

We have all been there. Someone says, “Hey!
You would be an awesome Club President, VPPR, or VPM.”And so you say“Yes.” Maybe
it wasn’t even your Toastmasters club, maybe someone asked you to lead a project at
work and you said, “Yes.” Now you feel like you are in way over your head. If you feel
you’re in over your head, it doesn’t matter how deep the water goes.
What can we do to keep our commitment and meet the goals that we set
for ourselves? I offer three suggestions that helped me not only keep my
commitments and reach my goals, but surpass them.
Surround yourself with a good team. We always think that because we stepped up, that we are the only one
who can carry the load. Mother Teresa said it best, “You can do things I cannot, and I can do things you cannot, but
together, we can do great things”. When I first became president of my club, I was on fire! I believed I could do it all
and that I didn’t need a team. Within weeks I found myself getting burnt out and overwhelmed. Luckily for me, an
older member saw this happening and pulled me aside to tell me that I didn’t have to be a super hero, I just needed
to use the team that I had. Building that team around you will help you (as it has helped me) succeed and make the
journey far more pleasant.
Set stretch goals. Michelangelo said “The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss
it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” Think about your club goals as an example. Is your club trying to meet the
minimum number of people to be eligible for the Distinguished Club Program (DCP) or exceed that number? As the
Toastmasters year came to a close last year, I became worried by the number of people who were leaving my club.
They weren’t leaving because they didn’t like the club, some had schedule conflicts and most of them were moving
out of state. During this time, the thought occurred to me, “why am I trying to get by on the minimum requirement
for club membership?” This year my club is not only on track to meet our DCP goals; we are going to exceed them.
Consider setting a membership goal beyond the DCP and work to attain it. Personally, I like to aim high, so that if I
miss my high goals, I have already exceeded the “required” goal.
Don’t put off doing until tomorrow what you can do today. The key to keeping commitments and achieving
goals is in the daily routine. There are times that I wait so long to start that it’s too late to begin. Lucky for us, we are
still in the beginning portion of our Toastmaster year
and we still have time. Set a small goal for yourself
every day that will help you get closer to achieving
your big goals. That’s what I do, then I work at them
daily rather than trying to do everything at the last
minute.
There are many different, small actions we can do
to keep our commitments and to meet our goals,
but these are three that have helped me the most.
Whatever you decide to do, remember that you
don’t have to be great to get started, but you
do have to get started to be great. Start today
in keeping your commitments and don’t just meet
your goals, go all out and exceed them!

Volume 2 Issue 3 - SEPT 2015 5