I am lucky to be located in a Toastmasters district in central California. We have the highly competitive Las Vegas clubs to keep us on our toes for tall tales and international oratory contests. Just four hours to the south is the headquarters of Toastmasters International. And halfway between here and there is Lancaster, California, home to one of the world’s most unique Toastmasters.
Dana LaMon is the only world champion orator who is also an accredited speaker. She is also blind since she was four years old. She has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Yale and a law degree from the University of Southern California. He recently retired as an administrative law judge.
Dana has spoken to audiences all over the world and one of her most popular topics is excellence. “The Book of Excellence” is the source of many of those speeches. The 104 Principles were written during a brief period by Dana as she watched her life and career as the previous century drew to a close. He began sharing the principles with friends and colleagues who asked for copies. Thus the book was born.
It is a pocket book or the size of a purse. Perfect to pull out and open when you’re in line or sitting in a waiting room. Each page presents a principle that can be quoted along with a bit of commentary.
Principle #2.
Excellence requires you to do your best, not be the best.”
Dana tells us that even if we are involved in a competition, we must focus on giving our best performance. For those who are impatient, there is principle #6:
In the way of a planned project, excellence is progress towards completion.”
Principle #22 is mentioned in a previous article titled “How I Was Given a Vision of Excellence by Dana LaMon, Speaker and Author.” I was able to hear her speak at a recent Toastmasters Leadership Institute (TLI) because she lives so close to our district. He gave us this principle:
Where there is no meaning in what you do, there will likely be mediocrity in your performance.”
Your unique purpose will always be on your mind, giving you enthusiasm and energy for the task, if it makes sense.
These are just two of the 104 principles. Why 104? She would have said “two a week,” but Dana tells us in the introduction that’s where she ran out of ideas. I highly doubt you’ll ever run out of ideas in the area of ​​excellence. It makes a conveniently sized book, so I’m glad she stopped writing.
