Episode #51 - Bringing The Zing Of Transformation: An Interview With Charles Gates

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Welcome to the podcast where relationships, confidence, and

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determination, all converge into an amazing, heartfelt experience.

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This is Speaking From The Heart.

Joshua: 00:00:11

Welcome back to a special episode of Speaking From The Heart.

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Episode 51 features yet another Toastmaster, in which in the month of

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November, we are featuring Toastmasters that have made a positive contribution to

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society as a whole and for those that are interested in checking out Toastmasters,

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I'll leave a link in the episode notes in which you can go and visit your own

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local Toastmasters club, and to be real and to be transparent, I would never be

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doing this, let alone my business, if it wasn't a result of not only Toastmasters

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International, let alone the Toastmasters that have come in my life and helped

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me become the best version of myself.

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Today, we will have Charles Gates, and Charles is a high energy, sought

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after speech coach and also a speaker, and he helps his clients and audiences

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"bring the zing" to their presentations.

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He believes your delivery is just as important as your content, and usually

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with his presentations, they are fun, "infotaining", and never boring

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as the exception, whether teaching, presentation, skills, networking, or

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even fundamental leadership principles.

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We will talk about in this episode too about some of his books that he's started

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to write, including the Bring the Zing ebook series, in which the five Keys

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Briefings and Meetings, is already available on

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Amazon, and a second book in which we will talk about later on in this episode.

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Now I have to tell you that Charles and I go back many years in which he

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was one of those leaders of mentors that I had in my life that inspired

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me, and you will definitely hear in this episode, the fun, creative aspects

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of which he has started his journey, and what was really interesting about

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all of this was the way in which his mindset can be something that rolls into

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even our own daily lives as a whole.

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But with that, let's go to the episode.

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All right.

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We're here with Charles Gates.

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Charles, thanks for sharing your heart with us today.

Charles: 00:02:17

Josh, I am so happy to be here.

Joshua: 00:02:21

I am so happy that you are here and, we were literally just talking

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about this before we started, that it's been a few years since I really had the

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opportunity to interact with you face to face, even through a recording, and

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I enjoy all the times that you have mentored me and been able to help me

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in not only my Toastmaster's journey, but in so many different people's

Joshua: 00:02:45

Toastmaster's journeys and even beyond, which we'll get into but I really

Joshua: 00:02:50

appreciate you taking some time today.

Joshua: 00:02:53

Charles, I want to talk about first, what got you into the realm of

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coaching and wanting to speak in front of people, because a lot of people

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would probably say, " That's crazy.

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I can't believe you would do that for a living.

Joshua: 00:03:08

I will never get on the stage."

Joshua: 00:03:10

Glossophobia, right, but I'm wondering if you could talk about how you

Joshua: 00:03:14

got yourself started with that.

Charles: 00:03:16

Well, you know what, it goes back to a trip I made from New Jersey, I'm from

Charles: 00:03:22

Jersey, down to Suffolk, Virginia; I-95.

Charles: 00:03:25

You can imagine during the daytime, it took forever and a day to

Charles: 00:03:29

get from one point to the next.

Charles: 00:03:30

While I was driving, I was listening to an episode of Rich Dad, poor Dad, Robert

Charles: 00:03:36

Kiyosaki's fantastic episodes, and as I'm listening to this, he knew he wanted

Charles: 00:03:43

to be a self-made millionaire, but had a challenge with speaking to other people.

Charles: 00:03:48

He knew that was a challenge, so he sought help.

Charles: 00:03:51

Similar to Warren Buffet seeking help in Perfect speaking cuz

Charles: 00:03:54

they knew it was so important.

Charles: 00:03:56

As I drove, I hear him mention Toastmasters.

Charles: 00:04:02

Toastmasters, what's that?

Charles: 00:04:04

Now I'm hoping there's no cops listening to this because as I was

Charles: 00:04:07

driving, I was also writing, so one hand on the wheel, the other hand

Charles: 00:04:13

on my pen and my pad writing away Toastmasters, so I get home to Suffolk,

Charles: 00:04:18

Virginia, and I visited a Toastmaster club and immediately I was hooked.

Charles: 00:04:25

Not the fact that I wanted to become a professional speaker or coach

Charles: 00:04:28

or anything like that, but I've always been a community activist.

Charles: 00:04:32

Ever since I've been an adult, I've always been involved in a community talking

Charles: 00:04:36

to school board meetings, talking to board of supervisors, talking to city

Charles: 00:04:40

council, and I knew I could be better.

Charles: 00:04:45

Let me rephrase that.

Charles: 00:04:46

I knew I could be even better, and when I walked in the Toastmaster

Charles: 00:04:52

Club, they brought some things out that I hadn't really thought

Charles: 00:04:55

about before, such as crutch words.

Charles: 00:04:58

Now, I've never had an issue with, uh, ums.

Charles: 00:05:01

Those, those, the, the typical crutch words.

Charles: 00:05:06

I realized through evaluations that my crutch word was a word right.

Charles: 00:05:13

R I G H T.

Charles: 00:05:14

Da da da.

Charles: 00:05:15

Right, right.

Charles: 00:05:17

Mm-hmm.

Charles: 00:05:18

Right, until they told me, I had no idea.

Charles: 00:05:22

When I joined Toastmasters.

Charles: 00:05:24

I was giving speeches and people were just telling me over and over,

Charles: 00:05:27

Charles, you're pretty good at this.

Charles: 00:05:28

You're pretty good at this.

Charles: 00:05:28

People were asking me to do conferences.

Charles: 00:05:30

They were asking me to do TLIs, the trainings and all of these things,

Charles: 00:05:34

and eventually I said, "You know what?

Charles: 00:05:36

Why don't I get paid for this stuff?

Charles: 00:05:38

I'm doing it all the time anyway.", so I put my foot out there, jumped into

Charles: 00:05:43

the deep end, got paid for it, and then people were saying, "Well, Charles,

Charles: 00:05:48

Could you teach me how to do this?

Charles: 00:05:50

Could you teach me how to speak this?

Charles: 00:05:53

Could you teach me how to gesture and move with a purpose?"

Charles: 00:05:56

Hmm.

Charles: 00:05:57

Hadn't thought about it.

Charles: 00:05:59

Why don't I get paid for it?

Charles: 00:06:03

So that's really how I got started speaking and coaching.

Joshua: 00:06:08

I'm curious because I have seen you many times speak in front of

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audiences, whether they are local to where I was serving in District 38 as the Club

Joshua: 00:06:20

Growth and even Program Quality Director was actually when we first met, but I've

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seen you in front of even bigger audiences and it seems like you come alive when

Joshua: 00:06:30

you have that interaction with people.

Joshua: 00:06:32

Is that something that you just have deep down inside of you?

