Toastmasters is a great place to…

• Learn how to speak in public.
• Gain leadership skills
• Train for a job interview
• Find a mentor
• Gain valuable evaluations

When you join a local Toastmasters club, you will receive a competent communicators manual in the mail along with a leadership manual and a subscription to Toastmasters magazine. The Basic CC manual includes 10 speeches, laid out in order to help you gain skills covering the fundamental skills of public speaking. The speeches are

1. The Ice Breaker
2. Organize Your Speech
3. Get to the Point
4. How To Say It
5. Your Body Speaks
6. Vocal Variety
7. Research Your Topic
8. Get Comfortable with Visual Aids
9. Persuade With Power
10. Inspire Your Audience

When you have completed the first ten speeches, you receive a competent communicator certificate from Toastmasters, and certainly have gained a substantial knowledge of public speaking. I personally have seen amazing transformations, many from fearful to confident over the series.

Unfortunately, many people complete the basic manual and feel like they have received a good education and then leave the organization. Some people stay on for a while longer, going through some of the advanced manuals. But so many people are unaware of a hidden secret. One that is sometimes mentioned but often ignored.

It’s a powerful secret.

And often a life changing one.

Yet it goes unheeded by the majority of members.

This hidden secret is simple…

There is a whole different Toastmasters organization outside the local club.

There are speech contests

There are leadership Institutes

There are District conferences

There is an International Convention

Once you get outside the club a whole new world of opportunities awaits.

Once I discovered the outside events, I decided to take part. I have participated in speech and evaluation contests, weekend training seminars, and district conference events. Through these I have heard an array of amazing speakers, and learned many things that you wouldn’t hear in a standard club meeting.

If you are in Toastmasters, make sure to check out the district events in your area. If you haven’t discovered Toastmasters yet, now you know there is much more to the organization than just the local meeting.

Question: Have you ever been to a Toastmasters Meeting?

1. Membership in Toastmasters International. For around $75 you can sign someone up for a 6 month membership at their local Toastmaster’s club. This includes their first time member kit which includes the competent communicator manual and lots of materials to get them started. Toastmasters is a great place to learn public speaking as well as a place to get involved in leadership.

Toastmasters will give your recipient the skills and confidence they need to effectively express themselves in any situation. By learning to formulate and convey their ideas, they can discover a whole new world of possibilities. They will be more persuasive and confident when giving presentations and they will improve their one-on-one dealings with others.

Membership in Toastmasters can be a great gift for job seekers, leadership professionals, salespeople, and anyone looking for leadership or presentation experience. To find a club near you, use the meeting locations tool. The local club will be able to answer your questions about time, location, and membership costs.

2. Personal MBA. While traditional MBA programs cost thousands of dollars and take years to complete, you can give the gift of a Personal MBA for very little money. The Personal MBA program was developed by Josh Kaufman as an alternative way to get a business education without the huge expense of traditional programs. While the PMBA doesn’t provide a paper degree, it does offer a great education utilizing the latest business and leadership books and resources.

Some books offer tools; processes or actions that can be applied immediately to improve life and work. Others offer ideas; help in envisioning what businesses are capable of becoming. All of them offer mental models; useful ways of thinking about the world that can be used with advantage advantage in a wide variety of situations.

The best way to give this gift is to sign up for the free book summaries and newsletter and give Josh’s best selling book as a gift. You can also peruse the list of  popular books to add to your gift list and customize the present in a personal way for your recipient.

Some popular books to get you started…

Getting Things Done by David Allen

Brain Rules by John Medina

Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini

3: Audio Books. While the Personal MBA offers a great way to get a business education through reading books, you may find you don’t have enough time to actually read them. A great alternative is to LISTEN to them while commuting or exercising using Audio books. Audible.com offers a great way to download and listen to them on your iPod, iPad or other MP3 player.

To give this gift you might want to choose from one of Audible’s membership programs. To give you an idea of how to use these books, take a look at some of our book reviews from our sister blog, MBA on the Run

Some of my all time favorite listens are…

Your Brain at Work by David Rock

Start With Why by Simon Sinek

Change Anything by Joseph Grenny and others

Overall: Giving one of the items above will help your recipient improve their skills and knowledge which can have positive ramifications far beyond the gift.

Question: What personal development gift would you like to receive?

He knew how to focus.

He knew how to say no to mundane ideas and focus on the best.

His ideas were revolutionary… not evolutionary.

He could take a hundred competing ideas and pick one, just one, to focus on and run with.

He could see what we couldn’t see.

He could envision the future.

He could see us holding a new product in our hands, the shiny screen glowing with light. He could hear the music playing, and see the data flowing, and see the millions of smiles around the world that would be fascinated by its function.

He would stand on a stage, year after year, and show us new things.

