The Burning Platform

There is a pertinent story about a man who was working on an oil platform in the North Sea. He woke up one night from a loud explosion, which suddenly set his entire oil platform on fire. In mere moments, he was surrounded by flames. Through the smoke and heat, he barely made his way out of the chaos to the platform’s edge. When he looked down over the edge, all he could see were the dark, cold, foreboding Atlantic waters. As the fire approached him, the man had mere seconds to react. He could stand on the platform, and inevitably be consumed by the burning flames. Or, he could plunge 30 meters in to the freezing waters. The man was standing upon a “burning platform,” and he needed to make a choice. He decided to jump. It was unexpected. In ordinary circumstances, the man would never consider plunging into icy waters. But these were not ordinary times – his platform was on fire. The man survived the fall and the waters. After he was rescued, he noted that a “burning platform” caused a radical change in his behavior. 

Till 2013, I was standing on a platform too! The platform where my friends, my career and personal life are there! The freezing water was Public speaking! Fear of public speaking is what stopped me from jumping into it! But when my professional and personal life was going down then the platform began to look like a burning platform! And hence came the push! From that burning platform I jumped into the freezing waters (The big Toastmasters Ocean)! Now I am swimming a journey of Public Speaking. It’s been a wonderful journey from last 2.5 years in Toastmasters club. I was rescued by Mentor to prepare my speech, by evaluator to improve my next speech, VP-Education to achieve my goals. In this journey, I have seen TMs completing Competent Leadership and Competent Communicator certification in the club, which inspired me to give my best. On this occasion, I want to thank all of you for contributing to the AreaF4 in one way or other. Looking forward to see you all participating in Club contests, organizing contests and growing together as a team of Area F4.

This article is orginally written in Accenture Toastmasters Newsletter and Area F4 Newsletter in the year 2015.  

Image Credits: https://pixabay.com/