It has been 7 days since the start of the New Year. This is day 8. So far, I am happy with my progress. It has been a busy week though not rest depriving as of yet. Sunday shall be recovery day and today shall be reflection day.

Blogging Everyday
Though I did not declare, I’ve made a promise to myself to try to blog every day since the start of new year, stretching the goal of blogging more often, doing the extreme. I’d be honest. I am writing this on Sunday, not the Saturday as the date stated above. In fact, some of the above posts were only completed 1 day after. Therefore, I’ve missed a few days but made it look like I blogged everyday. It doesn’t really matter though. In relative terms to last year, I’ve made tremendous progress. Last year, I barely blogged once every month. This year, my keyboard is dirtier in 1 week than the whole of last year combined.

Although I made it look I blogged everyday, I am proud to announce that I managed to blog almost everyday since the start of the year (technically). That took me much discipline and perseverance because there were days when I did feel like not blogging. However, I told myself that there is information out there or that I’ve experienced in the week where I found interesting and ought to be shared and I should make the effort to craft something meaningful.

Distraction Cut Out!
Another contributing factor to my progress was the decision to cut off MSN temporarily. I know, I did say I will cut it off for 1 month entirely but I needed to use it to communicate and arrange meetings with people so I ended up using it anyway. I disciplined myself to access it only at night. My friends were asking me about the commitment, I told them the above reason, which is true. I think I can go one step in answer to cut down usage. I will only access it a few minutes before I sleep then go off exactly the time when I planned to sleep. Let’s experiment with that next week =).

Cutting off distractions is a gradual process as I’ve described in my previous post : My Commitment to Cut Out Distractions. What are your distractions in 2010 that you risk being affected by in 2011 as well? Consider them and take steps to try to cut them out. It will do you good as it has done for me, even in just 1 week.

Crafting and Delivering My Advanced Speech
Another success I would like to highlight is the speed I was able to craft a speech in a shorter time then I expected. I often read and am told that we need not craft perfect speeches. I feel that we need to have a sense and attitude of excellence though. In Toastmasters, every speaking chance is another precious moment to practise a speech. If we don’t put in the effort to craft or prepare a speech that will have an impact for the audience, you will feel that you’ve let yourself down even more. It has happened before to me. I crafted a speech, did not practise and fell horribly flat during delivery. You can see it in the eyes of the audience right after the speech ends, they aren’t impressed. Whereas, when I prepare a great speech, practise it and deliver it with confidence, it gives the audience something to enjoy and think about the subject/topic spoken about. Ok, that was a small digression…

Even though I crafted my speech on Wednesday which was supposed to be delivered on Thursday, I was able to deliver it with confidence. However, the Advanced Speech Projects absolutely need a higher level of skill in crafting a great speech. I fell short in the “content” aspect of the speech and was evaluated and marked down based on that. That will be my focus for future speeches and I will be strategizing as well as seeking advice on how to improve on content.

Lastly, I would like to share points about being inspired.
In my previous post, I talked about the things I’ve learnt while leading in the army. However,  that particular place really isn’t an inspiring place to be in. I try my best to get inspired by sources outside. From static materials like books, videos, articles and websites to dynamic experiences with people and other organizations like Toastmasters. Getting inspired isn’t really that hard at all.

If you’ve noticed, most of the posts I’ve created touch about motivation and inspiration themes in one way or another. By creating such posts, it reinforces the things I’ve learnt in the materials, people and other experiences. I think that’s the reason I am keen to focus on creating posts on such topics too. So that’s one way of getting inspired, reflecting and creating something (e.g. writing/blogging) about it.

Another way I discovered that’s very important is meeting people who you can learn from and continue to get inspired to take action. We must be willing to go out there, pursue our passions and meet people to learn from. By joining Toastmasters, I’ve networked and managed to meet very motivated people who consistently take action for the organization and other passions of theirs. Just by meeting them, knowing them, listening to them, you will feel like you can make a difference and will be spurred on to do so as well. It is that powerful. So, I do encourage all to join an organization or group whereby there are people you can look to for support and more importantly, inspiration.

That all for now…
These are a few of the learning points for this week. I plan to write more useful and practical information with a personal touch. This is mainly for application sake. After all, what good is knowledge and reflections if they can’t be applied for future use. What do you think? What style of blogging should I adopt? Would like to hear from you too.

I hope this post inspires you to take more action and have a great 2nd week in this wonderful new year.

With Love,
Kelvin “Kaizen” Koh

Week 1 Round-Up is a post from: Kaizenkoh's Life's Journey and Lessons

Ignore the title. This is a huge disclaimer that is the irony. In actual fact, I don’t recommend multitasking, especially with work. However, based on certain circumstances, you will need to multitask and complete the tasks as well as you would if you are focused only on one task. I had this wonderful experience in such a long time today at Telok Blangah Toastmaster’s Club SpeechCraft Session #3.

