I was born, brought up and educated in a village. My grandparents did not know any language other than our mother tongue. I remember when I did my 10th standard examination in our school, only 3 students out of 73 passed in English. That was the level of English skills that I had.
When I was working in a Central Government Department, we often used to have conferences and meetings. I noticed that in all of these meetings, I never used to speak well. Whenever I used to present or speak, I missed several of my major points. This affected my image, my success, and, more importantly, my confidence.
I remember many instances how I was not very confident to talk. I remember feeling fear, anxiety, stress, and nervousness whenever I used to speak. I was not even having the confidence to speak in a small gathering and it was not possible to practice what I was going to say because the subject of our discussions is not known in advance.
One day, my son had come home on a vacation and asked me to join him in attending a local community club called Toastmasters. When I enquired a bit more, he narrated his story.
He had joined NIT Jamshedpur for his M.Tech and a few of his friends asked him to participate in a meeting. He spoke about how he was impressed and decided to become a regular member there. He told me about how he participated in the meetings regularly, gave speeches that he had prepared, and how he felt he became much more confident. He said he participated in the competitions too!
When we attended this club, the President requested him to deliver a prepared speech. He unhesitantly took up the challenge and impressed me with his presentation. I did not expect that he had become so skilled!
This was a turning point in my life. I decided to attend these meetings regularly just as the audience, with one condition that the club will not ask me to speak even once.
In the beginning, I remember how I was not confident speaking on stage for three months. I gained some confidence by doing roles like the Timer, Ah-counter & Grammarian roles before I started attempting speech projects, and I improved a lot. The more projects I delivered, the more confidence I gained, and this was noticeable even outside the Toastmasters’ community!
Now, speaking was not a problem for me.
I had a life-long dream, the ultimate goal was to start practice as an Advocate. However, presentation skills were the only problem on the way. The success of an advocate depends on the ability to converse with the client and speaking in court. Verbal skills during Examination, Cross-examination and the speech before the Justice are the vital factors to win any case, which I felt I lacked.
In 2014, I started my journey in Toastmasters with one belief, that continued practice can make anything possible. Even functioning in roles as minor as the timer gave me great experience at timekeeping. Humorous speeches and joke sessions gave me great experience to socialise in any group, entertain the group members, and win their confidence.
The confidence I gained helped me decide to pursue my dream to become an advocate even at this older age – a feat that I quite recently achieved. I have enrolled and started practising as an Advocate. My ambition is now fulfilled, all because I bettered my skills in Toastmasters.
I learnt that there is only one great lesson: “Practice, Correct & Practice again”. This will surely take you to success. Communities like Toastmasters can help you with that opportunity because I must confess one thing: 8 years journey in Toastmasters took me to a great level!
What Made Me Successful
C C Rejinold
Member of Toastmasters Club of Thrissur and Thrissur Malayalam Toastmasters
8th October 2021
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