Joshua: 00:06:35

Is it something that you've muster, you kind of mentally prepare yourself

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for when it comes to that energy level?

Joshua: 00:06:43

What is it that drives you to just have that excitement

Joshua: 00:06:46

with the audience as a whole?

Charles: 00:06:48

You know what it is?

Charles: 00:06:49

I like helping people.

Joshua: 00:06:51

Mm.

Charles: 00:06:52

I think I was put on this earth to help others.

Charles: 00:06:55

That is my legacy.

Charles: 00:06:57

That is my destiny, and let me tell you Josh, when I get

Charles: 00:07:00

up on a stage, I light up.

Charles: 00:07:04

I light up even during the drive there, the train ride there, the plane

Charles: 00:07:09

ride there, the walking to the venue.

Charles: 00:07:12

I am so excited.

Charles: 00:07:13

I feel like a kid on his way to Toys R Us.

Charles: 00:07:16

I know Toys R Us aren't around us anymore, but I'm hoping your

Charles: 00:07:18

listeners know what that is.

Charles: 00:07:21

I just light up, and you know what?

Charles: 00:07:23

I've always been that way.

Charles: 00:07:24

I've always been there, even as a kid doing oral presentations in school.

Charles: 00:07:29

Most of the kids were reserved and, "Oh no no.

Charles: 00:07:31

Don't pick me."

Charles: 00:07:32

I couldn't wait till they picked me.

Charles: 00:07:35

"Pick me, pick me!", and they would often not pick me because,

Charles: 00:07:39

"Charles, put your hand down.

Charles: 00:07:40

Put your hand down.

Charles: 00:07:40

Your hand's always up, we're tired of listening to you.",

Charles: 00:07:44

but that's the edited version.

Charles: 00:07:46

I love it and I like to make an impact on people, and I don't call

Charles: 00:07:50

myself a professional speaker.

Charles: 00:07:53

I call myself a transformational speaker because I want people to think differently

Charles: 00:07:58

once they finish hearing whatever I have to say, whether it's in a community

Charles: 00:08:02

or whether it's a paid presentation.

Joshua: 00:08:04

With that said, Is there somebody in your life growing up that has made

Joshua: 00:08:10

you feel like you want to help people, because like you said, you literally

Joshua: 00:08:14

enjoy having that and giving that opportunity to be transformational is

Joshua: 00:08:20

something of a complete realm itself, which I have seen both Toastmasters, non

Joshua: 00:08:25

Toastmasters, do that, but I'm wondering if there was an influence in your life

Joshua: 00:08:30

that propelled you into that direction, or maybe there was a life event.

Joshua: 00:08:35

Do you mind sharing?

Charles: 00:08:37

Well, you know what?

Charles: 00:08:38

The simple answer is that I pondered over this question often.

Charles: 00:08:42

There is no one person, there is no one person.

Charles: 00:08:46

That was so inspirational to me in my lifetime to say, "I want to

Charles: 00:08:50

do this, or I want to do that."

Charles: 00:08:52

There wasn't the person and it really wasn't an event.

Charles: 00:08:56

However, as I think about it, when I am serving in the community, because

Charles: 00:09:05

I've always been deeply involved in the community from a political perspective

Charles: 00:09:09

to nonprofits and all points in between, but when I am speaking to people, I

Charles: 00:09:13

noticed very early in my adult life, even when I was in Marine Corps, I realized

Charles: 00:09:19

that when I spoke, people listened.

Charles: 00:09:23

Even those that were higher ranking than me, they listened to what I had to

Charles: 00:09:29

say, and not only that, they acted on my recommendation and my advice, so those

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experiences, and people just telling me that, "Charles, we believe in you.

Charles: 00:09:42

We believe in what you're talking about.

Charles: 00:09:45

Why do you think that way?", and I would always think, "Why do I think that way?",

Charles: 00:09:49

and I would come up with an answer pretty quickly in my head, and I was always able

Charles: 00:09:53

to articulate that pretty much immediately upon being asked that question.

Joshua: 00:10:01

I know what you're saying, because for me, for the longest time, and you

Joshua: 00:10:07

know this a little bit about me, working over 13 years in the Commonwealth of

Joshua: 00:10:11

Pennsylvania in a variety of different jobs, it was really about, "Yeah, I know

Joshua: 00:10:15

the answer to that, but I really just want you to figure that out for yourself

Joshua: 00:10:19

and get a little bit of that energy of what I do in terms of my interests, my

Joshua: 00:10:25

curiosity", but, it's public service.

Joshua: 00:10:27

You're never going to get a public servant to really motivate themselves unless you

Joshua: 00:10:31

find those good eggs, which you definitely do, but for me, I know what you're mean

Joshua: 00:10:37

when you're saying that because I think those are the influences of really getting

Joshua: 00:10:42

to the basis of what the human abilities are, or the condition of what people

Joshua: 00:10:47

can ultimately achieve, and speaking of that, you said about serving in the

Joshua: 00:10:53

nonprofit or in the community as a whole.

Joshua: 00:10:56

Well, not going into too much detail, what are some of the general things

Joshua: 00:11:00

that you have done that have helped the community, because I know that you

Joshua: 00:11:04

said you grew up in New Jersey, but I understand you live in the Virginia

Joshua: 00:11:08

area, so do you mind explaining a little bit that for our audience?

Charles: 00:11:12

Sure.

Charles: 00:11:12

Well, I will tell you, when I was growing up in New Jersey, I was not encouraged

Charles: 00:11:16

to be involved with the community.

Charles: 00:11:18

It's unfortunate, but I just wasn't.

Charles: 00:11:20

I was just a city kid.

Charles: 00:11:21

I did what city kids do.

Charles: 00:11:22

I was hanging out on the street.

Charles: 00:11:23

I just did what city kids do.

Charles: 00:11:26

It wasn't until we were stationed; my wife did 20 years in the Army, by the way.

Joshua: 00:11:33

Oh.

Charles: 00:11:33

We were stationed in Fort Meade, Maryland, and I had my first

Charles: 00:11:39

opportunity to coach a little league team.

Charles: 00:11:43

It was a softball team, nine and 10 year old girls.

Charles: 00:11:45

I have two daughters, so those girls were coached by me and others, and I

Charles: 00:11:51

really wasn't volunteering to do it.

Charles: 00:11:53

I was almost voluntold by default because no one else stood up to the plate.

Charles: 00:11:58

I've always played baseball.

Charles: 00:11:59

I've always been a sports kind of guy.

Charles: 00:12:01

I know the rules.

Charles: 00:12:02

I know the fundamentals of the sport, and I know I can teach them to others,

Charles: 00:12:06

and I have the kind of demeanor that kids and adults not only gravitate

Charles: 00:12:11

to, but they're comfortable with me.

