Lessons from 2025
Background
As per Toastmasters tradition, each speaker presents an initial “ice-breaker” speech in which they share their journey so far.
I chose to talk about the lessons I learnt over the last year, which was a big turning point in my life.
Transcript
Hey all, I am Abhishek and for my ice-breaker speech, I want to talk to you about the three lessions I learnt over the last year.
The last year was a bit of a turning point for me - I left my job at Google to start my own company. The company ultimately could not take off, and I chose to work as a early stage startup. I had a lot of experiences that I otherwise would not have, and had a lot of time to think things through.
Onto the lessons!
Taking a calculated risk
Audience interaction: How many of you have taken risks? Regretted it? How many of you have not taken a major risk? Regretted it?
I have taken a few big risks in life and I am happy to report back that life goes on.
Everyone starts off with a borrowed vision of their life from society (career, marriage, kids, home), and everyone has to figure what is their authentic vision of life. It’s just some do it in their 20s, some in their 30s and some never. Some take risks, others do not.
Takeaway: Identify the areas of life where you are inauthentic. Why and how can you be more authentic?
Think in terms of months and years.
Audience interaction: How long do you think it will take for an average person to build a physique like Chris Evans (Captain America)? 6 months? A year? 2 years? More than that?
When I started working out last year in April, I couldn’t do a pull up. In fact, I needed 50kg of assistance to do a pull up, which is a lot. Workout to workout, I would add a rep here and there, each month I would add a bit more weight. I was frustrated at my slow progress and unrealistic expectations.
But with enough of these not particularly impressive months, I have gone from needing a lot of assistance to being able to do a few pull-ups. Each individual workout pushed the needle slightly but the consistent efforts over a long enough timeframe accumulated to a drastic difference.
Takeaway: Where in life does slow progress frustrate you? Can you think longer term?
Imagine the world as a warm, social place
I came across this phrase by Dr Thomas Smithyman, a psychologist who specializes in anxiety. He wondered why some people can easily make friends at any place while others struggle. He found that the difference is intention. If we view the world as a cold, dangerous place - we become close and guarded, and unable to make friends. By viewing world as a warm, social place place, our body language opens up, we ask more questions and share more of our lives. Building connections becomes easier.
I had to come out of my shell as an entrepreneur, and I talked to people from all walks of life - customers, investors, prospective employees and people have been generous enough with their time and kind enough to listen to me.
I remember in one of our conversations I made a self-deprecating comment and Tanuja ma’am reminded me that to apprepriate the small wins in life. I could tell you similar stories about Lalitha, Arun, Sahil and more - which points to kindess and warmth being the norm rather than exception.
Takeaway: Imagine the world as a warm, social place
Conclusion
To conclude, what I have learnt over the last year is to take risks to live an authentic life, to be patient and think long, and to realize that the world is a warm, social place.
Hope some of this resonates with you. Thank you for your time.
Recording
TODO: upload once available.
Thoughts
All things considered, I am happy with the progress that I have made. I wasn’t quite sure if I can present the speech without being a complete mess.
Writing
- My speech has about ~600 words. As per online calculator, it should take 4:15 minutes - which is wrong by a fair margin. Can only trust practicing the speech against a stopwatch.
- I am surprised by how much and how little can you say in 6 minutes of a prepared speech.
- I need to put more weight onto the point of each section. For example: in “taking risks”, I talk about inauthenticity but I can drive the point further to say inauthentic lives are unfulfilling.
- I need to work more on the transitions between the sections.
Presentation
- Remembered all of the speech, struck major points.
- Appeared and felt confident.
- Interacted with audience pretty well.
- Expressive with hand motions.
- Need to learn: pauses, eye contact, movement around stage and voice modulation.
What’s next?
- Figure out how to practice pauses, eye contact and moving around the stage.
- Sign up for another speech in April and prepare for it.