JUST DO IT by WINSTON!!!

Hey guys,

I hope you've all had a good week so far? If you haven't, just hang in there and stay put. Saturday will definitely make up for it *wink*. I hope you guys have started preparing your valentine packages or better still, strategizing your movements and activities because, women don't like to hear stories and so do men (even though they like to form gangstar lol). Anyways, if you haven't thought of, or you are still thinking of ideas, you could check out my inspirations for valentine and hopefully, it might be of help. By the way, Duru and I decided to put up a guest post on each others blog on valentines day with regards to the theme of the season "love" so yeah, please look out for those.

last weekend, I attended my first club meeting at toastmasters for 2015 and as usual, it was great. For the first time, I actually went out to speak even though it was just for a minute or two. Some table topic questions were asked and one of them was unexpectedly thrown at me. My question was this "which is better, Money or possessions?". I obviously went for possessions even though I struggled with explaining and expressing my self due to some stage fright (I guess). I was evaluated by the congregation and some of the evaluations were as follows:

You stayed on the subject matter and did a good job. Your voice can be increased

You tried, you spoke very well

Good day, very short speech, you can still improve

Sophie, well done on your speaking. Try to move to the center of the stage and make eye contact

You have a good presentation. You need to overcome your shyness. You obviously are a great speaker in the making

I think you are amazing.

On the other hand, three toast masters were to present their speeches, and one of them was Winston. He had been a member of toastmasters for a year and some months and so it was his 10th speech.

Having known winston for years, I would say he is a good public speaker but having heard his 10th speech, I was left speechless. He had grown from being "good" to "great", that he won the best speech of the day. I took a video of him because, his content and delivery were spot on. It couldn't have been any better. Unfortunately, the video was too large to be uploaded and so, I decided to share his speech.

JUST DO IT!

“A legendary hero is usually one who founds something; a founder of a new path, founder of a new religion, founder of a new city, founder of a new venture. In order to found something new, one has to leave the old and go on a quest of the seed idea, a germinal seed that will have the potential to bring forth that new thing”

Madam President, Distinguished Toastmasters, Good Afternoon!

In 1988, one of the most successful companies in the world got catapulted into a new realm of success and financial influence. They went from making a gross income of $877 million to about $9.2 Billion dollars in just about 10 years.

What did they do differently? They didn’t have to change their product line or launch new products.. Nah, they did none of that. They took out three words and coined out, a strap line, a trade mark that speaks to a large chunk of the people in the world today.

We live in a world full of procrastinators, people always waiting for that right time… hence this came up with this slogan; “JUST DO IT” –Nike

And so today I have titled my speech “JUST DO IT”

It is very difficult to bring something from thought to action, which is why Joseph Campbell defined the person who can do this as a LEGENDARY HERO.

Ladies and Gentlemen, trapped inside every one of us is that germinal seed that can make us legendary heroes.

It is a shame however, that today, we have more thinkers and few doers. It is a shame that there are so much greatness locked up inside each and every one of us, most of which can change the world, only and only if we are willing to let them out. Sadly, people are either waiting for the right time, that they miss the opportunity to change the world, and whilst some might get another chance to do it, a lot of people spend a life time waiting for their own 2nd chance.

The late Myles Munroe, a man so blessed discovered this and hence, he said and spent most of his life preaching about destiny and purposeful living. He believed that, trapped in every one was something great as well. That is why he coined this quote which I have paraphrased “the grave yard is the wealthiest place on earth because buried there are songs that were never written nor sung, books that were never written nor published, ideas that were never heard nor implemented, kind words that were never spoken to those who need to hear them, businesses that were never done”

Now let’s imagine for a second that Dr. Munroe died without telling us this, would we have thought about this?

The late founder and Chairman Emeritus of Mary Kay Cosmetics in her biography titled “Miracles do happen”, defined 4 kinds of people who live in the world today.

 Those who make things happen

 Those who watch things happen

 Those who wonder what happened

 Those who don’t even know anything happened

What category of these people do you belong to presently?

