In continuing with the whole communication thing I’ve had going over the past while, today I gave a small speech to a 5K clinic at my usual Running Room. About a month or two ago, the guy currently running the clinic asked me if I was available to give a talk. See, he was once part of my half marathon clinic back when I was coaching it. I guess I left a good impression on him if he actually sought me out. In the past, I’ve given talks on the topic of motivation before. That topic felt easy, if only because the easiest way for me to cover that topic was just to give an outline of my running history, which I think is fairly inspirational. It’s not like I’ve had to overcome tough obstacles like cancer or blindness, but the whole averageness of my journey makes me easy to relate to. At least, that’s how I’d like to think about it. So yeah, that’s what I’m used to talking about. Instead though, I was asked to give the talk on goal setting.

Whaaaaa?

I’ve seen this talk given before by a few people. It’s a fairly straightforward topic. There are a lot of basic ideas to convey. For my speech, since I was somewhat comfortable talking about my journey, I decided to talk about goal setting as seen through my experiences. I brought in a few of my medals to help carry the ideas along. I actually spent some time jotting down points that I should cover. Each talking point had a story attached. In my head, the talk was going to go over wonderfully. Truthfully, I should have practiced, but there was just no time. I figured that if I talked from the heart that I’d be able to wing it.

Well…

I’m sure if I asked people that I knew that saw the speech, they’d probably tell me that it was just fine. I got that much from one of the staff that knows me. Personally, I kind of feel like I was rambling and scatter-brained. I’m not sure anyone came out with a better idea of how to set goals. Perhaps I’m being far too hard on myself (as usual). I’m sure there have been worse speakers out there. I’m sure there have been better ones. I wonder how many of the better ones are actual speakers though.

I think this is just another example of just how I need to lighten up and not apply so much pressure to myself to perform perfectly every single time. I didn’t kill anyone, and I didn’t make a horrible fool of myself. I did what I could do. Time to move on.