He would share our amazement at devices so well crafted, and so easy to use, that they just “worked.” You didn’t have to go back to school, or take a class, you just had to know how to swipe, or drag, or point with your finger.

From the early Macintosh, to the iPod, iPhone and iPad, he thought differently.

While his competitors were telling everyone that it couldn’t be done, Steve showed the world how to do it.

Focus on wow,

Focus on excellence,

Focus on one thing at a time, and make it the best it can be.

Steve said the following…

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you have to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the 100 other good ideas there are. You have to pick carefully.”

Steve did that, and we are all a little bit better off for it.

I for one will miss you Steve. I will miss your roll outs, your speeches, and that little twinkle in your eye that represented the joy and fun you got showing us the cool things your technology could do.

I’m learning how to focus. To put the best ahead of the good. To say no to the mundane and yes to the brave new crazy ideas that are out there.

Thanks for the courage, Steve, to be different. To take a chance. To be a little bit crazy and to create something new and delightful.

Thanks for showing us the way. Rest in peace.

Michael Hyatt has a great post on his blog about tracking numerous delegated assignments. He lists four solutions that he has used including a Moleskine journal, e-mail folders, e-mail tasks and a dedicated task manager. While I have tried all four of these, I usually find myself resorting to a paper based solution.

Michael listed some things he looks for when delegating a task or project. They include

1. Assign the task to one person
2. Articulate a specific outcome
3. Include your delivery timetable
4. Be available for consultation
5. Track the delegated task on a to-do list

With his list in mind, I created a paper based project delegator in MS-Word. It’s a simple to use template that allows you to track start and end dates, who you delegated the project to, and list specified outcomes. It also allows you to track questions that need to be answered and also list specific facts or specifications that need to be included in the project.

Here is how it works…

On the project sheet you write down the project title, the start and end dates, who the project was assigned to, and the description of the tasks. If the tasks are to-do items put a number in the status column. If items need more research, a question mark will alert you that you need to follow up for answers. If a specific fact or specification needs to be followed, use an asterisk to make sure the task is completed to specification.

Each sheet can hold 6 projects and works well with our daily top six sheet. Just keep the project sheet on your desk under your daily sheet and refer to it as necessary. It’s simple and also has a place to check off projects as they are completed.

I’ve included both common versions of MS Word as well as a PDF file for your convenience. You can download the free template below. Enjoy!

Project Delegator Zip File:

These positions require the person to facilitate outcomes for the leader. The tasks may include creating presentations, training staff, and balancing budgets. While the leader is focused on where the company is going, the facilitator is focused on how to get there.

In the blog-o-sphere there are many blogs dedicated to the leadership role. Leadership is a tough job, and I’ve learned a tremendous amount about the position through posts from some of the best leaders in the business.

Some great leadership blogs are…

Michael Hyatt

John Maxwell

Tom Peters

But what about a blog focused on the facilitators?

This is the focus I want to take with Success Begins Today.

A blog that has the tools to make things happen with time management tips to get projects done on time. A blog that deals with goal setting, personal development, and working with the latest technology.

They say that the definition of leadership is to turn around and see if anyone is following you. If you don’t have followers behind you but instead have a list of projects in front of you, then this blog is for you.

This is the place where you’ll find tools to save you time, organize your projects, and help you with the latest technology.

This is a place for the facilitators.

This is a place where things get done.

As we go forward here at Success Begins Today, I want to offer tools, strategies, and training to help facilitators get done earlier, better, and with less stress.

A place where the focus is on solving problems and moving forward.

Let’s get started…

The software is so complicated, overarching, and slow, that they had to shut the program down in February for two months to tune up its performance. The initial deadline for the first round of data is now over six months behind, and things are not looking much better for the future.

They are now adding more complexity, more bureaucracy, and more rules to try and make it all work. As someone who has to work with the system on a daily basis, I’ve become more and more frustrated with the whole process.

My inspiration level is at an all time low.

Michael Hyatt has a great post today, about what it takes to be an inspiring leader. He lists four ways that leaders can keep their employees inspired on their jobs. I think the State of California needs to look at this list. The state needs to…

1. Connect people to the larger story.
2. Remind people why they matter.
3. Resist creating new policies.
4. Set the pace for what you expect in others.

Why is it that the government and so many old school companies insist on creating more policies, hiring more middle level bureaucrats, and isolating themselves from the people doing the work. Take a look at your job…

• Are you just a number where you work, or does someone actually care about what you do?
• Does your company policy manual weigh over five pounds?
• Has someone painted a vision for you about where your company is going… or do they just hand you another work order?

Ask yourself… Why do people want to work for a company like Apple or Google?

Could it have something to do with the larger story?

Question: Are you inspired on your job? If so, what makes it inspiring?

