It is the beginning of April 2014 and I decided to return to Toastmasters for the 2nd time — the first time erased from the official records but not from my consciousness — I have the same underlying habit as most atheists and non-conformists have, which is I don’t like being told what to do — preferring to charter my own path, learn from curious exploration and allow self-organization to take hold, even where there is control.

I joined up at City Centre Toastmasters and the first thing that impressed me was the mix of many young people along with experienced and nice-to-get along experienced Toastmasters. Toastmaster clubs have their own individual culture which reflect either years of dedication from a handful of diehard enthusiasts or the whims of a new executive. The effort put in mirrors that of Wikipedia enthusiasts — where a small number of contributors to effect the larger membership community.

Joining the executive was a no-brainer but I wasn’t expecting nomination in the most challenging role at the club level, which is VP of Education. Once nominated I quickly changed gears and began applying my own vision as to what this role entails and what unique characteristics I will bring to it.

One of those unique characteristics is my comfort with online networks such as Medium, Twitter, Slideshare, MeetUp, Linked-In, Pinterest, Tumblr etc etc etc — but for the most part these sites are looked upon as promotional and marketing tools in most cases where I have seen other Toastmasters utilize them. I didn’t want that.

My journey is one of continuous improvement, that Deming a.k.a. Russell Ackoff approach is something I bring to the club because I prefer a systems approach — and online networks represent both a place where my personal self-expression takes hold and where the resulting flood of thought is a process of reflection and not publishing.

The publish or perish mindset is the dominant way of approaching online interactions, but I come to this world mostly unfiltered (and I have paid the price for that) and where I naturally talk to myself because I think out aloud. Here on the web, the cliche is to be “authentic” — but me being authentic is me doing what I do in my real life — constantly think out aloud. Just because my thoughts flow from my keyboard, does not change the underlying process.

Most people don’t come to online haunts for pure reflection and in the process documenting an opinion and a learning journey. I am not writing a story about the past, I am participating in my own story that is unfolding as I think out aloud — this is emergent, it is making up things as I go — it is not a prescription to others to do what I do. That is their business, these are my personal reflections.

At least the world of education is examining how to move in a direction that I have already moved and one that I have been doing for over 15 years in other separate self-mediated journeys. The world of narcissism is placing one’s self at the centre of the universe and to me that is a drawback of a publishing mindset.

A reflective mindset wants to see the world like a child-like wonder, knowing all the time that adult supervision in the publish or perish is the chief instrument and form of understanding most know. It goes without saying that we need more time for reflection — but that is not a sentiment because with every thought I type — I have made that time for reflection.

In that reflection exists the possibility to understand what I educe, and to educe is education — i.e. to draw out — and here I draw out my thoughts — and later I will come back to them and that point there is reflection and there is a story that has unfolded, and at that point — as Steve Jobs once said — I will count the dots backwards and will see this story anew.

M-17-Jul-2014