Charles: 00:12:14

I speak to them, I laugh and joke with them, so the community standpoint,

Charles: 00:12:18

the community activism part from, you know, I had to think about that.

Charles: 00:12:23

It really started from coaching back in the mid to late eighties and it

Charles: 00:12:29

was a softball team and I did that for years and years and years, and it

Charles: 00:12:33

just gravitated to everything else.

Charles: 00:12:35

It just gravitated to everything else and most recently, it's going

Charles: 00:12:39

to be in the political forum.

Charles: 00:12:41

I'm working with a few organizations to bring on.

Charles: 00:12:44

Here in Virginia, we have local elections, many local elections:

Charles: 00:12:47

senator, delegate, these type of things.

Charles: 00:12:50

In November, we are hosting and facilitating a series of local political

Charles: 00:12:59

candidate forums in the Williamsburg, Virginia area; Williamsburg, York

Charles: 00:13:04

County, James City County, so that the people in our community can be

Charles: 00:13:10

well informed, so when they go to the ballots, they're not only recognize

Charles: 00:13:15

the name in the ballot box, they'll understand what that person's position is.

Charles: 00:13:20

From a recent standpoint, that would probably be the biggest accomplishment

Charles: 00:13:25

as in I do things pretty much every other month in the community: lunch

Charles: 00:13:30

and learns, Juneteenth events.

Charles: 00:13:33

Just getting people together and teaching people something that's

Charles: 00:13:37

going on in the community to make not only them better, but to make

Charles: 00:13:41

the community better as a whole.

Joshua: 00:13:46

I love that because for some people it's about, "Well, I want

Joshua: 00:13:50

something in exchange for something else", which as business owners, I

Joshua: 00:13:55

mean for myself, I might be speaking more of, but I'm also thinking about

Joshua: 00:14:00

your coaching business too, Charles, we definitely want to get our value, right?

Joshua: 00:14:05

We want to be able to pay.

Joshua: 00:14:06

We need to be able to live, be able to feed ourselves, take care of our families,

Joshua: 00:14:10

and all that, but I've been constantly reminded by some of my other guests about

Joshua: 00:14:14

the importance of those relationships, so being able to form those, and yes,

Joshua: 00:14:20

that might mean giving a little bit of yourself, and as one guest I've had who's

Joshua: 00:14:25

a sales trainer specifically has said to me, It's about sacrificing a little

Joshua: 00:14:30

bit of ourselves and that might not mean we live as long, but we're giving of

Joshua: 00:14:35

ourselves literally, and I think that sometimes doing that though opens up

Joshua: 00:14:41

those doors of opportunity for being able to hear and experience that with other

Joshua: 00:14:46

people, and I love that, because I feel that connection from what you just said,

Joshua: 00:14:50

especially as I sit here and look at you, you're pondering and thought, "Yeah.

Joshua: 00:14:54

I did make an influence with those kids and adults, and I just love it that your

Joshua: 00:14:58

eyes light up to that because going into your speaking business, which I want to

Joshua: 00:15:04

talk about quite a bit, is your speaking style more of not just the transformation

Joshua: 00:15:11

side, but really sending a message out?

Joshua: 00:15:14

In other words, being more informational, making it tangible

Joshua: 00:15:17

for the audience to grasp?

Joshua: 00:15:19

What do you typically do to help entice those audiences as a whole

Joshua: 00:15:23

is really my question I'm asking.

Charles: 00:15:26

Well, I would tell you, I take pretty much the Darren

Charles: 00:15:28

LaCroix approach to speaking.

Charles: 00:15:30

If I'm going to speak at a venue, let's say on a Saturday, I will get there

Charles: 00:15:35

no later than Friday, and not just to get there early to go into hotel and

Charles: 00:15:40

relax, but I want to meet the people who are going to be at the venue.

Charles: 00:15:45

I want to meet them at the bar.

Charles: 00:15:47

I want to have a drink with them.

I want to find out: 00:15:49

What's going on in their lives?

I want to find out: 00:15:52

How are you doing mentally?

I want to find out: 00:15:54

Professionally?

I want to find out: 00:15:56

Personally?

I want to find out: 00:15:57

I really like to get to know people, and not just from a face,

I want to find out: 00:16:02

not just to talk to them, to say, "Okay, well I know this guy."

I want to find out: 00:16:06

I am an advocate of really building deep, deep, deep relationships

I want to find out: 00:16:12

and let me give you an example.

I want to find out: 00:16:14

I went to a conference, a Toastmaster conference, not too long ago.

I want to find out: 00:16:17

It was in April; went to a Toastmaster conference there, and I hadn't been

I want to find out: 00:16:22

to this area in a long time; years, and I gave this one speech when I was

I want to find out: 00:16:27

there, and when I walked through the hotel lobby, years later, a person who

I want to find out: 00:16:36

I didn't even know comes up to me and says, "Charles, I'm still swimming."

I want to find out: 00:16:45

Years later now, this is three, five years later.

I want to find out: 00:16:48

As you know, I used to have a speech called Just Keep Swimming.

Joshua: 00:16:52

Yep, I remember that.

Charles: 00:16:53

Meaning if there's trouble happening in your lives or there's

Charles: 00:16:56

obstacles, if there's things holding your back, just keep swimming.

Charles: 00:17:00

In other words, just keep going.

Charles: 00:17:02

It'll get better.

Charles: 00:17:03

Through the hard times, will get better if you just keep swimming.

Charles: 00:17:06

Don't give up, and this young lady came up to me and says,

Charles: 00:17:09

"Charles, I'm still swimming."

Charles: 00:17:12

Now, first of all, I'm saying to myself, "Who are you?"

Joshua: 00:17:16

And where's the closest pool?

Joshua: 00:17:18

I don't see a pool around here.

Charles: 00:17:20

But you know what?

Charles: 00:17:21

I knew exactly what she was speaking of, and that type of impact to

Charles: 00:17:26

me; again, I still get emails.

Charles: 00:17:30

I still get text messages out of the blue.

Charles: 00:17:32

"Charles, I'm still swimming."

Charles: 00:17:34

I don't even know half these people, but they remember the message.

Charles: 00:17:39

They remember the message, and for me, the message in speaking is

Charles: 00:17:45

more important than anything else.

Charles: 00:17:48

I've seen really good speakers out there who are peppered with the uhs and ums,

Charles: 00:17:53

but their message is so crystal clear and it's so relevant that it makes you

Charles: 00:18:00

say, "I can do that", and when you, as a speaker, regardless of what level

Charles: 00:18:08

you're speaking on, when you speak, and I'm going to tell you that Josh, that's

Charles: 00:18:11

always my goal for the audience to say to themselves: "I can do that", and

Charles: 00:18:17

I'm not talking about next week, next month, next year, or next millennium.

