Happy New Year everyone. Wishing everyone a wonderful year ahead. This is my first step to this blog’s revival. Updates coming soon.

Regards,
KaizenKoh

Happy New Year 2012 is a post from: Kaizenkoh's Life's Journey and Lessons

I’ve neglected this space of expression for more than a month. It seems as if it’s another cycle from last year but here I am again, putting in the time and energy to de-choke and express again.

Shall reflect shortly about February that passed.

The beginning of February was filled with activity. We had Chinese New Year which marked the beginning of The Rabbit Year. It seemed almost routine for the past few years. Reunion dinner, people will visit us, we will visit people and talk about the happy times and play catch up. It did seem as if I had to entertain the questions that were asked the previous years which revolved around the themes of where I am now, what am I doing now and what will I be doing in the near future. Nothing fancy nothing new. Of course, I enjoy the company and reconnecting with my relatives and friends though it does seem pretty touch and go mostly.

My focus has really been on Toastmasters ever since the start of this year and the flame has only been fanned stronger with increased in activity. My colleagues tease me at times for spending so much of my time on something so “cultish”. I figure, I’d rather be focusing on something that leads to my growth, rather than just stay bored and spend my nights learning nothing, digress away from my passions. At least I know by doing and learning, I’ve grown.

Spending precious time with my dad. I’ve really enjoyed spending my dinners with dad when I can. Though they might be a tad too long, shifting my attention and energies away from my learning and implementation, I know it’s quality time that he and I will treasure for years to come. I do foresee myself getting busier and busier once I start school in a few months time and ultimately start work in a few years. It will feel like primary school once again, reversed. This time, I will be the one away whilst he will be really enjoying life =).

Looking ahead in March.

Tweaking my time and energy management. I realised that even if you can manage time, without the energy, you will not have the mood to do anything productive. In February, I “free” days after work, with no Toastmaster activity or dinners, but I did not have the drive or motivation to do anything else than relax. By putting in my all during the 9 and a half hours at work, time which is practically stolen from me, my energy and attention levels have diminished.

This month, I will experiment and try to optimize my energy level, bringing it back up again. Created an exercise regime to swim/run and do yoga. Maybe even take up something new like Kayaking. Anyone interested to join in? Reduce sleeping time to 6 hours while still maintaining the high energy levels for most parts of the day. Let’s see how this will go…

Public Speaking and prsenting. Each chance to present is another chance to connect. Believing in that allowed me to expect higher from myself whenever I present. Now, I demand so much more from myself that each time I present, I strive to give my best in both content and delivery. It’s not that I want to be perfect, it’s more like there’s always one level up to strive for. After that level, there are many more levels, the road to improvement is never ending really. Maybe that’s why I enjoy doing it, knowing that I can get better each and every time.

March does indeed look like another busy month. Another 5 more months, I will be embarking on a different path. It’s getting very exciting indeed.

With Love,
Kelvin

Reflecting on Busy February and Looking Forward to Enriching March is a post from: Kaizenkoh's Life's Journey and Lessons

This week, I knew I was going to be busy running around right after work from 1 end of Singapore to another. During work, I found less time to do my own things and end up helping others because of the lack of manpower in the office. Sometimes I wonder if it’s really worth trying my best when I barely get any external rewards -.-. All these made the week pass by very quickly. I did not lose much sleep but I still lost some energy and zest along the way to get things done ending up delaying a lot. A few things did stand out though.

Meeting new people
Each time I go out to a Toastmaster meeting, I try to make a new friend or get to know someone new. I think within this month, I’ve managed to make at least one new friend every week. Most will become acquaintances while others might become closer friends. What I gain though is getting a wider perspective about how others live their lives. I get to see how one who is older thinks so much differently from those around my age. Those around my age still finding the ground and putting loads energy into things they love to do and create. By seeing so many perspectives, I observed that some people need encouragement while others need to open up their minds more. Those who are motivated don’t struggle but thrive in every action they take and learn from their experiences. Through interacting with so many people, it’s quite startling to see the differences and stereotypical views they hold. Nonetheless, most are willing to share and want a listening ear.

