I saw it again at a Toastmaster’s meeting last night. A young, very talented speaker, who was very anxious to get all the techniques down and become a world-class speaker. I often mention, in a situation like this, that this speaking thing is a process. It is a lifelong education not a single AP Speaking course.
It is a marathon not a sprint.
But I think that is not nuanced enough. There are plenty of times we have to sprint in this business. We have deadlines. We have calendar commitments and actual gigs we have to practice for and deliver. Lots of time we have to run as fast as we can. We sprint.
But it is also a marathon. We have to keep the faith — in ourselves, our work, our long goals. We have to run this marathon every day when we get up, when things aren’t working right. We have to remind ourselves that this is also a long distance journey. If we want to get there we have to be in it for the long haul as well.
It’s a marathon of sprints.
