The New You

Our meeting at January 7, 2015 was special in many ways. It was our first meeting of the year, the first of our “Contest Preparation” themed month. It’s also the day when one of our dearest members, Cynthia Eveline achieved her Competent Communicator title. And last but not least, the day when 4 of our new members were inducted, and said their Toastmasters Vow.

Cynthia, our Club Secretary, told a very personal story about her childhood and coming of age journey. Insecurity occurred and Cynthia spent a big part of her life as a child and teenager feeling unworthy of anything good.

She finally pulled herself together and did her best in everything. She indulged in her musical hobby, singing and playing piano, making her a music teacher now. She also worked extra hard and finished her thesis, graduating really well from her university. She worked in a multi-national company. And now, she is pursuing her dreams further by taking a Master Degree in Psychology in Atmajaya University.

It’s not our first time listening to a BM10 speech. It’s not our first time listening to someone who feel challenged because of the way she was treated in childhood. But Cynthia is such a lovely character. It’s so easy to relate to her story. We listened to her struggles and automatically hoped she conquered them all.

It’s also a touching experience to see her grows as a more confident speaker. She started humbly, and gradually grows in confidence. She used to have many pauses and hesitancy, but now she speaks smoothly, with emotion, and becomes more enjoyable to watch. Doesn’t it make you think, you’re a member of the right organization? Toastmasters really can change a flower bud to a blooming rose.

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Our Immediate Past President Prawira is chasing for Triple Crown Title this year. After getting CL and ALB, he’s on his way for ACB. That’s why he’s so diligent in delivering a speech every week. On January 7, he talked about the importance of no multi-tasking.

We often want to do many things at the same time, but it’s better not to.

We do multi-tasking because usually we are under pressure. For example, we are pressed on deadlines and we must finish several tasks ASAP.

For some people, it’s also possible to think multi-tasking is an accomplishment. Maybe it feels good for you to type an email, receive a call, and eat your lunch at the same time.

But do you know, multi-tasking is harmful for your body? Multi-tasking makes you less focused, and you can harm yourself in many ways, like hitting the car in front of you when you drive while talking on the phone.

You will also become less productive. Actually, if you finish your task one by one, it will finish faster than allocating time in between doing other things.

The solution to handle it when you have a pile of things to do, is to prioritize which one is the most important, and do it one by one. Also differentiate the deadline and type of the job.

Do not multi-task. Mono-tasking is always better.

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Ebeth, Bambang, Rizky and Risman after saying their Toastmasters Vow, with Lia

The table topics session last week was led by me, the president, as we want to practice table topics questions in contest standard, which means the topics were not too long or too difficult.

Enthusiasm was high to try the Table Topics, making me even more interested to see the contestants in our Table Topics Contest.

It was also our induction night, led by our Vice President of Membership, Imam Prabowo. Jakarta Motivators Toastmasters Club has 8 new members. Although only 4 could come last week, all the new members profile were displayed in the big screen. We all watched them saying the vow, and reminded ourselves again about the content.

May they all become fabulous speakers and leaders!

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Don’t miss our regular meeting tonight. There will be an eduspeech session by Tantia Dian, our Past President. She’s also the 2^nd Runner Up of last year’s Division J contest for Table Topics. Let’s learn the tips to be a great Table Topics Contest from Tantia!

There will also be a combination of Advanced and Basic Manual speeches tonight. It will be humorous and interesting!