Toastmasters Meetings
Attended 3 this week. From an established club to a club yet to be established. Culture in an organization does show when an outsider like myself comes to observe and compare. Comparing with a certain set of principles I believe in makes some things even more certain. I am able to see key differences, some matter, some don’t. Some are worth following, while others are worth ditching. The key thing is that all these stems from the leaders. Leaders don’t only direct but also tend to set the culture. If you have a set of enthusiastic people leading compared to others who are just going through the motion, it shows in how the members react. Luckily, I’ve seen more good than bad although certain areas for improvement did stand out while visiting the clubs. Clubs that are yet to be established have great potential for growth as long as a right team of leaders are in with a support group from other clubs. It can work and it seems to be working for my own club too.

I discovered something else while visiting too. Gratitude is important and praise is powerful. I’ve been appreciative to all the help I get, giving due gratitude in kind or favour to those who have helped me out. For those that I help out, I get gratitude and praise too. This just makes the whole point of helping out more meaningful and furthermore, I feel that I am worthy. It’s not only recognition, it spurs me on to do even better too.

Meeting friends
I have not met my Poly friends in more than a month. I met up with some of them today finally. Time really flies and I see though some of their core character have not changed much, there are various changes even within this short period.

Some shortsighted, some learnt to be longsighted and think far for the future. Commonality is that all do not exactly know what the future will hold. Who does anyway? I guess we can pave it one decision at a time, hoping that it will be a fulfilling path. I guess we are at an age of finding out ground and feet before we leap into a career path. We can rely on the opinions and experiences shared by those who are currently pursuing education locally or abroad. Others who are already working and achieving what they want in life share another set of experiences. We can base the decision on those people’s experiences but one thing’s for sure, we will direct our own unique experience and live fulfilling it through our own decisions. Take the leap of faith then!

Am I worried I won’t see some of them the same time next year? Somewhat. I am glad that we will be moving on in life. I appreciate the lifelong friendships that I know will stay. I am aware that I will not meet them as often as I can from this year on. Hey, true friends do last and I am glad to spend this precious time available with them. At least we enrich ourselves socially by meeting up. Thank you guys =).

Love,
Kelvin Kaizen Koh

Week 3 Round Up! is a post from: Kaizenkoh's Life's Journey and Lessons

I just read something interesting about policies in organizations in the book “Rework” by Jason Fried. He suggests that the urge to create a policy because someone did something wrong or when something goes wrong, it amounts to scarring the organization. “Someone slept on the couch till 5 mins after lunch!”, New Policy- “Every time you want to use a couch, you need to have an alarm beside you to wake you up.” How ridiculous is that?

It does suck, especially when it’s not your fault
Why is there a need to have a collective punishment for all just because of an individual’s misdeed? You could give a stern warning at first or tell the person not to do it again. If he/she persists, then it’s the problem with him or her. Nothing really to do with the whole team. It is not only unfair to punish the whole team but it creates the much hated culture of bureaucracy, one policy at a time. Tragic.

When to have policies then?
The above is how policies can ruin or degenerate a good culture. However, I do agree that policies are important for certain situations though. If the problem is collective and keeps coming up over and over again. If something keeps going wrong, it might be the system or the lack of checks put in place which affects everyone, not only a certain individual. You will see this when something goes wrong very often or people get recalcitrant. Thus, it becomes a collective problem and maybe a policy to correct or put certain regulation in place for people to follow and solve the problem.

Find the policy/welfare sweet spot.
There is big talk about welfare too. Policies and welfare don’t exactly go hand in hand but I think by considering welfare of the people before implementing a policy, it will make a policy seem less invasive and more respectable. Welfare usually means that there is a chance to bend the rules a little to give people some breathing space to take a step back and enjoy certain privileges. Policies tend to crush welfare, strangle it by the neck and control it, leading to mistrust and negativity. What can be done is to complement the policies and welfare. There can be some give and take when it comes to being stringent or flexible. Make some policies stretchable or less stringent while making welfare more accessible while still observing some rules in the policies made.

Yes, there might be scarring in an organization’s culture through the wrong implementation of policies. I believe that finding the balance between welfare and policies might just do the trick of creating a better and more versatile culture. This can allow the people to express themselves better, fear less and do more, feeling less forced and more motivated.