Charles: 00:18:22

I'm talking about right now with what I'm sharing with you.

Charles: 00:18:25

I want you to walk out the door in your next conversation, see if you

Charles: 00:18:29

can weave these teachings or these principles into your next conversation.

Charles: 00:18:34

That to me, is the epitome of success, at least for me.

Joshua: 00:18:40

I have to tell you, the statement that runs through my head every time that

Joshua: 00:18:45

you have shared with so many people during the time that I knew you really, really

Joshua: 00:18:49

well and we had more frequent conversation is, "Toastmasters is a team sport."

Charles: 00:18:55

That's right.

Joshua: 00:18:56

And that sport part just reverberates in my head back and forth

Joshua: 00:19:00

and the team more particularly, but I never understood the origins of it until

Joshua: 00:19:06

you talked about your coaching with the young women, and now it all made sense

Joshua: 00:19:12

and I've been wanting to ask you for four years, even more than four years,

Joshua: 00:19:16

and I'm glad that I finally was able to put two and two together to make that

Joshua: 00:19:20

happen, so I feel really privileged, because I wasn't one of those people

Joshua: 00:19:24

that texted to say, "Oh, Charles, I'm still a team player in Toastmasters."

Joshua: 00:19:32

As a matter of, I don't know if you remember this, but I did email

Joshua: 00:19:35

you because when I was running for District Director in District 38,

Joshua: 00:19:38

in 2022, I said, "Hey, I want to use this statement and reference you.

Joshua: 00:19:42

Is that okay?", because we had to get permission and have that

Joshua: 00:19:45

down and you said, "Absolutely.

Joshua: 00:19:47

Go for it."

Joshua: 00:19:48

I'm glad that you still remember that after all this time, I'm like, yeah.

Joshua: 00:19:52

Unfortunately I lost, but that doesn't matter.

Joshua: 00:19:54

I got to use it, and that's what counted the most.

Charles: 00:19:57

I remember.

Joshua: 00:19:57

Yes.

Charles: 00:19:58

I remember.

Charles: 00:19:58

Yeah.

Joshua: 00:19:59

That's what counts the most.

Charles: 00:20:00

Mm-hmm.

Joshua: 00:20:01

With that said though, because you were just mentioning the fact that

Joshua: 00:20:04

these people just out of the blue, are texting you, saying, "Yeah, I'm swimming

Joshua: 00:20:08

yet", or, "Yeah, I'm still a team player."

Joshua: 00:20:11

I'm one of those people.

Joshua: 00:20:12

I would've been one of them, but I'm glad I forgot your number for

Joshua: 00:20:14

a little bit because I probably would've been texting you every day.

Joshua: 00:20:16

I'm still believe in that, because I definitely would've probably been a

Joshua: 00:20:24

stalker and I didn't want to do that to you, but with all that, with that

Joshua: 00:20:31

said, do you feel that you make an impact on this world, because sometimes,

Joshua: 00:20:37

yeah, I can say that I'm successful because these people respond back to me.

Joshua: 00:20:41

I obviously had a very effective message, but, do you have any self-doubt, or

Joshua: 00:20:47

does that empower you and you share that as part of your testimony to

Joshua: 00:20:51

other audiences to kind of say this is what the power of your words can be.

Joshua: 00:20:57

What does that represent for you when you hear those sort of responses from people?

Charles: 00:21:02

Well, I will tell you, Josh, full disclosure, those words I live my life by.

Charles: 00:21:11

I share with my kids and I share with anyone that is willing to listen to me.

Charles: 00:21:15

Don't just live.

Charles: 00:21:18

Live to make a difference.

Charles: 00:21:21

Not sometimes, but every single day.

Charles: 00:21:23

It doesn't have to be monumental.

Charles: 00:21:25

You don't have to change the world, but if you can change one person's

Charles: 00:21:29

perspective, that to me is successful because I look at it like this,

Charles: 00:21:35

and let me give you an example.

Charles: 00:21:37

There's a young lady in Toastmasters, she joined about 10 years ago, about 2012.

Charles: 00:21:42

She was a nervous wreck.

Charles: 00:21:45

Matter in fact, when she made her very first presentation, her icebreaker speech,

Charles: 00:21:49

which is the first speech, for those of you who don't know, she was crying

Charles: 00:21:53

profusely and shaking so hard, we thought she was going to pass out, but I will

Charles: 00:22:00

tell you, I happened to be there when she first did that speech, and it was painful

Charles: 00:22:03

to watch, but we were so proud of her, of the fact that she did what she did.

Charles: 00:22:09

Fast forward.

Charles: 00:22:10

My District Director year, I went to her and said, I'm not going to

Charles: 00:22:15

mention her name, but I went to her and said, I'm just going to use the

Charles: 00:22:19

name Jane, for example purposes.

Charles: 00:22:21

I said, "Jane, you have what it takes to change the world.

Charles: 00:22:28

I was there when you did your icebreaker speech.

Charles: 00:22:30

You and I have built a relationship over the years, and now I am

Charles: 00:22:33

giving you the ultimate challenge.

Charles: 00:22:35

I want you to be a district leader on my team.

Charles: 00:22:38

Why?

Charles: 00:22:39

Because you have what it takes, and I'm going to challenge you and

Charles: 00:22:43

push you to be the best version of you you can possibly be this year."

Charles: 00:22:48

Josh, let me tell you something.

Charles: 00:22:50

She went from a budding cocoon at the beginning of that year,

Charles: 00:22:55

to a blossoming butterfly.

Joshua: 00:22:59

Mm.

Charles: 00:23:00

Not even by the end of the year, by April.

Charles: 00:23:03

Now, of course, our year is from July 1st to June 30th.

Charles: 00:23:07

By April that year, she was killing it.

Charles: 00:23:12

I mean, she was so confident in her ability to change people's perspectives,

Charles: 00:23:18

change people's lives, and build that confidence using her own story to do so.

Charles: 00:23:26

The answer to your question, I believe that we all are put on this

Charles: 00:23:30

earth for a reason, and my reason for existing on planet Earth in

Charles: 00:23:34

2023 is to change people's lives.

Charles: 00:23:40

I wholehearted believe that I was put on this earth to really make an

Charles: 00:23:43

impact in people's lives, and what I've found is when you touch one,

Charles: 00:23:49

they are going to touch others, and they are going to touch others, so

Charles: 00:23:53

it's almost like a domino effect, and again, there's nothing in it for me.

Charles: 00:23:57

I'm not in it for the bright lights and the fancy cars and all that.

Charles: 00:24:00

I simply like to touch people from where they are, and when you do that, I believe

Charles: 00:24:06

when your last days come, I am going to be able to rest in peace knowing that I

Charles: 00:24:12

made an impact on hundreds of people that I may never even have met before, but

Charles: 00:24:20

listening to my words change their lives.

