Life Lessons

I was thinking about the power of words earlier today, when I thought about some of the great speakers that I have had the privilege to hear.  Among them John Maxwell, Jack Canfield and Joyce Meyer to name a few.  I can recall being mesmerized by them and feeling that I wanted to do a version of what they did in the future.  Although I have been a witness to many powerful speakers, I quickly thought about what was my first memory of myself speaking in public.  For that I would have to regress to the fifth grade and a school competition reciting the American's Creed.  It was a competition within the classroom, however, I vividly remember it being a popularity contest more so than anything.  I had always been good at memorizing and although I could get nervous speaking in front of a group, I could rely on the fact that I would remember my lines when push came to shove.  I had practiced for many days prior to the competition and the teacher was recording our speeches with a tape recorder.  When I completed my speech, I felt that I had done a pretty good job in my delivery and the rest of the class agreed as they had voted for me as the best in the delivery of the speech.  However, one of the most popular boys in the class had gone before me and he forgot his lines several times and laughed his way through the end.  Upon the conclusion of our competition, the popular classmate begged the teacher for a do-over and she bowed down to his request as the class wanted him to do it again.  The second time was much better, however, he still giggled his way through parts of the speech.  Then it came down to the class deciding on who would win and they overwhelmingly chose the more popular kid.  I received some type of certificate for coming in second, however, it was one of those times that I realized that their are intangible reasons for a person to win a competition and that life is not always fair.  It was a great lesson for me to learn, as it made me realize that I needed to be even better if I wanted to compete against someone with popularity as a deciding factor.  I decided then that I would have to be that much better so there would be no question about a contest given similar circumstances.  Even though I may have lost in the eyes of my peers, I actually won by learning from what this lesson taught me.  Over the course of my career, I have had many more opportunities to sharpen my skills in this area and although I do feel much more comfortable in that role, I still do my homework and practice in order to ensure that I reach a level of expectation that I can live with.  Lessons come in many disguises and for the most part, you may not realize that you are learning something new or that your personal growth is about to expand.  My suggestion is that if you find yourself in the middle of a lesson, get centered and listen to what your heart tells you.  Be thoughtful about your next steps and have faith in yourself that you are capable of achieving what is in front of you and more.  The other lesson is about being popular, I found that this is temporary in nature and harnessing the power of words can last a lifetime.