Love,?Kelvin Kaizen Koh

Policies- A form of Organizational Culture Scarring? is a post from: Kaizenkoh's Life's Journey and Lessons

Some people call me positive, I call myself a possiblist. Whenever someone says “cannot!”, I say “try first!” However, I realized that when it comes to my father, I start to negate the negative and think less of the possibilities and what can be done to move forward. In other words, I start using negative language and sound negative. I think this behaviour is a cause of being emotional.

When my dad does something “outrageous” or out of line which is very usual, I will roll my eyes and say he will make a fool out of himself. For example, parking in some illegal parking lot. Though he got away thousands of times he still got fined many times. After each fine he will go and appeal with some reasons which he deemed valid and got the fine voided. However, most of the time, I said he will not be able to do so because they already had a record of him being a multiple offender and will reject his appeal. Guess what? I was wrong each time I said that. He manage to appeal and get the fine voided. -.-

Instead of negating the negative. Which means, trying to say “it’s not possible to get out!” because you are already in deep trouble or saying “you should not have done it in the first place!”, I’ve learnt that we ought to look forward. Look at what’s possible. Do this by changing a few things.

Changing my thinking
I have to see things as they are, especially problems. What state are we in now? What’s the situation? Is it really that bad?, maybe not.

Think about “what can be done for the future?” How do we prevent the problem from happening again? More importantly, think that it is possible to get out of the deep end onto dry land.

Instead of being too emotional about the situation and retorting back negatively straight away, take a step back and mentally assess the situation, then think forward.

Change my language
We react emotionally sometimes and what comes out of our mouth does not reflect well about what we want to mean to change. We have to be aware of the language and the words used.

The point is, keep quiet first, think about what can be done, then think about how you are going to express it. Are you going to be harsh and nag or serious, firm and assertive? Nagging, usually expressed in past tense, and focusing on what has been done does not help put the other party into the “what can be done next” state but hinder him from doing that. We will need to use future tenses and focus on what can be done while expressing it in a serious and firm tone.

Instead of saying “why did you do it so badly! You should have done better after practise!”, say “You might have been careless, but I am sure with more practise, you will be able to do well again next time”. The meanings are almost similar but expressed very differently.

My dad has the wonderful ability to say “let’s try first!”, ignoring external critics. He is able to “play with the possible”. He looks forward and has the confidence to try things out first before thinking or saying that it cannot be done. By trying to negate his negatives, I learnt that it’s much better thinking and changing the way we speak to others about how to think forward and solve problems. Try it and may you be amazed that you will end up getting more done well and becoming happier.

Love,
Kelvin Kaizen Koh

Don’t Negate the Negative, Just Play with the Possible is a post from: Kaizenkoh's Life's Journey and Lessons

Just 2 very short updates.

Concluded SpeechCraft
It is only midway. Speechcraft has ended, I am midway through my term as an ExCo in Telok Blangah Toastmaster club. Experiences about Speechcraft will be updated on my club’s blog. All I want to say here is that, organizing workshops like these can be challenging. For example, although I’ve seen the need to deal with change in the previous Speechcraft, getting the change to experience and deal with changes when I was the coordinator certainly made me get out of my comfort zone to fix things. That’s just one of the many things I’ve learnt. It was certainly exciting, enriching and fulfilling.

Sick
I don’t fall sick often. You know the usual sore throat, flu, fever, cough. One of these ailments might lead to another. In fact, I only got sick once last year. I usually recover within 1 day with proper sleep, food and hydration. This time I didn’t. I was quite surprised that I fell sick this time though. I felt it coming the night before (thursday) and woke up with a sore throat, quickly ate a lozenges which cured the sore throat. The flu virus then took over and I was left with a running nose and blocked ears. Not being used to getting sick, I hated the feeling. I could not focus, I felt like sleeping and I had an on-off throbbing headache. Luckily, on Friday, I was excused and did nothing in the office except stare into space and trying to think, but I couldn’t really think about anything. It was terrible.

I must admit, I had thoughts about getting sick to get MC and stay at home just to rest. I shall vanquish that thought from now on. Getting sick is totally not worth it. I’d rather stay healthy, fit and well to be productive instead of “wasting time and energy” getting sick like these 3 days.

