One Fine Year
Henry Ford once said, "If you think you can
or if you think you can't. You're right."
In the waning days of the 1997-1998 Toastmaster year in June,
many Clubs once again proved Henry Ford right. When confronted
with the reality that a little more effort would bring in the
last few members or last CTM to make their Club Select or Distinguished
and help their Area be distinguished, they either declared, "Yes
we can do it!" or "No, we can't." Did all those,
who declared "Yes we can do it!" achieve their goal?
No, only the majority did. I believe that it will be recorded
that a record number of Clubs will have been Select or Distinguished
this year. On the other hand, 100% of those who said, "No,
we can't" did achieve that goal. "Be careful of what
you aim for, you might achieve it", counsels Dennis Waitley
in the Psychology of Winning. "The problem is not
that people set their goals too high and miss them, but that
they set their goals too low and achieve them."
Those who continue to reach for their goals do so with the
realization that it is the journey that teaches. This journey
started last summer when the Club officers attended training
and established Club goals using the Plan for Success Distinguished Club Program manual. Their plans were based on
the stated goals (they asked them what these were) of individual
members and the contributions of the officers in leading the
club to increased strength in members and reporting achievement.
In the end, it was these clubs that had a working plan that were
able to say in June, "Yes, we can do it." Even if they
did not reach the level that they had set last summer, they know
that their members and their club achieved more than if they
would not have had a plan. Missed goals will be reset and accomplished
this year by the members under the leadership of new Club officers.
On June 30 th, some may say, "If we only had a month
or two more to reach our goals." Ask yourselves what did
you do after you elected your officers in May of last year? Did
you wisely use the month of June to begin training your new officers
by involving them in reaching year-end goals? Did you encourage
them to attend training in July and August and begin the Plan
for Success manual and lay a roadmap for the year? Did you
sign up to complete your next educational goal (CTM, ATM)? Did
you voluntarily share your pride in your club by telling your
friends about Toastmasters and bringing a guest to a Club meeting?
Did you step outside the Club and attend an Area, Division or
District event? Did you share that experience with your fellow
Club members? If you can say yes to these questions, chances
are that you were not one of those asking for another month or
two. You know that you had them and used them to your advantage.
People asked me, near the end of my term serving District
53 Toastmasters as their District Governor, if I would have done
anything differently during the year. No, I say. I have faith
in people doing what they believe and say they can do. They will
eventually do it. They just need encouragement to continue to
believe and to use the Toastmaster system to add members, to
complete an award, to file a semiannual report, to bring in a
new Club. Toastmasters in District 53 have done more in 1997-1998
in many critical areas than they did in the past.
In educational achievements our Toastmasters set a record
for ATMs by earning nearly triple the minimum district goal of
21. They will surpassed the minimum CTM district goal of 148
and the final data may well be close to, or be, a new District
53 record. Your educational records will enable Nelson Ayala
to walk across the stage in Palm Desert on August 21 st and receive
the Excellent in Education and Training Award on behalf of the
District. Will you be there to share in this success? I will.
The year-end data will show that our Clubs have introduced
over 800 new members (not counting charter members of new Clubs)
during the year, exceeding the District's previous best by over
a hundred. This achievement will help the District surpass its
per capita (every time a dues payment is made) for the year.
Whether this goal is achieved by June 30 th depends mainly on
the half dozen Clubs, which are scrambling to make their April,
and even October, dues payments (well over a 100 per capita due
payments here that are 3-9 months late) in the last days of the
Toastmaster year. In either case, these payments will count in
the per capita base for 1998-1999 and the District will have
its highest membership base ever.
In Club growth, District 53 Toastmasters added 2 new Clubs
as I write this on June 28 th with three additional Club applications
being completed. Another half a dozen Clubs efforts, started
in 1997-1998 will be brought in during the first several months
of next year and other current and new leads shortly there after.
Groups of Toastmasters have worked, and continue to work, valiantly
to introduce Toastmasters into companies and communities where
Clubs did not, or do not, exist. As is the case every year, these
Clubs are credited to the District in the year they are chartered.
During 1997-1998, seven Clubs lost the Toastmaster spirit and
relinquished their Club charters. Combine this with several Clubs
not making overdue payments by June 30 th (these, too, count
as lost Clubs), we did not add enough new clubs to register a
net gain of 3 Clubs. That translates into ending the year without
the Distinguished District recognition.
The pride that that I have for our Toastmasters and their
leaders at the Club, Area, Division and District level for continuing
to believe in and apply themselves to their goals can never diminish
by not being Distinguished District in 1997-1998. Only they can
take away their pride in themselves. And I won't let them. They
will be too busy applying what they learned to complete new goals
for 1998-1999. |
