Fear and a Balanced Life

Our new VP of Education, Sean Kramer, gave an excellent speech tonight at our Parker Toastmasters meeting. The topic was about fear, what it can do to you, and how you can use it to your advantage. There are genuine things to fear, war, being one of them. However, many of us also have fears that are more trivial; fear of failure, fear of rejection, and close to home with Toastmasters, fear of public speaking. If you let it, fear can slow you down.

One way to use fear to your advantage in these situations is to realize that they are opportunities to grow. Fear lets you know that you are out of your comfort zone. With a goal of constant personal growth you can turn that fear into a positive energy to push your limits.

One very interesting point that Sean made was talking about a balanced life, and how most people are searching and striving towards one by balancing work, family, exercise, diet, and relaxation. The visual image that Sean provided was that of an old weight scale.

When the scale is balanced, how much work is being completed by the scale? The answer is none. The scale needs to be unbalanced, have its limits pushed, to move the weights and complete work. The theory being that if your living a perfectly balanced life, your not stretching or pushing yourself, your not living fully. So get out and face your fears, get off balance and grow.

aaron berndt

Private Library Collections as Learning Tools

Brad Feld recently posted about one of his most recent reads. In the post he linked to an interesting article about CEO libraries, which is a good read.

The article discusses reading habits, private libraries, and the insight that could possibly gained from knowing the contents of those private libraries.

Openly sharing the contents of our private libraries is an interesting way to sharing knowledge, especially for insight on how high profile people get things done. This is similar to how TED shares the ideas of fascinating thinkers and doers. Brad Feld updates his reading collection here.

I decided to start something similar here.

aaron.berndt

TED: Ideas worth spreading

TED is an awesome website.

"The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes)."

The site host's the presentations in video and podcast form.

Check it out. These folks are pushing boundries and doing some really exciting work.

Here is an example of some incredible exploration.

I have set a personal goal to one day present at TED. I'm not sure how I'll get there just yet, but toastmasters should help.
aaron.berndt

What could I be doing better?

Chip and Dan Heath (Authors of Made to Stick http://www.amazon.com/Made-Stick-Ideas-Survive-Others/dp/1400064287) had an interesting article in the July/Aug issue of Fast Company http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/117/column-made-to-stick.html. The article split people into two groups; the fixed mindset and the growth mind set. The fixed mindset group believes that leaders are born and intelligence is innate and static. The growth mindset group believe that leadership and intelligence can be learned and improved by training your brain like a muscle.

Growth mindset folks will take on projects that will stretch and build their skills.

At my current company I have been able to wear many hats, allowing me to stretch myself and push my career in new directions. One technique that I have found useful for growth is asking “What could I be doing better?” Honest answers to this question from supervisors, customers, and yourself can be truly invaluable to push yourself to new heights.


aaron.berndt

VP of PR for Parker Toastmasters

For most people public speaking is not a natural activity. It’s pretty close to some peoples worst fear. For anyone not aware, there is a non-profit group that can help, Toastmasters.

Toastmasters offers a proven way to improve your communication skills. By participating in a fun and supportive Toastmasters group, you'll become a better speaker and leader and gain confidence to succeed in whatever path you've chosen in life.

• Deliver great presentations
• Easily lead teams and conduct meetings
• Give and receive constructive evaluations
• Be a better listener

I started in Toastmasters 9-10 months ago and after getting past the initial fear have truly enjoyed myself. Last week I took on the role as Vice President of Public Relations. In this role I will be managing Parker Toastmasters public image and working on bringing new bodies in the door.

I have never had a role like this one in a non-profit environment. I am very excited to learn the ropes of PR and to spread the word about all the good that Toastmasters can bring to your
life.

Please check out http://www.toastmasters.org/


aaron.berndt

Twitter

I just started up a Twitter account ( http://twitter.com/aaronberndt ) .

Other than folks on the web I havn't heard of anybody using it.

aaron.berndt