Looking forward to the long week ahead.
Hopefully, I will recover by Tuesday when I need to go down to Frontier Toastmasters Club for a Language Evaluator role and 2 other speaking roles at new clubs during the weekends. Am I overcommitting? Maybe, but I feel that the momentum just keeps on growing …

I lost some blogging momentum, will pick it back up next week after I’ve recovered.

Love,
Kelvin Kaizen Koh

Week 2 Review- Sick end is a post from: Kaizenkoh's Life's Journey and Lessons

I like to give. Giving make me happy. Without giving, I will be reluctant to take. I realized that taking is as important as giving though. It is alright to take after you give and I’ve learnt this as a good value to take note of based on a few reasons.

It is polite and courteous to take after giving
After you give something e.g. a favour or a token of appreciation, it does not mean that the other person owes you anything. It just means that he is given a reason to give back and for you to take. If he does so with his heart, he is acting out of his kindness and is trying to be fair to repay the favour in some way. By receiving something from him in the future e.g. a gift for the favour done, you are expressing a form of gratitude. This extends your consideration or courtesy of taking his gift as a value of his gratitude which will make him feel like he has repaid the favour in some kind.

Accept, not reject “taking” back.
Building upon from the above reason, you might even consider rejecting the person’s gift which you ought to take. I do this quite often because I feel that the person does not owe me anything nor do I have the need for the gift or return of favour. However, just by rejecting the “return of favour”, more often than not, you’ve made the person feel bad. He feels bad because he wants you to accept it wholeheartedly but you did not allow it and pushed it back to him. He feels rejected and maybe even dejected. He subconscious might question himself “is my gift not good enough for you?” and other drifting negative thoughts which might not be true. This makes you look bad in the end, though you have your good reasons not to accept the gift. Point it, don’t think so much, when something is returned in favour, accept it, it will make the giving party feel good.

Reason for you to do more good
By accepting and taking back after giving, you now have a reason to do more good for the person. You will be compelled to be kinder and considerate to the other person’s needs. This builds on the relationship or friendship and the principle to reciprocate. You will be seen as someone who is willing to help whenever they need help. They will be willing to give back to you as long as you accept it gladly, while you will be willing to help them because they gave back. It’s the cycle of give and take.

Of course with the above being said, we cannot hide from the fact that people take our “givings” and favours for granted sometimes and never give back. Those are the people who take without giving and we would naturally stay away from them. For those who do give back, however, there are good reasons like the above to accept what they’ve returned, be it in kind or physical gifts. Give as much as you can, but remember to take back too =).

Love,
Kelvin Kaizen Koh

To Give and Take is a post from: Kaizenkoh's Life's Journey and Lessons

It has been 7 days since the start of the New Year. This is day 8. So far, I am happy with my progress. It has been a busy week though not rest depriving as of yet. Sunday shall be recovery day and today shall be reflection day.

Blogging Everyday
Though I did not declare, I’ve made a promise to myself to try to blog every day since the start of new year, stretching the goal of blogging more often, doing the extreme. I’d be honest. I am writing this on Sunday, not the Saturday as the date stated above. In fact, some of the above posts were only completed 1 day after. Therefore, I’ve missed a few days but made it look like I blogged everyday. It doesn’t really matter though. In relative terms to last year, I’ve made tremendous progress. Last year, I barely blogged once every month. This year, my keyboard is dirtier in 1 week than the whole of last year combined.

Although I made it look I blogged everyday, I am proud to announce that I managed to blog almost everyday since the start of the year (technically). That took me much discipline and perseverance because there were days when I did feel like not blogging. However, I told myself that there is information out there or that I’ve experienced in the week where I found interesting and ought to be shared and I should make the effort to craft something meaningful.

Distraction Cut Out!
Another contributing factor to my progress was the decision to cut off MSN temporarily. I know, I did say I will cut it off for 1 month entirely but I needed to use it to communicate and arrange meetings with people so I ended up using it anyway. I disciplined myself to access it only at night. My friends were asking me about the commitment, I told them the above reason, which is true. I think I can go one step in answer to cut down usage. I will only access it a few minutes before I sleep then go off exactly the time when I planned to sleep. Let’s experiment with that next week =).

