TM Basic Speech #3: Charting Your Course

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A little background: I wrote this 2 hours before Toastmaster's Club meeting starts. I was about to deliver my 3rd basic speech. Yesterday, I was working with a lot of things and figured I can just write my speech in the evening but when I went home, I was already too tired and too uninspired to write so I just went straight to bed. I woke up and was still uninspired in writing my speech. I thought of canceling my delivery but then I prayed and claimed God's promised in Psalms 23 -"You anoint my head with oil my cup overflows." So I asked Jesus for His HOLY SPIRIT to be ANOINTED on me and asked for my cup (my life) to overflow with His GOODNESS, LOVE, JOY, PEACE, BLESSING, and WISDOM. So I went and typed my ideas down. It took me less than 1 hour to write it down. After typing this in my keyboard, one of the club officers approached me and told me the meeting will be canceled. I found this to be comforting because even though I feel comfortable with this speech, I still have to master my delivery. My second speech was not really good so I really want to make up for what I lost. In this speech, I played with ideas that I picked up from, Jim Rohn, Pastor Noel Centino (he inspired with scriptures from the WORD. I'm teelling you he makes it sound so practical.), Dr. Nonoy Puaso, and Og Mandino. This speech is a an evolving gem because God gave this to me. He helped me put these things together. I'm telling you, I am just typing like I already know what to say. I hope you will enjoy this piece.

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Charting Your Course

Our life can be liken into a sailboat floating in a wide ocean. We cannot control the sea, the wind, the waves, and the weather but we can set a better sail to cruise through this wide ocean of a lifetime. We can choose to let the waves of circumstances sweep us anywhere but we can choose to chart our course. We can choose to set the direction of our lives. Today, allow me to share to you some thoughts on charting our course to this wide sea and hopefully these ideas can bring you value.

In cruising in this life, we need a destination. Our destination is our dream. Without a dream we are not going anywhere. The Bible says that as a man thinketh in his heart so he will become. We can become by the dream that we usually think about. So right now, ask yourself, what am I usually thinking about? What usually dominates your thought? Whatever it is, it will become you in the future. Now, in dreaming, we can have small dream and we can also choose to dream big. Donald Trump once said, “Dream big or go home”. I don't know if you believe in the same philosophy or not. I shared this concept to my friends and one of them asked me, "Joseph, Am I going to dream an attainable dream or will I dream big?" I told her, you know if you think about it, all dreams are attainable. We must not mistake in equating dreaming big to impossible dream. If your dream is only based on what you have right now then you will put a limit on what you will become 15-20 years from now. Remember that King David was a shepherd boy. If he limited his thinking of that of a shepherd boy then He would not be a King. Instead of dwelling on the shepherd boy thinking, he dreamt big and fought his giants and now he is known to be one of the greatest King, Israel has ever had. So I encourage you to dream big dreams.

I believe the next thing in dreaming big is writing your dreams down. The Bible says, "Write down the vision (meaning your dreams) in a stone tablet." I believe God want us to write down our vision so that when circumstances are against us our dreams will still remain in stone tablets. One of my mentors, by the name of Nonoy Puaso, told me 2 years ago to write down 100 dreams. I was only able to write down about 50. I stopped writing my dreams for one year and now, my mentor begun to coach me again and he told me the same thing, "Joseph write down your dreams. If you are too lazy to write your dreams down, then how much more in fulfilling them." So it prod me to check the goals that I have written in 2005 and found that out of the 50 dreams I was able to make 9 of them. I was able to make 9 because I allowed the wind to take me where it wanted. I allowed the waves to sweep me. Now what if I concentrated my efforts on my dreams? I probably could make more.

This will bring us to my next key - TAKE ACTION. To quote Og Mandino, "My dreams are worthless, my plans are dust, and my goals are impossible. All are of no value unless followed by action… Action alone will bring value to the market place and to multiply my value I must multiply my action… I will act NOW.” So act on your dreams. The Bible says, daydreamers will not get anything. Action is the line that differentiates those that will make it and those that won’t.

Lastly, don’t forget that what you have is just a roadmap. You can still get lost in the sea of discouragement and despair. Not to mention the waves of selfishness and greed so navigate using the stars. Look up. And commit you plans in the LORD. Proverbs 3:5,6 says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your won understanding. In all your ways acknowledge God and He shall direct you path." Commit your ways to Him. I have tried many times to go on without God's leading but nothing worked. So I committed to God my plans and I realized I was more productive. I have less heartache. You see God can do more than you could ever think or ask for. Jeremiah 29:11 say, God's plan for us is to prosper us and not to harm us to give us hope and a future. Don't forget that God a bigger and better plan for you so commit you ways to Him.

Again don't forget, to dream big dreams, write down your dreams, take action, and Commit your plans to the LORD.If you do that,you will better chart the course of your sailboat.