It's about me!
After the new year, I went to my bosses and requested that someone else stay late at least once a week so that I could leave early to do something for me.
By leaving work 'early' I mean at 5:30pm instead of 6:30pm. I'd been volluntold to do the late shift for the last 1.5 years since our second major client started working in our office and demanding to have the office open until 6pm. The rest of the office leaves at 5pm. It takes about 15-20 minutes to actually get the client out the doors.
My request was granted and I get to leave 'early' on Tuesdays. I decided to join Toastmasters (http://www.toastmasters.org/).
Years ago, I had taken a Dale Carnegie course (he wrote the book "How to win friends and influence people"), to help me with the speaking skills and it helped a lot. I was hoping that Toastmasters would help me build on my small talk aka networking skills. What I'm finding is it is helping me with Leadership skills.
I am only 7 weeks into it, but I'm learning how a professional meeting is run, and how to interact with others in a professional setting. The club I joined is very positive and upbeat. I love how supportive they are, and even when someone does something wrong, it's brought up in a way that everyone can learn from it.
There is structure to it, when you join you get two books containing 10 projects each to complete. One book is about your speeches, learning how to write and present, getting comfortable with public speaking. The other book is about leadership, and learning skills.
It has been years since I've had an extra-curricular activity, and I am enjoying the interactions so much. We have a diverse group of people from 70 years old down to teenagers. I look forward to it every week. I've completed two speeches and already won an award for best speech of the night.
Adding Toastmasters into my life, has kept me busier than before. There is time researching, and writing my talks, then practising. I usually practise while walking Fergus, he's usually zooming around and doesn't look twice while I talk to myself. :)
Friends, my life is busy, but very satisfying.
By leaving work 'early' I mean at 5:30pm instead of 6:30pm. I'd been volluntold to do the late shift for the last 1.5 years since our second major client started working in our office and demanding to have the office open until 6pm. The rest of the office leaves at 5pm. It takes about 15-20 minutes to actually get the client out the doors.
My request was granted and I get to leave 'early' on Tuesdays. I decided to join Toastmasters (http://www.toastmasters.org/).
Years ago, I had taken a Dale Carnegie course (he wrote the book "How to win friends and influence people"), to help me with the speaking skills and it helped a lot. I was hoping that Toastmasters would help me build on my small talk aka networking skills. What I'm finding is it is helping me with Leadership skills.
I am only 7 weeks into it, but I'm learning how a professional meeting is run, and how to interact with others in a professional setting. The club I joined is very positive and upbeat. I love how supportive they are, and even when someone does something wrong, it's brought up in a way that everyone can learn from it.
There is structure to it, when you join you get two books containing 10 projects each to complete. One book is about your speeches, learning how to write and present, getting comfortable with public speaking. The other book is about leadership, and learning skills.
It has been years since I've had an extra-curricular activity, and I am enjoying the interactions so much. We have a diverse group of people from 70 years old down to teenagers. I look forward to it every week. I've completed two speeches and already won an award for best speech of the night.
Adding Toastmasters into my life, has kept me busier than before. There is time researching, and writing my talks, then practising. I usually practise while walking Fergus, he's usually zooming around and doesn't look twice while I talk to myself. :)
Friends, my life is busy, but very satisfying.