My Project X Speech First Draft

Below is the draft of my project X speech I gave at toastmasters this week. I didn't give the speech as it was written, and will be making significant changes as I prepare this theme for our annual international Serious Speech Contest. I mentioned this in my newsletter and said I would post it here. So here it is>

Mr. Toastmaster, fellow Toastmasters, welcome guests, At the end of my talk today I will ask each of you a question regarding your “Project X.” Specifically, I will ask you to name your “Project X.”

But first, I want you to think back to about 1 hour ago. Remember what it was like to drive to Toastmasters this morning? Can you see yourself behind the wheel? Now to shift gears a little, may I ask you to see yourself just driving down the free way on a long drive.

Do you ever get to the point while driving where you just zone out? Have you ever arrived at a destination and not actually remember the drive getting there? Or is this just my own personal dementia?

Now, if you will, can you imagine standing on the shoulder of that same freeway, moderately busy with traffic and intent on crossing it on foot.

Quite a contrast of mental attitude, don’t you think?

In the routine of driving the freeway we tend to drift off and operate on auto pilot. And yet in that very same place, in a very different way we are far more engaged when doing that which is out of the ordinary.

In the first case we are in the flow, in the second, we’re not.

Instead, we are acting purposefully. We are particularly paying attention to our personal preservation as we prepare to pedestrian our way across the pavement. We are in full control of our actions. We are alive, if only in a mundane matter.

Our lives are like that freeway trip. To stretch the metaphor, the journey out of the neighborhood starts at 16 with the first car and first accidents. Life is sometimes messy getting out of our childhood family neighborhood. It may take any number of years before a person settles into gear and enjoys cruise control on the family life freeway with all its rewards and merits.

But along the way, our roles in life, as varied and noble or base as they may be, become just a freeway trip.

I suggest we all need to grab a “Project X.” Something outside us, something short, specific, and extraordinary. Something like standing on the shoulder of the freeway, with risk and perhaps no lasting importance.

Something that takes your life off auto pilot and puts you back in charge. Crossing the freeway, but NOT like the chicken with an unknown mission.

Rather, your Project X is something definite. It’s a project that not only can, but will be done. Because, you said so.

And so fellow Toastmasters, the time has come. For me to ask, What will you call your Project X? Select a project outside of everything you are now doing. Give it a name. Make it real to yourself, and then do it.

If your project hasn’t already sprung to mind, name it Project X. Your first project is to find a worthy Project X.

Fellow Toastmasters, while it’s wise to look both ways when crossing the street, it’s imperative that you take the steps required to make it happen.

So, when you settle in behind the wheel of your car later today, start thinking about your Project X.

Let your cockpit be your incubator. (Repeat)