Page 13 - voices-2023-04

Coach Wooden's Keys to Success
Lorri Andersen, DTM - District 7 Director
believed it was sometimes necessary to sacrifice
personal glory for the team." [1]
How does this apply to Toastmasters? Our
clubs are our teams and when individuals come
together in unity to achieve a result, trust can be
built. Learning to trust and become trustworthy is
invaluable to learn.
Cooperation: Sharing is key to success. Coach
Wooden had an interesting explanation on this key
foundation. "No person is an island. Working with
others from a place of generosity—sharing wisdom,
sharing ideas, sharing inspiration." One of the
[1]
wonderful things I experience in Toastmasters is the
generosity of sharing time and help. Every leader
I have talked with has said the very same thing,
"please let me know if I can help." I appreciated that
so much! The only way I can repay that generosity
is to in turn do the same. Giving allows those things
that a person is working toward to come faster. Learn
to work from a place of generosity.
Enthusiasm: "Success requires commitment over
long periods of time, commitment with enthusiasm and
an eagerness and passion towards pursuing your goals."
[1] This key building block is what is needed when
hard work becomes really hard work. It's hard to
stay enthusiastic when the project or work takes a
long time or is strenuous. Strenuous work isn't always
physical. It can be mental as well. Perhaps you have
promised you will work on a PR promotion for
your club, give a speech, or
finish a membership campaign
by a certain date. Sometimes just knowing that you
have to do something can feel strenuous. If you
can take each person's small achievement as an
accomplishment, share this enthusiasm with your
team, and allow yourself to be happy, the work that
needs to be done will feel lighter and not as difficult
to carry or accomplish.
As I mentioned, there are three more layers and
the top pinnacles of success techniques layered over
the foundation. I encourage you to research the
rest for yourself. When you are done, you will see
how these blocks contribute toward the success of
yourself personally and to the success of your team.
As you can see, we can use Coach John Wooden's
success factors as we learn and grow in Toastmasters.
I continue to learn and refine these key ingredients
every day. It is the combination and the working
of them that will make us successful. I encourage
you to take the time to study them and teach them
to others. These key ingredients have been shared
with me by my mentors. Of course, we aren’t going
to learn them all at once, but we can certainly strive
to do better today than we did yesterday. Let’s work
on these principles as we journey together.
[1] ( 2022,Goalcast https://www.goalcast.com/pyramid-of-success/ )
VOICES! | MARCH 2023 13