Due to certain changes in the program and waiting time for replies, I was challenged to look for more evaluators for the speakers within the Holiday Month (Xmas and New Year) whereby most people are busy. I tried my best but still could not find enough to replace myself. So I ended up taking up the role. I also took on an Advanced Project from the Storytelling manual. All these were on top of organizing the meeting and coordinating it, being the host then. I ended up doing 4 things for and in the meeting, Coordinator, Host/Introducer, Speaker and Evaluator.

I eventually managed to handle all the roles pretty well, albeit some hiccups here and there. The main reason was because they were all not all to be done at one go. Technically speaking, it isn’t the typical multitasking at a certain moment but rather multitasking for the different periods in the same session of “work”.

Even if it’s so, by multitasking in this manner, I learnt that I am able to do it despite it being seemingly overwhelming. This gives me the confidence to take on projects or tasks in the similar situation and execute. I have identified a few areas that one will experience, learn and accomplish by plucking up the courage to multitask in such a manner.

Be clear of the action steps
I mentioned that I was the coordinator of SpeechCraft. This meant I had control over the planning of the meeting and was the leader during the session itself. This given role meant that I had to learn to be clear about what I am doing and how it can affect the whole session’s procedure.
Planning and coordinating meetings is a dynamic process and not absolutely step by step. The level of awareness has to be very high. Having to be aware of the people, what want to do and whether they will end up not doing or pull out are concerns of a planner like myself. I will then need to take the action steps to rectify the problems of “pulling out” if it does happen by either getting replacements or dropping a slot (like speaking).

During the sessions, I will need to organize the materials to be used at each point of the different roles I will be playing. For example, at the start of the meeting, I have an introduction sheet to the meeting program and the various things I need to speak on (agenda for the day, revision etc.). Then, it moves on to introducing the next segment and so on. While doing evaluation, I will need my rough paper, template and the Speaker’s manual. As you can see, in reality, things can get messy logistically.

You can tell from the above examples that I was indeed clear about what I needed to do and the appropriate action steps to take. I managed to plan the session well and dealt with the last minute changes. During the session, I was clear about the materials I needed to prepare and action to take at each segment of the session. However, this leads me to the next point to…

Stay calm and focused
The hiccups I mentioned was not because I was nervous but rather feeling a little overwhelmed at times. A gush of adrenaline and stress hormones seemed to be made active. My brain went from no stress to distress and I became careless and unfocused. The action steps taken were sometimes messy and all over the place, whilst I involuntarily missed out or forgot some points to note.

Staying calm and focused while facing change and transition is indeed difficult and easier said than done. There are ways to do so though.

One of which I found to be useful is to be prepared and confident about following through. By going through mentally on the spot what has to be done next allows your conscious and subconscious mind to be prepared to take the next action in a confident manner. Think about “What’s the next best step?” will trigger the answers or at least more relevant questions to be addressed concerning the situation. When I thought of the “next best step”, quickly assessing it’s consequence (usually good) and doing it, you tend to feel more focused and calm, in turn becoming more efficient and effective in execution of the tasks.

Know that there’s always support groups

Although I would love to clone myself sometimes, that’s not entirely possible. What I am grateful for however, is the support that I know I have and can get. In Toastmasters, my support groups are my Exco members and dedicated Toastmasters from other clubs.

While I’ve feared about not being able to handle things, I know that there is always a group of people supporting me. This is definitely reassuring for someone who’s planning because organizing the sessions can be (although it’s better not) a one-man show, but running them is a team game. Luckily, I have both groups supporting me for both organizing and running. My role seems to be the glue to bring the appropriate people together to run a successful session.

This is support by the groups is sustained by being grateful and appreciative, reciprocating the favors in a long term, especially when they need help. In a non-profit organisation like Toastmasters, we don’t trade money for favours but favours with favours and it takes a big heart to commit and do so, making it more meaningful. I am always grateful when I ask for help and I show this through my reciprocation of favours (e.g. helping out at their meetings). This is not just fair trade, it is essential trade to preserve good relations and bond the group together.

Just to end off…

As you can see, multitasking in such circumstances isn’t that bad, as long as you know what to do. The thing is, know when and how to multitask and aim to multitask well. Don’t multitask when not need as it has been proven to lower quality of work. However by multitasking the way I did has indeed taught me how to be more efficient and effective as well as less careless, more careful in dealing with people and things. I felt the sense of achievement at the end of the session when my support group and I managed to ensure the smooth proceedings and we all left happy, enriched and fulfilled. From what I know, more of this to come, in school, at work, especially when planning and running programs like workshops or events. At least I know now, I can do it!

With love,
Kelvin

I am able to multitask! Well, not really unless… is a post from: Kaizenkoh's Life's Journey and Lessons