What category of these people would you want to belong to?

Sometimes, the people in the 2nd category who end up sitting to watch things happen are those who missed their turn and time to make things happen, because they just couldn’t do it. They are in fact the most dangerous people you find out there, because their hearts are filled with jealousy and rage, and if they have their way, they won’t let you do it, so you can be like them.

The most dangerous people you find today are the people who have missed their turn, they are the ones who have missed the opportunity to make the right choice and DO something. And guess what?, they would sometimes stop at nothing but to see you also make that mistake.

At the end of 2015, perhaps in 20, 30, 40 or 50 years’ time, when you look back at your life, what category would you like or love to belong to?

What legacy would you live behind?

The life you have now, is as a result of the decisions you made yesterday, hence the life and legacy you will have tomorrow will be as a result of the life, decisions and choices you make today. This therefore means that, all you have to carve that future for yourself is nothing but the FIERCE URGENCY OF NOW.

I can say with some degree of certainty that in this room presently, there great songs that have not been heard, there are great books that have not been written because a lot of us here like myself, are still waiting for the right time, and some of us have already missed that time without even knowing it.

Jeff Bezos the founder of the world’s largest online market place “AMAZONS”, came up with what he called “REGRET MINIMISATION FRAMEWORK”. He says when faced with two life changing options, project yourself to the end of your life and imagine you are looking back and asking yourself “which choice minimizes the amount of regret I have?”

Once you find that option, you will regret the least and take it even if you fail…..

This was what helped him when he decided to resign from Wall Street and start up an online company selling only books, and today, he is worth over $35 Billion. “JUST DO IT”

Procrastination is not just about your goals actions or wealth; it is also about your words...

How often do you look to the people in your life who matter the most and tell them just how much you love and appreciate them.

Do you just think they know about this?

I think I can say that many relationships have been broken (including marriages) because either partner or participant was not as verbal and vocal about how they felt towards the other. Even things as little as a compliment, (your partner does something which you really appreciate, but you just cannot compliment them, even though you are thinking about it).We all love being appreciated and recognized. This is very evident in Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.. Why keep waiting? JUST DO IT!

The older I get, the more I realise that you cannot take life or moments for granted, as you could find yourself crying over something you could have, would have, should have said or done that you didn’t. Hence, it is clearer now that people can deal better with death than they can with regret. I would like to end my speech today with a story of something that happened to me last year. It is a story that has made me begin to challenge myself to be more verbal.

On the 17th of April 2014, a day which began as bright and usual as other days took a different twist by 6pm. An uncle of mine, perhaps my most favourite had gone out with his 2 beautiful kids to play lawn tennis (a sport he loved so much and always played)…

He later took them back home at night fall so they could eat and get ready for bed, but he decided to play for just a little longer. At the court, he slumped and died and he never made it back home but was taken to the hospital and by 4 am his remains had been deposited in the morgue.

It is one incident I never recovered from till date. When I was asked to eulogize him, I could hardly summon the words to say. I began to think of the good old days we spent together and the times we shared. Memories flashed to and fro. I even remembered calling him on his last birthday and asking for my own cake… they all seemed to be pleasant memories.. But one thing still made me weep like a baby, I never got to tell him how much I loved, and appreciated him…

I could say it out by his casket a lot of times, but I am sure I would have given anything to see the smile on his face when I said it to him whilst he was alive.

I thought a lot about it, but I was not as verbal about it. And then I ended up saying those things ABOUT him, but not TO HIM

There is nothing as sad as the sad memories of a lost opportunity, and I have come to believe that most people still go through this today, assuming that you have tomorrow when all you have for sure is RIGHT NOW.

Express that love right now,

Sing that song right now,

Write that letter right now,

Give your ice breaker right now,

Join toastmasters right now,

Make that career choice right now,

Apply for that exam right now,

Give that apology right now

Accept that apology right now

Because the next second is not guaranteed, therefore STOP PROCRASINATING, & JUST DO IT.