I think that the blogging tools finally matured enough this year that you didn’t need to be a web guru (or know one) to create a powerful blog presence. With the addition of Widgets to WordPress, and a proliferation of wider blog templates, the average blog grew from 800 pixels wide to over a 1000. This made for a much more compelling experience as the number of new interactive elements increased.

Someone who took full advantage of the new technology with a complete blog redesign as well as a whole new blogging genre is our top award winner this year. Congratulations to…

1. Brian Clark of Copyblogger

Brian is an amazing guy. He has taken the science of copywriting and applied it to blogging. His traffic truly soared this year with his subscriber base now over 28,000 people. He also teamed up with Blogger Tony Clark of Success From The Nest and created TeachingSells, an online learning site for creating Interactive Learning web experiences.

What I personally like about Copyblogger is the friendly atmosphere and the great tips. Brian speaks to you like a friend and offers some incredible insight from his many years in the print publishing copywriting business.

Some of his top posts include…

5 Simple Ways to Open Your Blog Post With a Bang

Do You Make These Mistakes When You Write?

Ten Timeless Persuasive Writing Techniques

Be sure to sign up as a subscriber. I’m sure he would like to hit 30,000 subscribers in 2008.

2. Liz Strauss of Successful-Blog

Liz is a repeat winner this year. She teamed up with master relationship blogger, Phil Gerbyshak and other popular bloggers from around the Chicago area and put together SOBCON 2007. This was one of the best blogging meet-ups of the year with attendees from all over the world.

If you blog, Liz is one person you want to meet. She is one of the most helpful people on the net and she will make you right at home on her Tuesday night interactive comment sessions.

Be sure to get on her subscriber/e-mail list and she’ll notify you each week of the upcoming topic. It’s not uncommon for her to have over 300 comments on her blog in one night.

3. Leo Babauta of ZenHabits

In an amazing rise to prominence this year, Leo has taken the personal development community by storm. His blog grew from a few hundred subscribers in February 2007 to over 26,000 as of this writing. This is an amazing feat and his blog currently ranks almost as high as Personal development guru Steve Pavlina on the Alexa charts.

What makes Leo different, is that he is an achiever (ran a marathon, quit smoking, got organized) yet he writes like a coach and good friend. Leo is a regular guy, a father of 6 kids, and he works as a freelance writer. He writes about his successes and his failures which makes his writing come to life.

He just changed over to a new and wider blog template and has organized his content by subject in his interactive footer. Be sure to subscribe to keep up with this amazing writer!

4. Yaro Starak of Entrepreneurs Journey

Like winner Brian Clark above, Yaro has been busy this year creating an interactive online learning community. His Blog Mastermind program really took off this year with hundreds of people signing up for the inaugural launch. Yaro is a true rarity in the blog optimization business as he speaks from a true insiders perspective to the outside world.

Yaro has personally helped me in many different ways from blog optimization tips to search engine strategies. He also added video previews and interactive learning clips to help all blogger’s improve their sites.

He is currently working on a new blog template and has a current post to help you improve your blogs visibility so that your readers will stay longer. Be sure to sign up for his helpful newsletter.

5. Tim Ferriss of The Four Hour Workweek

As a follow up to his insightful book, The Four Hour Workweek, Tim Ferriss always has unbelieveable things on his blog. At 30 years old, this world traveling entrepreneur has amassed quite a portfolio of accomplishments.

They Include….

1. First American in history to hold a Guinness World Record in tango
2. National Chinese kickboxing champion
3. MTV breakdancer in Taiwan
4. Hurling competitor in Ireland
5. Actor on hit TV series in mainland China and Hong Kong

What I like about Tim’s blog is that he gives detailed instructions how he managed these incredible feats of human accomplishment. He includes pictures, timelines, and step by step guidance for anyone wanting to follow in his footsteps.

If you want to escape from the 9 to 5, travel the world, and experience amazing things, this is the blog for you. Be sure to subscribe to his blog so you’ll be onboard for his next amazing adventure.

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There are so many other incredible blogs it would be hard to list them. Want to learn something new in 2007? Be sure to check out Joyful, Jubilant Learning, Genuine Curiosity, and Managing with Aloha, for some of the best educational sites on the net.

This has been a great year for blogging. Hundreds of unique new blogs came on the scene in 2007. Here at Success Begins Today, we have a lot of new things in store for 2008 including some exciting new productivity tools. Be sure to subscribe to our feed and sign up for our newsletter so you’ll be among the first to download them.

Thank you to all of you who visited here in 2007. Have a great New Year!

1. Position

2. Relationship

3. Respect

4. Commitment

To empower people you must be in a position of leadership. Others can encourage, but permission comes only from an authority figure such as a parent, boss, or spiritual leader. To empower people you have to be in a position of power over them.