Cutting off distractions is a gradual process as I’ve described in my previous post : My Commitment to Cut Out Distractions. What are your distractions in 2010 that you risk being affected by in 2011 as well? Consider them and take steps to try to cut them out. It will do you good as it has done for me, even in just 1 week.

Crafting and Delivering My Advanced Speech
Another success I would like to highlight is the speed I was able to craft a speech in a shorter time then I expected. I often read and am told that we need not craft perfect speeches. I feel that we need to have a sense and attitude of excellence though. In Toastmasters, every speaking chance is another precious moment to practise a speech. If we don’t put in the effort to craft or prepare a speech that will have an impact for the audience, you will feel that you’ve let yourself down even more. It has happened before to me. I crafted a speech, did not practise and fell horribly flat during delivery. You can see it in the eyes of the audience right after the speech ends, they aren’t impressed. Whereas, when I prepare a great speech, practise it and deliver it with confidence, it gives the audience something to enjoy and think about the subject/topic spoken about. Ok, that was a small digression…

Even though I crafted my speech on Wednesday which was supposed to be delivered on Thursday, I was able to deliver it with confidence. However, the Advanced Speech Projects absolutely need a higher level of skill in crafting a great speech. I fell short in the “content” aspect of the speech and was evaluated and marked down based on that. That will be my focus for future speeches and I will be strategizing as well as seeking advice on how to improve on content.

Lastly, I would like to share points about being inspired.
In my previous post, I talked about the things I’ve learnt while leading in the army. However,  that particular place really isn’t an inspiring place to be in. I try my best to get inspired by sources outside. From static materials like books, videos, articles and websites to dynamic experiences with people and other organizations like Toastmasters. Getting inspired isn’t really that hard at all.

If you’ve noticed, most of the posts I’ve created touch about motivation and inspiration themes in one way or another. By creating such posts, it reinforces the things I’ve learnt in the materials, people and other experiences. I think that’s the reason I am keen to focus on creating posts on such topics too. So that’s one way of getting inspired, reflecting and creating something (e.g. writing/blogging) about it.

Another way I discovered that’s very important is meeting people who you can learn from and continue to get inspired to take action. We must be willing to go out there, pursue our passions and meet people to learn from. By joining Toastmasters, I’ve networked and managed to meet very motivated people who consistently take action for the organization and other passions of theirs. Just by meeting them, knowing them, listening to them, you will feel like you can make a difference and will be spurred on to do so as well. It is that powerful. So, I do encourage all to join an organization or group whereby there are people you can look to for support and more importantly, inspiration.

That all for now…
These are a few of the learning points for this week. I plan to write more useful and practical information with a personal touch. This is mainly for application sake. After all, what good is knowledge and reflections if they can’t be applied for future use. What do you think? What style of blogging should I adopt? Would like to hear from you too.

I hope this post inspires you to take more action and have a great 2nd week in this wonderful new year.

With Love,
Kelvin “Kaizen” Koh

Week 1 Round-Up is a post from: Kaizenkoh's Life's Journey and Lessons

Well, not exactly very long. I had to wait 50 weeks before the 2 weeks break which went by in a glimpse of an eye. It’s was indeed an eye opening experience during the first day I stepped into the office this year. It was mostly mentally frustrating though as the flaws of the systems in the office unveiled themselves. That totally made my Tuesday feel like a week instead of a day. I went home quite tired out.

There are big problems with the work environment which won’t be and can’t be changed unless the people want to change. I feel like blaming people and things but I will take it as if I am responsible for most things though my sphere of influence is small, I still have a small stake in influence as I am somewhat playing a mini-leader role. Below are a few problems and “sound” solutions which seemed to work well when I am put in charge of leading.

People don’t initiate and direct, I do
Honestly, I am glad that I am given this mini-leader role because I have learnt a lot from it. I learnt that I have to lead myself first, then lead others. I would very much like to take on the mindset of being there for only 2 years and getting such a low pay, thus the work and effort I put in should be relative, but I can’t seem to. I have the urge to be responsible for any work I am given because there are always consequences, good or bad, depending how you do it.

