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.: The Blogger :. No more a full-time student Is a fan of coffee Can be random at times, as you can see.
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.: Blog accolades :.
(SPH OMY The Y-bloggist 2009, 8th position)
.: The Past Stories :.
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Sunday, April 05, 2009"I'm young, so..." (OMY Ybloggist competition)
I could have spent the living hours of the day in town, walking around aimlessly. I could have been visiting clubs and bars every night during the weekends. I could have spent my free time at home surfing the internet aimless. Because I am young, so I have the prerogative to waste my youth away.
But that was never in my agenda. At the age of 20, I decided to embark on a new journey to improve my communication skills. That was how I got acquainted with the idea of Toastmasters. No, Toastmasters is not a place where you can show off your hidden talent in making great kaya toasts. It’s a place for you to learn skills pertaining to public speaking. We often hear people saying that one is never too old to start. Similarly, one is also never too young to start. Just 8 months after I joined as a toastmaster and 2 months shy of my 21st birthday, I was made the President of my toastmasters club. I am indeed fortunate to have a great team of EXCO members to work with, and a wonderful group of club members who did not judge me by my age though I was the youngest in the club then. They were the key ingredients for the fabulous one year I had in my capacity as the club President. At the same time while serving as club President, I was also elected as an Area Governor, and I had 4 additional Toastmasters clubs under my charge. You may wonder how I can juggle my time handling 5 Toastmasters clubs (4 in my area and my home club) on top of being a full-time undergraduate. While other youngsters spent their time clubbing, I spent most of my time “clubbing” too, in a different sense. I visited other Toastmasters clubs in Singapore as project speech evaluators, giving other toastmasters my two cents’ worth on their speeches and providing ideas for improvement for their further speeches. Some part of my time went to judging at Toastmasters speech competitions, at club, area and division level. I also visited the 4 clubs in my area and keeping regular contact with their respective club Presidents to ensure that the clubs are heading in the right direction! I was happy to have a fulfilling year in office as an Area Governor, having made new friends and learning a lot about effective leadership. Imagine my surprise when I was given the District 80 Area Governor of the Year award (for the term 2006 – 2007) among all the Area Governors in District 80 (consisting of all Toastmasters clubs in Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and Thailand). Never in my wildest dreams would I ever have imagined to clinch this great honour. It was no mean feat, but it wasn’t magic either. This proves the fact that “discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments”, quoting from Jim Rohn. If you ever felt that you’re too young to achieve something great, if you ever felt that you’re too young to do something big, if you ever felt that you’re too young to pursue an enormous goal, let that thought should be a thing of the past, a chapter in history.
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