Joshua: 00:24:25

That's a multiplication effect in itself.

Joshua: 00:24:27

It's almost as a effective advertising campaign done by word of mouth can be

Joshua: 00:24:34

so much more effective than saying, "Oh, I'm going to go on Facebook, put

Joshua: 00:24:40

up this pretty nice graphic and have this wonderfully written advertisement

Joshua: 00:24:45

that people are going to watch and I'm gonna pay a hundred dollars to make

Joshua: 00:24:48

sure it goes all around this area."

Joshua: 00:24:52

that is how this whole world works.

Joshua: 00:24:54

It has to be sequential and built together.

Charles: 00:24:57

Mm-hmm.

Joshua: 00:24:58

And that, what you just shared about Jane and even some of the things

Joshua: 00:25:02

that have happened, even with other people, is really how this works.

Charles: 00:25:08

Mm-hmm.

Joshua: 00:25:08

And it is about having that authentic connection, and it isn't

Joshua: 00:25:12

just somebody coming off the street and saying, "Oh, I feel like I can connect

Joshua: 00:25:15

with you.", because if I said, "Oh Charles, I can connect with you", you'd

Joshua: 00:25:19

be like, "What's your motivation here?

Joshua: 00:25:21

Are you trying to get some money out of me?", because it's all about really

Joshua: 00:25:25

having that right mindset, which is some people, it's really tough and I work

Joshua: 00:25:29

with even clients for that matter that are really trying to challenge those

Joshua: 00:25:32

thoughts about themselves and others, but I want to talk a little bit about

Joshua: 00:25:37

the book series that you started doing, and I know this is part of Bringing The

Joshua: 00:25:42

Zing, so I was wondering if you want to talk about Bringing The Zing with us,

Joshua: 00:25:46

along with some of the books that are coming out here, or actually already a

Joshua: 00:25:50

few of them have been out, so do you mind sharing some of that for the audience?

Charles: 00:25:54

The first series in the Bring the Zing series is called "Five Keys to

Powerful Presentations: 00:26:00

Briefings For Those In The Military and Meetings".

Powerful Presentations: 00:26:06

The reason I came up with that, believe it or not, I was always wanting to

Powerful Presentations: 00:26:10

write something; something that was gonna be written to impact people.

Powerful Presentations: 00:26:14

I was staying at my daughter's house in Maryland.

Powerful Presentations: 00:26:17

As I was sleeping, this thought just came to my mind and I always keep

Powerful Presentations: 00:26:22

a pad and paper somewhere around.

Powerful Presentations: 00:26:24

I didn't have one at the time, but I had a pen and a napkin; a

Powerful Presentations: 00:26:28

white napkin that I still have, and these five Ts came to my head.

Powerful Presentations: 00:26:33

I said, "Wow", in order, and the first key, since you mentioned it, was mindset,

Powerful Presentations: 00:26:41

because if you don't have the right mindset, it is going to be challenging

Powerful Presentations: 00:26:45

for you to do anything positive in your life or in the lives of others,

Powerful Presentations: 00:26:50

and it's Bring The Zing because I see so many Toastmasters and so many

Powerful Presentations: 00:26:54

even professional speakers that just don't do it for me, and I'm saying

Powerful Presentations: 00:26:58

myself, "Man, where's the Zing in that?

Powerful Presentations: 00:27:01

Give me the badda bing badda boom.

Powerful Presentations: 00:27:03

Where's that ooophm?

Powerful Presentations: 00:27:05

You're boring me.", because to me, there's nothing worse than a boring speaker.

Powerful Presentations: 00:27:11

If you're going to be boring, write it in an email, send it in a memo, and

Powerful Presentations: 00:27:15

just let me look at it at my leisure, because if I'm going to spend my time

Powerful Presentations: 00:27:19

listening to someone, I want them to, at least, if you're not going to infotain

Powerful Presentations: 00:27:23

me, at least make it interesting enough where I want to listen to you, so that's

Powerful Presentations: 00:27:30

where the Bring the Zing came from.

Powerful Presentations: 00:27:32

I was looking for, and everything I do, I do with the help of my family

Powerful Presentations: 00:27:36

and I came up with a few different titles and Bring The Zing was one of

Powerful Presentations: 00:27:40

them, and they said, "Bring The Zing", because I'm a big fan of Sam Horn and

Powerful Presentations: 00:27:45

Sam Horn, in her book, she talks about making her, and Craig Valentine, they

Powerful Presentations: 00:27:50

talk about making your tagline, if you will, rhythmic where people will

Powerful Presentations: 00:27:55

remember, I mean think about commercials, if you think of " Nationwide is..."

Powerful Presentations: 00:27:59

most people can finish the end of that sentence.

Joshua: 00:28:02

Is on your side.

Charles: 00:28:03

That's right.

Charles: 00:28:04

I said, "Bring The Zing."

Charles: 00:28:07

Oh, it rhymes.

Charles: 00:28:09

If I go out and say it often enough, people are going to remember that.

Charles: 00:28:13

They might not remember everything I talked about, but they're going to

Charles: 00:28:16

remember the premise, Bring The Zing, so to Bring The Zing is and the popularity

Charles: 00:28:21

of the first book, I got speaking engagements and all these things off

Charles: 00:28:24

it, and people asking me, "What else?

Charles: 00:28:27

What's next?"

Charles: 00:28:29

Hmm.

Charles: 00:28:30

I hadn't thought about it, but since you mentioned it.

Charles: 00:28:32

Hmm.

e next one is "Bring The Zing: 00:28:33

Keys To Effective Networking", because I go to

e next one is "Bring The Zing: 00:28:39

so many events and people just don't know what to do when they go to a professional

e next one is "Bring The Zing: 00:28:44

event and they don't know anyone.

e next one is "Bring The Zing: 00:28:47

If they know someone, it's a little different, but even then, people tend

e next one is "Bring The Zing: 00:28:51

to find people that they already know; people they haven't seen in a while,

e next one is "Bring The Zing: 00:28:55

and they sit with them throughout the entire conference for the entire

e next one is "Bring The Zing: 00:28:58

weekend and never meet anyone new.

e next one is "Bring The Zing: 00:29:01

You go to a chamber meeting or BNI, or something like that, and they just don't

e next one is "Bring The Zing: 00:29:05

know what to do, so I said, you know what?

e next one is "Bring The Zing: 00:29:07

I'm good at it.

e next one is "Bring The Zing: 00:29:09

I am a networking guru.

e next one is "Bring The Zing: 00:29:11

You can put me in a room with a hundred people.

e next one is "Bring The Zing: 00:29:12

Give me five minutes.

e next one is "Bring The Zing: 00:29:13

Chances are, I'll know all of them.

