Toastmasters Core Value: Excellence

When something matters to us, we strive for excellence.  Excellence is not perfection, but it is the outcome of continuing to do one's best over a period of time.  Even if an intermediate outcome is not something you would call excellence, you can achieve something closer to excellence the next time by learning from what did not go well and acting on ideas for how to improve.  Excellence is closely related to caring about something.

When it comes to the development of any skill, you won't go far if you don't care.  Having excellence as a core value of Toastmasters reminds us of why most members join Toastmasters in the first place:  to improve their communication skills, leadership skills, and/or self-confidence.  Continuous improvement is the path to excellence and you only advance on that path by caring about the outcome, by giving it your best effort and learning from any mistakes you make along the way.

There are many skills it would be nice to have, but only the ones I truly care about are the ones I focus on developing, and these are the ones in which I achieve excellence.  

As an example, I am passionate about computer programming.  I studied it in school, have a job where I use my skill in programming every day, and even continue to develop that skill in my free time.  If I have not already achieved excellence in the skill of computer programming, I am certainly well on my way because I put so much effort into it.

By contrast, several years ago I thought it would be neat to learn to play the violin.  I grew up learning to play the piano and thought it might be nice to learn to play another instrument.  The violin was something I had a passing interest in, so I bought one and took some lessons.  I learned the basics, and could play "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and a few other songs, but I didn't have the same passion for developing my skills with the violin as I did for developing other skills (like computer programming), so now the violin is sitting in a closet somewhere in my house and I haven't touched it in years.  I certainly did not reach anything close to excellence with the violin.

In these two examples, there is nothing "wrong" with the outcome.  I chose to focus on developing the skill I cared more about.  By joining Toastmasters, we say that we care about communication skills and/or leadership skills and/or self-confidence.  We are committing to taking action to improve those skills.  We are not saying the skills will develop quickly - everyone progresses at their own pace - but we are saying that as long as we are members of Toastmasters, we care about growing one or more of these skills; we want to reach excellence.

What skills do you care most about developing?  If communication, leadership, or self-confidence are on your list, Toastmasters membership might be a good fit for you.  Whatever skills you care about, I hope you will find a way to continue to care and thus continue on the path towards excellence.