With this sense of responsibility, I need to act and get things done by starting first, to initiate. I noticed this seemed to work well too. Once I start doing the work, some people will automatically follow, others won’t. They won’t because they don’t know how to or don’t want to. If they don’t know how to, I will teach them and they learn and do. If they don’t want to, they will end up feeling somewhat guilty, seeing me start and others follow and start doing the work anyway. For those who are dead reluctant to start, they eventually understand the consequences like being despised or even outcasted. Of course, it doesn’t really get to that extreme but it is a possibility.

The phrase “lead by example” is truly practical and ought to be taken literally.

People don’t see a need to put in the effort to THINK how to get things done efficiently and effectively, I do
Firstly, people will need to at least care for the work. This isn’t motivation but rather having the sense of responsibility which I described earlier on. Next, they will need to understand that there needs to be a system to follow, a step by step approach to get the work done. Then, to deal with changes when they arise and tweak the system accordingly for optimal results.

The problem arises when people don’t bother to go through that thought process. Likewise, they might not know how to. For those who don’t know how to, there are always people around to direct them. However, for those who know they can, don’t want to THINK.

I find it quite sad. Being in school for about 15 years for most of us, we were made to think every single day to tackle classwork or homework. When it came to work, the brain just seems to shut down. The education system has seemingly failed to instill practical wisdom in students. Though that’s another issue altogether, I can see it’s effect on people at work.

We need to have the belief that things are possible to get done efficiently and effectively. The next step is just to THINK how to do it and then DO IT. 1,2 steps and things get going and get done. Tweak along the way and get things done better. I am repeating it because it is worth repeating and remembering. It isn’t so hard to do, so people, DO IT.

People just don’t have the motivation, I try to have it.
This is the most important reason. It is the crux of the matter. The place I work in has neither extrinsic nor does it arouse intrinsic motivation. Without this, people won’t feel driven to start work much less completing the work. They won’t even bother being responsible, therefore, won’t even bother to think about how to do things properly. Other factors include things like the boss, things will NEVER be finished as there is always things to be done or the fact that they don’t know how to do. That is the general mindset and I don’t blame them because of the situation/place we are all in.

However, being given a responsibility to be a mini-leader, it means I am also responsible for the people and how they perform. Therefore, I have no choice but to lead well. I force myself to have the motivation by having a positive mindset about things. For example, I treat them as my friends or how I would like them to treat me. When I start to do things, I ask them do it too but also do it along with them, not just leaving them to do it alone. This has seem to work.

So what do I do?
I do what I can do. When people don’t do things, nothing moves. I guess the only way for them to do things is to make myself the example to initiate the process and direct those who don’t know what to do to do them. For those who really don’t know how, I try my best to help. Like what I mentioned earlier too, I genuinely become their friends and lend support even outside the workplace. This builds trust and ultimately good working relationships which enables things to flow and get done easier.

It indeed takes a lot to lead. You have to be aware of your attitude, character and of course actions that have an effect or have an impact on people. Leadership is also experimental. You need to test out what works to lead some people and what doesn’t. People prefer to be lead differently as they are different. To lead well, you will need to find a balance between the pressures of work as well as the relationships between the people.

Well, that’s just some of my thoughts of leading and how I manage to overcome some obstacles while trying to lead and gain support to get work done. For those leaders out there, “The only real training for leadership is leadership”.

With Love,
Kelvin

Leadership Epiphany in The A*** is a post from: Kaizenkoh's Life's Journey and Lessons

Ignore the title. This is a huge disclaimer that is the irony. In actual fact, I don’t recommend multitasking, especially with work. However, based on certain circumstances, you will need to multitask and complete the tasks as well as you would if you are focused only on one task. I had this wonderful experience in such a long time today at Telok Blangah Toastmaster’s Club SpeechCraft Session #3.

Due to certain changes in the program and waiting time for replies, I was challenged to look for more evaluators for the speakers within the Holiday Month (Xmas and New Year) whereby most people are busy. I tried my best but still could not find enough to replace myself. So I ended up taking up the role. I also took on an Advanced Project from the Storytelling manual. All these were on top of organizing the meeting and coordinating it, being the host then. I ended up doing 4 things for and in the meeting, Coordinator, Host/Introducer, Speaker and Evaluator.