Joshua: 00:29:15

Hands down, I have seen Charles do this not only in the United States,

Joshua: 00:29:19

but I literally had seen him in Paris, France, in another country, doing this.

Joshua: 00:29:24

I, hands down, have seen you effectively do that.

Joshua: 00:29:27

You walk that talk.

Joshua: 00:29:31

I was going to say that when you were talking about a napkin, I am literally

Joshua: 00:29:34

holding up for the audience a napkin that I have written down some things with a

Joshua: 00:29:39

friend about some ideas of things that I want to essentially work on for myself and

Joshua: 00:29:44

some people that relate to, not only PTSD, but there was just some conversations

Joshua: 00:29:50

that we had, and I literally wrote down some thoughts too and some of the best

Joshua: 00:29:54

things that we do are not only with a pen and paper, but a pen and napkin.

Charles: 00:29:59

That's right.

Joshua: 00:29:59

Or a marker that's a napkin in this situation, so I wanted to make that

Joshua: 00:30:04

comment, but I'm sorry I interrupted you.

Joshua: 00:30:06

Go ahead and finish your thought.

Charles: 00:30:07

No, you're okay.

Charles: 00:30:08

You're okay, so my second one is networking, and then the third in the

Charles: 00:30:12

Bring The Zing, I haven't quite boil it down, but it's going to be something about

Charles: 00:30:16

leadership, because in my opinion, most leaders in this world are not leaders, in

Charles: 00:30:23

my opinion, they're simply title holders.

Joshua: 00:30:25

Mm-hmm.

Charles: 00:30:26

Because if you cannot motivate, if you cannot inspire, if

Charles: 00:30:30

you cannot bring people up behind you, you are simply a figurehead.

Charles: 00:30:35

Now, I get beat up with that comment all the time, but you know what?

Charles: 00:30:38

I'm good with it.

Charles: 00:30:39

I tell it like it is.

Charles: 00:30:40

If you don't like it, maybe I'm talking about you, but leadership is about

Charles: 00:30:44

influencing other people to be the best versions of themselves they can possibly

Charles: 00:30:49

be, and if you are not doing that, and you call yourself a leader, I think

Charles: 00:30:52

it's time to look in the mirror and rethink how you approach people, because

Charles: 00:30:56

it's all about building relationships and building people up to be the best

Charles: 00:31:00

versions of themselves that can be, and leadership is not trying to stroke

Charles: 00:31:05

the ego of the person in the mirror.

Joshua: 00:31:08

You have literally said every single little thing about my

Joshua: 00:31:10

business, Your Speaking Voice, so thank you so much for advertising

Joshua: 00:31:13

without even knowing that, but I'm going to add one more thing to that,

Joshua: 00:31:17

which is building confidence and that-

Charles: 00:31:19

That's right.

Joshua: 00:31:19

Is so true with all of that, that you are able to push forward as long

Joshua: 00:31:24

as you have the confidence in yourself, knowing that you have value in that.

Joshua: 00:31:28

Charles, we're almost at the end of our time, but before I have you wrap up with

Joshua: 00:31:32

sharing a little bit about yourself, I have one final question that has been on

Joshua: 00:31:36

my mind and it's something that you, sir, I think write the book about as well,

Joshua: 00:31:41

quite literally, when it comes to this.

Joshua: 00:31:45

Somebody, somewhere is listening this and thinking, "Man, Charles is really awesome.

Joshua: 00:31:51

I would love to follow his footsteps, but I'm just not sure what to do or what to

Joshua: 00:31:56

be", and I'm sure that there's a multitude of different answers as to how that person

Joshua: 00:32:01

can do that, but if that person were able to come up to you right now and ask you,

Joshua: 00:32:07

"How can I be somebody that is motivating, inspirational, and has a great heart with

Joshua: 00:32:14

helping others in the community, like ", to be able to take that first step or

Joshua: 00:32:19

wants to try something new in their life that maybe this is something brand new and

Joshua: 00:32:25

they're not sure how to quite get started.

Joshua: 00:32:27

What would be at least one piece of advice that you would give

Joshua: 00:32:30

them and why that piece of advice?

Charles: 00:32:33

It'll be twofold.

Charles: 00:32:34

Number one, what is your why?

Charles: 00:32:37

Why do you want to do this?

Charles: 00:32:38

Is it just a stroke your ego?

Charles: 00:32:40

Is it to have letters in the back of your name that no one knows what they mean?

Charles: 00:32:44

What is your why, and if your why is strong enough, seek out the help that

Charles: 00:32:51

can answer that why, if you will.

Charles: 00:32:54

For example, there are hundreds of nonprofits out here, hundreds,

Charles: 00:33:00

that you can speak, that you can be a part of, that you can speak on.

Charles: 00:33:04

There are hundreds of committees at the local, state, federal level of

Charles: 00:33:11

government that you can serve on, and it doesn't matter what your why

Charles: 00:33:15

is, you will find like-minded people somewhere, and of course I'm going to

Charles: 00:33:21

put a plug out there for Toastmasters.

Charles: 00:33:23

Toastmasters is an organization.

Charles: 00:33:25

We've been around since 1924.

Charles: 00:33:27

There's 225,000 members in 140 something different countries around the world,

Charles: 00:33:32

and most of us are like-minded, and the joy with that organization, and I

Charles: 00:33:38

touted, I'll sing it from the mountain tops, is the fact that we all come from

Charles: 00:33:43

different backgrounds, but at the end of the day, we all have, for the most

Charles: 00:33:49

part, the same type of goals, so if that person was to come to me, I would

Charles: 00:33:54

ask them, "What is your why?", and then find that organization or that committee

Charles: 00:34:00

that you can be a part of to help you on your journey, because they're out there

Charles: 00:34:07

and sometimes you just have to look for them, but at this day and age of the

Charles: 00:34:10

Internet, it's not that difficult to find.

Joshua: 00:34:13

Charles, I really appreciate you being here and being able to share

Joshua: 00:34:18

these wisdom nuggets for all of us.

Joshua: 00:34:21

I want to give you the last few minutes.

Joshua: 00:34:23

How can people get in touch with you if they're interested in booking you?

Joshua: 00:34:27

Maybe they want to be a client of yours for your coaching.

Joshua: 00:34:30

How could they get in touch with you and how can they experience the Charles

Joshua: 00:34:36

Gates experience, I should say, and I'll give you the last few minutes.

Joshua: 00:34:40

Go ahead.

Charles: 00:34:41

Well, I will tell you first and foremost to understand

Charles: 00:34:44

something about Charles Gates.

Charles: 00:34:45

I'm almost like a General Patton from World War II.

