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How to Increase Your Happiness, Let Go of Outcomes, and Liberate Yourself
In early 2017, for the 5th year in a row, I competed in the Toastmasters International Speech Contest, known as the World Championship of Public Speaking. In this contest, you have 5 to 7 minutes to speak on any topic of your choice to the best of your ability — usually something inspirational, but it doesn’t have to be. If you’re not already familiar with it, Toastmasters is a worldwide organization that helps people to improve their public speaking and leadership skills. The levels of the International speech contest are as follows:
Club level: You compete against fellow speakers at your club (the group you attend for regular bi-weekly meetings).
Area level: If you win at the club level, you go on to compete against the club-level winners from across the “area”, usually consisting of clubs from some of the surrounding towns.
Division level: If you win at the area level, you go on to compete against other area-level winners at the Division level. This is where you are competing against the best speakers from across the state.
Division level: If you win at the Division level, you go on to compete against fellow Division-level winners. This is where you are competing against speakers from across several states. I’m in District 53, and our…