To engage people to  help them reach their potential you need to evaluate them on their knowledge, skill, and desire. When you know where they are, you can model for them a direction to excel in. Using the analogy of a mother bird and her babies, people need to know what it looks like to fly. As a mentor, you have the best opportunity to show them.

Model the flight and work ethic you would like them to embrace. Expect people to succeed! Be sure to verbalize it and reinforce it. Once people understand that you genuinely want them to succeed, they will begin to believe that they can accomplish what you want them to do.

Once they are ready to proceed, transfer authority to them. That includes sharing both your authority and influence with the people you are mentoring and developing. When you begin to empower other people, give them challenges you know they can rise to. This will help them be confident and give them a chance to experience their new authority and learn to use it more effectively.

Once they have taken the reins and they have shown you their ability to complete the task, publicly show your confidence in them. Give them the credit for a job well done. Be sure to give them positive feedback. Don’t dwell on the negative and be sure to include constructive ideas along the way.

Once they have taken flight, release them to continue in their own. Give them as much freedom as possible. In conclusion give authority, responsibility, and offer needed assistance along the way.

John makes the point that the benefits of empowerment are very high. Empowerment helps people become more confident, energetic, and productive. It also has the ability to improve your life, giving you additional freedom to promote the growth of your organization.

One of the most incredible stories of empowerment that I have witnessed is the story of Kathy Gaulton. Kathy worked in the business world for over 30 years in retail management. In 1998 she took a short term missions trip to Tanzania, Africa, where she witnessed poverty and a community of people who desperately needed help.

Kathy had the idea of having the local people make drawstring bags from local fabrics. She took 5 treadle sewing machines which were idle and gave the local people training on them. Soon the machines were whirring away and within two days there were 300 completed bags that could be sold.

The people were really excited and Kathy realized how far a little training and some local materials could go to empower the local people to become self sufficient. Through this simple beginning came Heavenly Treasures, an organization that empowers impoverished people and communities all over the world to break the cycle of poverty through micro enterprises.

From the Kip Karen Krafters in Kenya to the Dorcas Design Team in China, Kathy’s seeds have sprouted in a big way. Amazing products are being turned out by the thousands and people’s lives are being changed.

These livelihood projects help reproduce other influencers. Once people become self sufficient they can teach other people the same skills. Soon the more skilled workers become leaders and the process repeats itself. Some of these onsite leaders have gone on to create new enterprises in other areas of the world.

Organizations like Toastmasters and Rotary International can help you learn the skill of empowerment. In Toastmasters it is not uncommon to see amazing transformations. All it takes is a caring person with a vision along with an unselfish passion to help others succeed.

Joel Osteen in his book, Become a Better You, brings up a great point about enlarging people. He says..

Remember your thoughts do not bless anybody but you…

The idea of this statement is that we need to let others know what we are thinking. We need to make the phone calls and write the e-mails to let people know when they are doing a great job. If we keep it to ourselves, the other person is not built up and consequently does not receive the blessing.

If I see you doing a great presentation, I need to stop by afterwards and give you a word of encouragement. If I read your blog post, and it captures my interest, I need to comment that you did a great job.

Simple words of encouragement can really help someone move to the next level in their career. They can help others take a leap of faith and start a new business.

This is an area that I have been focusing on in the past few weeks. Trying to learn how to better communicate with people. I realize that time commitments and my perfectionist streak hinder me from making quick replies to e-mail or leaving a quick comment on a blog.

Joel’s statement got me thinking… isn’t it better to send a short note saying "great job," than not sending a more elaborate note because I don’t have time to write it.

Rather than a two paragraph work of literary art, how about if I just leave a one sentence comment on someone’s blog? I can’t tell you how many of those two paragraph masterpieces I’ve had in my head that never were written.

Hmmm… how about a paraphrase… A few words written are much better than a perfect paragraph in my head…

At first this sounds extremely arrogant and forceful. But nothing could be further from the truth. When we look at the ten qualities presented in the book, it quickly becomes apparent that humility and humbleness are required. In fact to truly become a person that others look to for leadership and advice, the following 10 qualities are required…

This book has been very inspiring to me. In some areas I’m doing pretty good… in others I have some struggles. The book presents workable solutions for all of them. Some have hit home with a vengeance. With some minor changes, I’ve seen remarkable differences in my life.

My goal is to take these qualities one by one and share my experiences, struggles, and victories with you. I’ve developed some thought provoking conversation cards that you can print out and use as you follow along. They make great conversation starters and are great for small groups.

The cards have a quotation on the front and an additional building statement on the back. At the bottom of the back side of the card is a thought provoking question. They can be used as study guides, bookmarks, but I really like to use them in discussion groups. Each of the ten points will have five cards that you can print out. The cards will be available as each subject post comes out.

In our next post we’ll get started by looking at the subject of integrity…

Stay tuned…