By Katrina Oase,
Former VPE of Executive Toastmasters Club in Murrieta, Georgia
I would like you to picture a sandwich in your mind. Or, look at me and picture a gigantic sandwich talking to you. Visualization is important for several reasons. One of them is that it will enhance your memory retention and have more fun as a result. I guarantee you.
Toastmasters know more about sandwiches than people out there. We know the good, the bad and the ugly about it because we have this thing called sandwich evaluation. It suggests that when you give someone suggestions. You, first, look for something positive, then one or two meaningful suggestions, and ends your opinions with good notes.
Brilliant!
Many of you knew that I returned to Taiwan last week because my dad passed away. Thank you for your kind words to my family during those difficult time.
During those days when my dad was sick in the hospital, I decided to walk to a park every morning. It took about 20 minute-walk to the park from my parents’ house. By 6:30 a.m., the park was full of people, doing Tai qi, yoga, or dancing. After my exercise, I would walk to the hospital to visit my parents. I knew my mom was there already because the doctors were visiting their patients and briefing the staffs by 8:15 to 8:30.
I loved to grab breakfast for everyone, because they are very reasonable. A Cheap half-peanut butter jelly sandwiches, from 50 cents to full-size lemon-chicken sandwiches, 3 dollars. That was when I noticed all the breakfast stores sell sandwiches, no matter if they specialize in noodles or rice, they all have one item in common: sandwiches.
They can be simple, (peanut butter sandwiches) or complicated (Philadelphia cheese sandwiches). It all depends on how you would like them, and they will build it for you.
One morning, it down to me that like the sandwiches; we can build our life, speeches, or anything as simple or as complicate as we let them become.
Take a speech, for example. Picture a sandwich in your mind.
On the First piece of bread, write down whatever comes to mind. Things that you would like to convey, to tell the world of your thoughts. Writ them down.
Then, tell a story or two in the middle. Stories allow people to enter our worlds. They show our feelings, our pains, and our excitement. They also exhibit our uniqueness. Other than Personal stories, you may add statistics, research, and other stuff. How heavy would you like your sandwich to be? How extensive and intimate personal memoir in your sharing!
Last but not the least, we support our sandwich with the last piece of bread.
I think Aristotle is a great sandwich maker. He said, “Convey your message, convince your audience, and confirm where they stand.” In other words, “Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them.”
My passion is sharing this sandwich method with you. It seems to me that it works in every aspect of life. My projects, my business, or anything else. It simplifies the structure of my plans. It helps me visualize the outcomes and measure them. I hope it works for you, too.
Life can be as simple as a sandwich. It can be as complicated as a sandwich. You may build it any way you like. Bon Appetit!
