Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - October 25th

The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it. - Molière

I am more than my scars. - Andrew Davidson, The Gargoyle

Those who don't know how to suffer are the worst off. There are times when the only correct thing we can do is to bear out troubles until a better day. - Ming-Dao Deng, Everyday Tao: Living with Balance and Harmony

What do you do when you practice all you can on something, make changes based on feedback provided and the outcome of the situation still does not go the way you want it to?

You remember what you wrote in your blog and move on!

A couple weeks ago, I won a Toastmaster Area Speech Contest and was honored to participate in the Division Contest last Thursday night.  Over the last couple of weeks, my Toastmaster Club made suggestions to improve the speech and I practiced it daily.  On the day of the competition, I worked my schedule so I would be well rested.  I arrived early at the location so I would not be rushed.  When I gave my speech, I performed with the most energy, enthusiasm and panache I could muster up.  The person from my Toastmaster Club who attended the competition told me it was the best he had seen me perform it.  However, I still came up short.  I was upset and could not understand the outcome.  When I dropped off my fellow Toastmaster, we discussed and understood how the winner won, but were confused by second place.  

It took me about 12 hours to process through the situation and here is what I learned:  

• Winning the speech contest will not make a difference in my life in 100 days (from blog post on September 20, 2016).
• AND as my mother told me the growth of character I am going through by not winning will be more beneficial for me in 100 days than actually winning the competition. 
• I prayed and believed the best outcome would happen.  There was a reason I did not win.  Maybe one of the other contestants needed to win to build their confidence or maybe I will have something else going on the day of the next contest that I do not know about yet. 
• Even after you work hard on something, people still have a choice.  That is why it is so important to work as hard as you can and be able to tell yourself that there was nothing else you could have done.   

CHALLENGE: Think about recent situations that you have gone through and were not happy with the outcome.  How did you handle it?  What will you do differently next time to grow as an individual?

Some fish love to swim upstream. Some people love to overcome challenges. - Amit Ray, Walking the Path of Compassion

My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure. - Abraham Lincoln