consciouSynthesis

I have two things to share:

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i.    A story,
ii.    And a lesson for life

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The Story
The story takes me back to the time when I first joined Toastmasters International. Like many people are, when they first join Toastmasters, I was very afraid of public speaking. The thought of me, one day walking up to lectern to give my first speech sent chills down my spine.

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And so, when I was due to make my first speech I decided I was going to do everything I could to deal with this fear; to handle this nervousness.

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Now, nervousness in public speaking manifests in many different forms and one of those is quaking knees.
As I prepared for my first speech I remember reading a book that students of public speaking should be familiar with; it is entitled “The Art of Public Speaking”; it is from that book where I get the title: If your knees quake, MAKE them stop.

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Being seasoned teachers of public speaking, you expect the co-authors of this book (Dale Carnegie and J. Berg Esenwein) to provide strategies and secrets in dealing with the fear of public speaking. In many parts of the book, they do that; but in this one place, they only go as far as saying If your knees quake, MAKE them stop!

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The moment I read this, I knew the point they were trying to drive home: it is the things we know to do but just won’t do.

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The Lesson for Life
The thing that is lacking in many people is not KNOWLEDGE, it is ACTION. I have come to the conclusion that people know a lot … and if only they can begin to DO what they already know, their lives would be better than they already are. That is true for you and it is true for me.

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I usually like to say that there is less to life that we have been taught; now, the common saying is that there is more to life than we know, and that is true. But it is also true that there is less to life that we are taught. Sometimes, in our quest for more strategies we just complicate things: what is lacking is DOING with or without the strategies.

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For example, you don’t need any other secret to becoming a writer other than this: go home and start writing. That is the only way you become a writer; it is by writing!! How simple can it get?

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The only way you learn how to speak in public is by speaking in public; just like the only way the baby learns to walk is by walking. You will never learn how to swim in a classroom; you learn how to swim by swimming!!

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Things get done, when you do them. Otherwise they remain undone. It is that simple (or is it?).

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I wonder why we choose to go for the complicated. What do you do when your knees begin to quake whilst making a presentation? Make them stop!

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TAKE HOME LESSON
Here is a lesson I want you to take home: the difference between people is not what they know; it is what they do with what they know.

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Yours in Life, Passion, Simplicity

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Christopher Kabamba