Charles: 00:34:49

I'm an in your face kind of guy.

Charles: 00:34:51

I don't sugarcoat it.

Charles: 00:34:52

I don't water it down.

Charles: 00:34:53

I'll tell you like it is, and if you're an adult, if you can't handle it,

Charles: 00:34:56

you probably don't want to work with me, but if you do, I will attempt.

Charles: 00:35:02

If you are coachable to make you the best version of you you can

Charles: 00:35:07

be, now, I'm a presentation coach.

Charles: 00:35:09

I help you frame your message in 15 words or less and deliver

Charles: 00:35:14

that message with power.

Charles: 00:35:16

Impact and confidence.

Charles: 00:35:19

That's what I do.

Charles: 00:35:20

How can you get in touch with me?

Charles: 00:35:22

You can get in touch with me through my website,

Charles: 00:35:24

www.charlescharlesgatesleadership.com or my favorite social

Charles: 00:35:29

media platform is LinkedIn.

Charles: 00:35:31

I can be found there at Charles Gates, DTM for you military

people: 00:35:36

Delta, Tango, Mike.

people: 00:35:41

That's pretty much it, Josh.

people: 00:35:42

LinkedIn is my social media, and by the way, I do a LinkedIn tip.

people: 00:35:46

It's called the Bring the Zing Tip Of The Day.

people: 00:35:50

I'm up to, I don't know what episode I'm up to now, but I used to do them every

people: 00:35:53

day, but that got rather cumbersome, but I do them at least once a week.

people: 00:35:57

I put out a tip a day.

people: 00:35:58

It could be on speaking, it could be on leadership, it could be on mentoring.

people: 00:36:02

It can be on the environment; anything that's important that happens to

people: 00:36:05

come in my brain that particular day, the day that we're shooting

this, my thought was: 00:36:08

Let It Go.

this, my thought was: 00:36:12

That was my tip for the day.

this, my thought was: 00:36:14

I throw out some things.

this, my thought was: 00:36:15

I do a short video; one to two minute video on LinkedIn and then

this, my thought was: 00:36:18

I'd add some words to it, so it's a very short read, but check that out.

this, my thought was: 00:36:22

I love to hear the comments.

this, my thought was: 00:36:23

I like to hear the likes, and ultimately, Josh, I am here to help

this, my thought was: 00:36:28

serve others and I'm really looking forward to my next journey is to

this, my thought was: 00:36:33

work with budding politicians.

this, my thought was: 00:36:36

I see so many want to be politicians that do not get to where they need

this, my thought was: 00:36:42

to be because they don't know how to frame the message and they don't know

this, my thought was: 00:36:47

how to deliver that message to the point where when they're finished, the

this, my thought was: 00:36:51

audience is saying, "That's my guy.

this, my thought was: 00:36:54

That's my gal.", and if they're not saying that, if you want to get into public

this, my thought was: 00:36:58

office, you've got work to do, and if you want to get better, come see me, Charles

this, my thought was: 00:37:03

Gates, DTM on LinkedIn, or check out my website, CharlesGatesLeadership.com.

Joshua: 00:37:11

Charles, I want to bring a little bit of the politician

Joshua: 00:37:13

out of me for a second and-

Charles: 00:37:14

Mm-hmm.

Joshua: 00:37:14

First off, say a couple things.

Joshua: 00:37:16

Let's start out with this.

Joshua: 00:37:18

Thank you for being part of Speaking From The Heart.

Joshua: 00:37:21

This is something that I've been waiting to do with you for quite a while, and

Joshua: 00:37:26

I know that there were some challenges along the way to try to get there, but I

Joshua: 00:37:29

really appreciate you overcoming them to be able to do that with me, but there's

Joshua: 00:37:34

something I need to tell you, and I want it to be part of this episode because

Joshua: 00:37:38

I feel like it's really important.

Joshua: 00:37:40

I don't think I ever realized the true power of Toastmasters and the passion

Joshua: 00:37:45

that I could have if it wasn't for you and it's allowed me to be able to do what I'm

Joshua: 00:37:51

doing now, which is also reaching hundreds of people, thousands, and I hope one day

Joshua: 00:37:58

tens of thousands, even millions of people through what I am hopefully making as a

Joshua: 00:38:05

impact through not only this podcast, but through business, but also the heart of

Joshua: 00:38:10

it all, being a Toastmaster, and I really appreciate you always being there and just

Joshua: 00:38:16

being a sounding board for me and others.

Joshua: 00:38:19

You are the genuine deal and I'm really appreciated to feature you as one of my

Joshua: 00:38:24

Toastmasters that has really resonated and I hope listeners on understand that

Joshua: 00:38:29

Charles is in your face, to the point, but he does it with a heart of compassion

Joshua: 00:38:35

and a heart of gold, and I really do mean that, sir, you are a inspiration

Joshua: 00:38:40

for a lot of people that do need that solid foundation and I appreciate

Joshua: 00:38:45

that, so thank you again, thank for being on the show and I look forward to

Joshua: 00:38:49

continuing these conversations with you because you definitely make an impact.

Charles: 00:38:54

Thank you so much, Josh.

Charles: 00:38:56

That's a joy to hear from you, and by the way, my book series, Bring the

Charles: 00:38:59

Zing, is available on Amazon Kindle.

Joshua: 00:39:02

And you want to check that out, I'll have it in the episode notes

Joshua: 00:39:05

if you want to read those, that is something that you can pull off of

Joshua: 00:39:08

Amazon, but Charles, thank you again.

Charles: 00:39:11

Thank you so much, Josh.

Charles: 00:39:12

It's been a pleasure.

Joshua: 00:39:14

When I think of Charles Gates, I think about somebody that has really been

Joshua: 00:39:18

able to go through life and really help people no matter where they are at, and

Joshua: 00:39:23

he certainly brought that zing, especially in this interview, and definitely the

Joshua: 00:39:29

perspective that he provided was something that I forever continue to live in my

Joshua: 00:39:34

own life when it comes to the things that we can create, not only for content, but

Joshua: 00:39:40

also the things in which we can transform ourselves, and that's why I really enjoyed

Joshua: 00:39:44

not only the interview that we had, but also have the opportunity to share many

Joshua: 00:39:48

of these things that you can even learn on your own, which just for the record, we

Joshua: 00:39:54

talked a little bit about Darren LaCroix, and Darren is one of the more successful

Joshua: 00:39:59

Toastmasters that went on to start his own business, Stage Time University,

Joshua: 00:40:04

which if you are interested in checking that out, I will leave a link into the

Joshua: 00:40:09

episode notes that will help you to get to where you want to be, but I want to

Joshua: 00:40:14

talk a lot about really just the things that Charles really said in this episode

Joshua: 00:40:19

that made me think about what I could potentially do to even help myself, even

Joshua: 00:40:25

as a coach myself, helping people realize and have that voice in this ever-changing

Joshua: 00:40:31

world, the mission of Your Speaking Voice.

