With the New Year starting, many South Valley folks are now
beginning self-improvement programs to enrich their lives. It’s
human nature for people to want to change themselves when they
change their calendars.
It’s also a particularly American trait, this self-improvement
tendency.
With the New Year starting, many South Valley folks are now beginning self-improvement programs to enrich their lives. It’s human nature for people to want to change themselves when they change their calendars.
It’s also a particularly American trait, this self-improvement tendency. Walk into any bookstore or library and you’ll find plenty of shelves laden with advice on how to become a better person. It all goes back to the 1700s. I have a theory that Benjamin Franklin was America’s very first self-improvement buff. In his autobiography, Franklin proclaimed himself as a never-ending experiment of personal development. And that, I figure, was why he succeeded so wonderfully in his life. It’s why he went from extreme poverty as a teenage runaway to becoming, by age 40, one of the richest men in colonial America.
If Franklin were alive today and living in the South Valley, I’m certain you would find America’s hippie-haired founding father every Thursday at 7:30 a.m. at downtown Morgan Hill’s BookSmart.
Why, you might wonder, would Franklin place himself at an independent bookstore at such an ungodly hour? Well, Franklin was indeed a bibliophile. He loved books. But that’s not the reason I believe he would grace BookSmart with his presence. I have a hunch he would be there because early every Thursday morning (except on holidays), the Morgan Hill Toastmasters club meets at BookSmart to give its members the opportunity to hewn their communication and leadership skills in a fun and friendly self-improvement support group.
Toastmasters members and Ben Franklin have a lot in common. In 1727 in Philadelphia, the 21-year-old Franklin formed a communication and leadership improvement club which I like to think of as a kind of forerunner of Toastmasters. His “Junto Society” was a group of 12 men of the city drawn from various occupations and backgrounds who all desired to improve themselves, improve their businesses, and improve their community – just like Toastmasters members do. The Junto Society’s first members included several printers, a glazier, a cabinetmaker, two surveyors, a clerk, a cobbler and a bartender. Every Friday night they met at a tavern and practiced their public speaking by giving prepared speeches. And much like the Morgan Hill Toastmasters’ impromptu “Table Topics” activity, Franklin’s friends were required to extemporaneously answer questions relating to how they could develop their business and leadership skills.
I’m bringing up Benjamin Franklin’s self-improvement society and the Morgan Hill Toastmasters self-improvement club because I believe the benefits Toastmasters offers its members are particularly relevant this week. The New Year resolutions many South Valley folks are making have a better chance of succeeding if they are supported by like-minded people. OK, Toastmasters won’t help you get a little leaner in 2010 – just eat less and exercise more to achieve that goal. But it can help you build your communication and leadership skills. That will translate into greater personal and professional satisfaction in your life.
Let me warn you, the Morgan Hill Toastmasters club is not an organization for everyone. It’s not for ordinary folks, the vast majority of people with no driving desire to take real action to make themselves better speakers and leaders. It’s for a unique kind of man and woman. It’s for those few who have a hunger to push themselves to new levels of personal and professional achievement by getting out of bed an hour earlier to make the Thursday 7:30 a.m. meeting time. It’s for people committed to taking real action to reap the financial rewards and gain inner satisfaction as they grow into powerfully effective communicators and leaders.
At the membership cost of $34 every six months, Toastmasters is the best deal in town for improving your life. As a member of the Morgan Hill Toastmasters club, I’ve seen dramatic benefits achieved by people who join and participate in this self-improvement organization. It can help you if you are:
- A person currently looking for employment. (Potential bosses will be impressed if you mention you’re active in Toastmasters.)
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A manager or executive seeking to improve your leadership skills and rise in your company.
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A salesperson who wants to be more effective in communicating with customers – and thus increase your revenue by upping your sales of real estate, cars or other items.
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A spouse or parent who wants to improve your listening and communication skills with your loved ones.
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A college student focused on a career where public speaking is required – such as a school teacher or a lawyer.
The New Year is a great time to take action for self-improvement. If you picture yourself being a bit like Ben Franklin with a yearning to enhance your communiction and leadership skills, you’ll be warmly welcomed Thursday mornings at the BookSmart store by members of the Morgan Hill Toastmasters.
