Reflect, Analyze, Adjust, Re-analyze, and Move Forward

2012-04-04

I am a firm believer in having mentors. I have a few key people in my life that I consult when I need advice, encouragement, or life lessons. One of my closest mentors is a former business teacher, who taught for 40 years. During my senior year of high school, she explained an important concept to me, and I would like to share that concept with you.

The concept is a five-step process that can be applied to many situations in life. Here is the process: reflect, analyze, adjust, re-analyze, and move forward. Let me give you an example of how I have applied this process to my public speaking.

· Reflect. After I give a speech, I reflect on my performance. This step involves answering a few basic questions…On a scale of 1-10, how would I rate the speech? How would the audience rate the speech? What were the top three elements of my speech? What were three elements that I needed to improve? In essence, reflecting gives me a general concept of the effectiveness of the speech.

· Analyze. After I have reflected on my performance, I carefully analyze my entire speech. For this step, I look into the finite details of my speech and answer several specific questions. Was my wording precise enough? Did I vary my volume effectively? Were key parts of my speech dynamic? If I could re-do the speech, what would I do differently? These are just a few of the questions I would answer during the analyzing period. This step of the process helps me to understand the precision of smaller, yet important elements of my speech.

· Adjust. My next step is to make adjustments to my speech. During this step, I take a pen and record changes to my speech. I use the information from my reflecting and analyzing steps to make definitive adjustments to my speech. This step helps me to clearly see how I need to develop my speeches in the future.

· Re-Analyze. After I make adjustments, I re-analyze my entire speech. Should I make more adjustments? Is the revised version of the speech better than the original version? What have I learned about my public speaking abilities? If necessary, I make more adjustments until I am fully satisfied with the revised speech. The process of re-analyzing helps me to maximize the lessons I learn from this entire process.

· Move Forward. The final step is to move forward with preparing for my next speech. Using the lessons I have learned from the previous four steps, I work to develop the most dynamic, well-assembled speech I can. Without a doubt, this is the most important step of the process; we never grow as human beings if we don’t move forward and strive to become a more successful individual.

This process can be applied to many of life’s situations. Based on my personal experiences, this process provides an efficient way to make changes and discover what it takes to be a more successful person. When we strive to be more successful, we often positively impact our environment.

DECA Wishes,

Micah Melling

Central Region Vice President