Joshua: 00:40:34

I felt the first thing that really stood out for me was about that sometimes,

Joshua: 00:40:39

there is nobody that really makes us feel this way, because when I asked him

Joshua: 00:40:43

that question about who really influenced him, he actually said something that

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I would never thought or imagined that it would really help to create some

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of those best things for myself and to even help myself through all the

Joshua: 00:40:59

different challenges that would come through my own life, and I think that

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means having some sheer determination.

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Sheer grit, which for some people that can be very difficult in doing.

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It means taking yourself out of the context of where we are sitting in,

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and then being able to push ourselves into another context in which we

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can help others, and since Charles didn't have that influence, he

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realized that he had that innate gift.

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The gift of being able to just see where people are at; to be able to

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help wherever that help is needed, and I think that's something that we can,

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as even listeners, continue to build upon our own lives, whether that is in

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a personal or a professional context.

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Now for many of our episodes, especially early on when we started this podcast,

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we heard a lot of this concept of active listening, and Charles, yet again, is

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one of those Toastmaster guests that I've had that have talked about the

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importance of doing that just so that we can just keep swimming forward.

Joshua: 00:42:03

Ah, to keep swimming forward.

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It's something that I heard many years ago from the same Charles

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Gates, but I was in a completely different mindset at the time.

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As a matter of fact, I wasn't swimming.

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I was barely treading water.

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As a matter of fact, the water was getting into my nose and I was starting

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to drown, slowly, into a dark, big abyss of itself, and that was something

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that I would never thought in a million years that I would overcome because

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trying to just swim, especially with all the things that are happening in

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our lives, it can be so difficult.

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It can be so challenging to just overcome those different aspects of our lives,

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to have that balance, which we've talked about in so many different episodes,

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of being able to just weigh those buoys that are out there in the sea, and even

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that vast ocean of just being able to carry on, but isn't that the point?

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Isn't that the point of having other people that are like-minded

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like yourself, that are willing to help you along the way?

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Now, don't get me wrong, you can be like-minded and also have bad influences

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in your life, whatsoever, that might create some of those negative connotations

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about who you are, what you're trying to represent, and so many other things, but

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if you don't know what to do, especially when the times get tough, you have to

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remember that relying on what you've done in the past is not the answer either, and

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I think that for many of us, we do rely on that past because that's all we have.

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We just live.

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We just live because we need to just continue on, but I think that the

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problem with that is we stay stagnant.

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We don't challenge our status quo.

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As a matter of fact, we never see what we can do to become the very best.

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Sure, we could be a transformational speech coach in which we're happening

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to create infotaining, exciting speeches in itself, but when we are talking about

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especially the networking aspect of this interview, we really are talking

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about what we can do to move ourselves forward from point A to point B.

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To move ourselves then from point B to point C, but then it's about even

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the greater worldview that some people take point D and go back to point A.

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Does that mean that they're wrong?

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Does that mean that they are also challenging themselves to become something

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that they never thought possible?

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Is it something that they're able to just live and just go through the notions,

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thinking that they will have that answer?

Joshua: 00:44:51

Well, it's all about perspective and even in perspective, we have to

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reflect on what those perspectives of our own lives are and what we wish

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to have as new world perspectives, because they are always changing.

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They always have something in which we are trying to see through the murky fog,

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the murky waters, to see if we could swim to the next opportunity of essentially

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becoming the very best, and I think that for Charles, he recognizes that it isn't

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just about doing it yourself, it's about networking with others, and even being

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a coach, especially of the softball team in which he was able to help those

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children become something that they never thought possible, especially in the world

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of sports, that can be so important for athletes to strive for their very best.

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Now, I'm not any fan enthusiast when it comes to any sort of sports.

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That's just something that I did not grow up with, and I can point you to the next

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podcast host that would be one of the best influencers when it comes to the

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Philadelphia Phillies and other sort of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania sports teams

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here in the United States, and I certainly do not want to say his name, just in fear

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that maybe he might be listening to this because he might be a little shy, but I

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know that that's the whole point is that we have these innate abilities, these

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talents, whether they're in sports or not, and they make us become something

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that we never thought imaginable due to the fact that we are seeing ourselves

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at a completely different light.

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Which ultimately asks one simple question: Why?

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What is your why?

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What are you doing about your why?

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I think that's where we need to seek out that answer; almost like in the

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one episode I talked about Star Trek.

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We have to go to those vast new planets.

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We need to be able to explore new worlds, new civilizations.

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We need to be able to open ourselves to adventure, especially even some of

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my international guests that have been on this show have expressed, because

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it is about understanding that why.

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It's about figuring out what you can do to become not just the best version

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of yourself, but through that process, you're changing your mindset and your

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perspective of the whole entire world, and that's where speech can be so powerful

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and which is why I coach even in speaking as well, but in order for us to bring the

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zing, we need to be able to understand fully what we are trying to challenge

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ourselves in doing, and that's why it's so important to understand that why.

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Seek out those people that are helping you to find that why.

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Have them go through that process with you.

Joshua: 00:47:42

Learn a little bit about what you can become, and then on the other side of

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that, keep challenging yourself because you should never settle for less.

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You should know that no matter what, you can like helping people too, and

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it doesn't mean that every single day you have to be service oriented.

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It means about being there for friends and family as well, which

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is why this is all interconnected.

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There isn't two silos, or three, or four, no matter what kind of

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number of silos that you have.

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It's about realizing that you have what it takes and it means

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understanding that we all have our unique styles in which we do it.

Joshua: 00:48:23

Although Charles would be somebody in which I would have to work against

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in order to get clients, it doesn't mean that Charles is a bad person.

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It doesn't mean that I am a bad person, and that's what this is

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all about, ladies and gentlemen.

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It's about realizing what is the good and what is the bad and I think that

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if we can break those molds, those habits that we have inside of ourselves

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that are the good and the bad, we can become great and greater instead,

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and potentially become the greatest.

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It doesn't mean that we have to be achieving perfection, but it does

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mean that we have to have that zing to continue, and I think for anyone that

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is out there still trying to figure out what that influence is, whether you

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are that child in the baseball field or the softball field, or even turning

Joshua: 00:49:13

it into the future, I think we all need to realize that we can do this.

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We can find our why.

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We are worthy of all things possible, and that is the most important

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thing we can do to unlock our voice.

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Thanks for listening to episode number 51 of Speaking from the

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Heart, and I look forward to hearing from your heart very soon.

Outro: 00:49:39

Thanks for listening.

Outro: 00:49:40

For more information about our podcast and future shows, search for Speaking From

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