I eventually managed to handle all the roles pretty well, albeit some hiccups here and there. The main reason was because they were all not all to be done at one go. Technically speaking, it isn’t the typical multitasking at a certain moment but rather multitasking for the different periods in the same session of “work”.

Even if it’s so, by multitasking in this manner, I learnt that I am able to do it despite it being seemingly overwhelming. This gives me the confidence to take on projects or tasks in the similar situation and execute. I have identified a few areas that one will experience, learn and accomplish by plucking up the courage to multitask in such a manner.

Be clear of the action steps
I mentioned that I was the coordinator of SpeechCraft. This meant I had control over the planning of the meeting and was the leader during the session itself. This given role meant that I had to learn to be clear about what I am doing and how it can affect the whole session’s procedure.
Planning and coordinating meetings is a dynamic process and not absolutely step by step. The level of awareness has to be very high. Having to be aware of the people, what want to do and whether they will end up not doing or pull out are concerns of a planner like myself. I will then need to take the action steps to rectify the problems of “pulling out” if it does happen by either getting replacements or dropping a slot (like speaking).

During the sessions, I will need to organize the materials to be used at each point of the different roles I will be playing. For example, at the start of the meeting, I have an introduction sheet to the meeting program and the various things I need to speak on (agenda for the day, revision etc.). Then, it moves on to introducing the next segment and so on. While doing evaluation, I will need my rough paper, template and the Speaker’s manual. As you can see, in reality, things can get messy logistically.

You can tell from the above examples that I was indeed clear about what I needed to do and the appropriate action steps to take. I managed to plan the session well and dealt with the last minute changes. During the session, I was clear about the materials I needed to prepare and action to take at each segment of the session. However, this leads me to the next point to…

Stay calm and focused
The hiccups I mentioned was not because I was nervous but rather feeling a little overwhelmed at times. A gush of adrenaline and stress hormones seemed to be made active. My brain went from no stress to distress and I became careless and unfocused. The action steps taken were sometimes messy and all over the place, whilst I involuntarily missed out or forgot some points to note.

Staying calm and focused while facing change and transition is indeed difficult and easier said than done. There are ways to do so though.

One of which I found to be useful is to be prepared and confident about following through. By going through mentally on the spot what has to be done next allows your conscious and subconscious mind to be prepared to take the next action in a confident manner. Think about “What’s the next best step?” will trigger the answers or at least more relevant questions to be addressed concerning the situation. When I thought of the “next best step”, quickly assessing it’s consequence (usually good) and doing it, you tend to feel more focused and calm, in turn becoming more efficient and effective in execution of the tasks.

Know that there’s always support groups

Although I would love to clone myself sometimes, that’s not entirely possible. What I am grateful for however, is the support that I know I have and can get. In Toastmasters, my support groups are my Exco members and dedicated Toastmasters from other clubs.

While I’ve feared about not being able to handle things, I know that there is always a group of people supporting me. This is definitely reassuring for someone who’s planning because organizing the sessions can be (although it’s better not) a one-man show, but running them is a team game. Luckily, I have both groups supporting me for both organizing and running. My role seems to be the glue to bring the appropriate people together to run a successful session.

This is support by the groups is sustained by being grateful and appreciative, reciprocating the favors in a long term, especially when they need help. In a non-profit organisation like Toastmasters, we don’t trade money for favours but favours with favours and it takes a big heart to commit and do so, making it more meaningful. I am always grateful when I ask for help and I show this through my reciprocation of favours (e.g. helping out at their meetings). This is not just fair trade, it is essential trade to preserve good relations and bond the group together.

Just to end off…

As you can see, multitasking in such circumstances isn’t that bad, as long as you know what to do. The thing is, know when and how to multitask and aim to multitask well. Don’t multitask when not need as it has been proven to lower quality of work. However by multitasking the way I did has indeed taught me how to be more efficient and effective as well as less careless, more careful in dealing with people and things. I felt the sense of achievement at the end of the session when my support group and I managed to ensure the smooth proceedings and we all left happy, enriched and fulfilled. From what I know, more of this to come, in school, at work, especially when planning and running programs like workshops or events. At least I know now, I can do it!

With love,
Kelvin

I am able to multitask! Well, not really unless… is a post from: Kaizenkoh's Life's Journey and Lessons