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Baby StepsThis is a speech I prepared for the 1997 International Inspirational Speech Contest. I won at all levels up to District, where I placed second. You may use it as is, but I believe it will prove more useful as an idea generator. If you like this work, please let me know -- like all creative souls, I really appreciate knowing someone was able to use my effort. You can also e-mail me an idea or two of your own. I'll add it to my page and give you proper credit.
Baby StepsRemember the day you learned to walk! Mister Contest Chair, Fellow Toastmasters, Most Welcome Guests. There you were. Crawling around on the floor. You were fat, dumb, and happy. One day, as you crawled across your living room floor, you noticed something very peculiar. Those "big people" were not crawling. They were mobiling around the room on TWO legs. You sat up in the middle of the floor and thought about that. It seemed to be a very efficient way to get about. More importantly, if you could learn to do that, it would put your hands within reach of the cookie jar! You decided that if they could navigate on two legs, surely you could too. So, you crawled over to the coffee table, grasped a corner, pulled yourself up, and promptly toppled over on your round, little bottom. However, after several weeks of persistent effort, you did learn to walk! Fellow toastmasters, consider with me for a few moments the day you learned to walk -- for on that day, you were taught two of the most important lessons you've ever learned. The first lesson you learned was -- "Baby Steps." When you first learned to walk, you did not go outside and run down the street, you did not run around your yard, you did not even run around the living room. You took baby steps. Many of life's goals are the same. Several years ago, I decided I wanted to run a marathon. There was no logical reason to run a marathon -- there still isn't. I think it may be some sort of brain damage. I don't even like to drive 26 miles, but I wanted to run it! As I trained for the race, I learned an important lesson about marathons -- nobody can run one. Twenty-six miles is a long way! Rather, what I learned was run just one step, then another, then another. If I can just run enough steps, I'll go 26 miles. What are your goals? Would you like to write a book? You can't do it. But you can write one page today, another tomorrow, another the day after, and continue writing just one a day until you finish your book. Take those "baby steps." Would you like to learn a language? Learn one word at a time. Take "baby steps." It's good to have grand goals for your life, but don't let the size of your goal discourage you. Remember the lesson you learned many years ago -- start with baby steps. The other lesson you learned when you first began to walk was -- "Belief." You took those steps because you believed you could. You had no doubt about your abilities. You didn't worry about what someone else would think. You didn't worry about failure. You didn't even do a risk assessment. You simply started walking. As we grew older, we forgot the innocent conviction of our youth. We've been told "You can't" and "Don't" so many times, we have grown to believe it. We must again learn to believe in ourselves and simply "start walking." An anonymous poet wrote:
Henry Ford stated the same thought more succinctly: "Think you can or think you can't, either way, you're right." Fellow Toastmasters, remember the day you learned to walk -- for on that day, you were taught two of the most important lessons you've ever learned: Baby Steps and Belief! Mister Contest Chair.
This Document Last Modified on April 29, 1998. |
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George R. Self |