Wrestling
Do you ever struggle picking a title for your speech? A good book says, you can entitle every speech you make "How to be more like me" because this is essentially what speeches are about. You give a person 5 minutes of undivided attention to learn a little bit: maybe you're missing out? So being in a speaking club is about learning how to be more like everybody else, in other words, how to be unique.
In that sense the Icebreaker is different. It's not about how to be more like me, it's about. "How did I get to be the way I am". Which is 20% less interesting then every other speech. That's why you give you 4 minutes for that, not 5. I better start my icebreaker.
There are 3 kinds of TMs: Professional (DTMs, Presidents, VPs), Potnential ( Guests) and Habitual.
I tried all three approaches. When I first joined BPTM I was so terrified of the Icebreaker that I joined a second TM club and Did my CC in parallel , in two clubs. I don't even hope that the third time is the charmer. But what really got me back in this room is the habit of wrestling.
I developed this habit in 5th grade. I was a witty , brainy and a bit chubby kid, second shortest in my class, I had a crush on a beautiful girl and one day I came home with a black eye. I felt like it was the end of my life. I decided get into a killer shape, started running every morning, joined a wrestling team, I tried every kind of wrestling out there, and I would wrestle anyone, even guys much bigger and stronger than me.
Now I would love to say that I won every fight since then, but of course it's not true. I would love to say that in a year I became a totally different person, but I did not. But I got a certain perspective, and that's precious. Once I was wrestling the guy twice my size, and he threw me when I was trying to throw him, so when I landed I felt like my spine is going to snap. People say that fear of public speaking is greater then fear of death, but at that moment, seeing my life flashing before my eyes I knew: Icebreaker is kids play.
My father used to be a Greco-Roman wrestling champion of Kiev, Ukraine, and my forefather Jacob later in life got his name Israel after a successful wrestling match with an angel. Now there are two opinions about whose angel he was grappling with. Many say it was the angel of Esau, his brother and a forefather of Rome. However, there is another opinion, that he was wrestling his own angel, he was wrestling with himself.
When we come into this world we are all Potential wrestlers. We have to wrestle with ourselves to get the potential out. The only way to bring the potential out is by building a habit of wrestling, building the expectation of things being unexpected and shaky. Once you get the hang of it, it's very tempting to become Professional wrestlers, but the problem is professional wrestling looks fake. Because it IS fake.
So I'm here to be a habitual TM to wrestle with ideas twice my size, to wrestle with myself when I write , edit or practice, to wrestle without making a career out of it.
Now if I have a minute I want to go back to the school days. The end of the story is I got much stronger, and 3 years later, at the end of 8th grade, during the last day of middle school, I got into a fight with the same guy. He was not a big guy, but guess what - I got home with two black eyes. Maybe I was a better wrestler, but he was better at street fighting. But I don't hold a grudge. If not for him, I would not get into a habit of wrestling. If not for him I wouldn't have gotten to be the way I am.
In that sense the Icebreaker is different. It's not about how to be more like me, it's about. "How did I get to be the way I am". Which is 20% less interesting then every other speech. That's why you give you 4 minutes for that, not 5. I better start my icebreaker.
There are 3 kinds of TMs: Professional (DTMs, Presidents, VPs), Potnential ( Guests) and Habitual.
I tried all three approaches. When I first joined BPTM I was so terrified of the Icebreaker that I joined a second TM club and Did my CC in parallel , in two clubs. I don't even hope that the third time is the charmer. But what really got me back in this room is the habit of wrestling.
I developed this habit in 5th grade. I was a witty , brainy and a bit chubby kid, second shortest in my class, I had a crush on a beautiful girl and one day I came home with a black eye. I felt like it was the end of my life. I decided get into a killer shape, started running every morning, joined a wrestling team, I tried every kind of wrestling out there, and I would wrestle anyone, even guys much bigger and stronger than me.
Now I would love to say that I won every fight since then, but of course it's not true. I would love to say that in a year I became a totally different person, but I did not. But I got a certain perspective, and that's precious. Once I was wrestling the guy twice my size, and he threw me when I was trying to throw him, so when I landed I felt like my spine is going to snap. People say that fear of public speaking is greater then fear of death, but at that moment, seeing my life flashing before my eyes I knew: Icebreaker is kids play.
My father used to be a Greco-Roman wrestling champion of Kiev, Ukraine, and my forefather Jacob later in life got his name Israel after a successful wrestling match with an angel. Now there are two opinions about whose angel he was grappling with. Many say it was the angel of Esau, his brother and a forefather of Rome. However, there is another opinion, that he was wrestling his own angel, he was wrestling with himself.
When we come into this world we are all Potential wrestlers. We have to wrestle with ourselves to get the potential out. The only way to bring the potential out is by building a habit of wrestling, building the expectation of things being unexpected and shaky. Once you get the hang of it, it's very tempting to become Professional wrestlers, but the problem is professional wrestling looks fake. Because it IS fake.
So I'm here to be a habitual TM to wrestle with ideas twice my size, to wrestle with myself when I write , edit or practice, to wrestle without making a career out of it.
Now if I have a minute I want to go back to the school days. The end of the story is I got much stronger, and 3 years later, at the end of 8th grade, during the last day of middle school, I got into a fight with the same guy. He was not a big guy, but guess what - I got home with two black eyes. Maybe I was a better wrestler, but he was better at street fighting. But I don't hold a grudge. If not for him, I would not get into a habit of wrestling. If not for him I wouldn't have gotten to be the way I am.