Desire + Action = Success

As of January 1, 2008 a New Years resolution of mine was to expand my public speaking skills. In January, I attended my first Toastmasters International meeting. For those of you not familiar with Toastmasters, it was formed in 1924 in Santa Ana California and has grown to become a world leader in helping people become more competent and comfortable speaking in front of an audience. The nonprofit organization now has nearly 220,000 members in 11,300 clubs in 90 countries. To my amazement I found my membership in Toastmasters to be the perfect vehicle not only to improve upon my communication skills, it is also a fabulous opportunity to develop leadership skills through active club participation. I have discovered not only am I accomplishing my first resolution to expand my public speaking skills, but my additional goals of developing leadership skills, expanding my network of influence and inspiration to write more are all being realized, all through one decision to act on a desire.

Being part of a group of people in the form of a club is much like the model of the “Mastermind” that Napoleon Hill writes about in his famous book “Think & Grow Rich”. Mr. Hill defines a “Mastermind” as the “coordination of knowledge and effort in a spirit of harmony, between two or more people, for the attainment of a definite purpose.” He suggests that in a mastermind, individuals come together for a common cause and bring to the table their own personal expertise and innovative thought, where without the assistance of the mastermind, the individual path to success would be much more difficult. Thomas Edison and Henry Ford are among the great inventors and industrialists that Napoleon Hill credits with the use of the mastermind model to achieve greatness.

I share my recent experiences with you as yet another example of how the Universe delivers all the right people, all the right opportunities, even the right amount of funding if needed. All you have to do is provide the desire. Desire + Action = Success.

Have a prosperous week ahead. I send you all green lights…