Month: March 2022

Mbulelo illustrates how small actions lead to eventual change during his reflection of the Presentation Mastery Pathway.

On Wednesday, Komani Toastmasters held it’s club meeting. These happen every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month at 6PM. More about them here. It is was a short line up: an evaluation educational from Luxolo, a reflection speech from Mbulelo and tabletopics by Simnikiwe.

Mbulelo’s speech, Swallowed By Vision, was what I’ve come to expect from Level 5 speakers: excellent introduction followed by a well explained body and a fitting conclusion. During the body of his speech Mbulelo did some maths that stuck out to me. I’ve attempted to run these numbers before but never did quite reach the conclusion that Mbulelo achieved.

He started by highlighting the that in a program year Toastmasters will have 24 meetings. These 24 meeting take on average 2 hours and give you 48 hours. If you assume that a working day is 8 hours long then it stands to reason that 48 hours gives you 6 working days of training and development. Komani Toastmasters offers their membership at R1700 per year.

After laying out this point he emphatically pointed that you will not get access to this kind of training at this price anywhere. He is proud because the skills he gained have empowered him to take radio interviews and run programmes on behalf of clients with confidence and skill.

The benefits are there and he put in the time to develop these skills. One would probably not think much of two hours every two weeks but it does all add up to rewarding outcomes. Especially when you stick to the habit.

There is a green Jojo water tank outside the kitchen with a tap attached to it. One day I’ll find out why they are called Jojo tanks in South Africa. Anyway, once in a long while the water level drops and the water pours out ever so slowly.

Under normal conditions, it takes 3 minutes to fill a 20 litre bucket. Yes, I have measured this on various occasions. More by accident than for any real science. This time extends as the water level drops and to a point where it takes a really long time to fill a bucket.

I’ve been meditating on this scenario over the last month or so. With certainty, once the tap is opened and sufficient pressure exists in the system, the bucket WILL fill up. It may take three minutes or 6 minutes or 30 minutes but it will fill up.

Another scenario plays out on the farm when it rains. Mom religiously collects rain water! I mean religiously. If you think there’s a place in hell for sinners, I’m convinced that for mom there exists a reserved location in hell for those who do not collect rainwater. I’ve heard mom wake-up at 2am to get the buckets out because she hears raindrops on the roof

When it rains she will place buckets and baths under the eaves to catch drops. Depending on the rainfall it can take 10 minutes to fill a bucket or one whole evening.

I’ve set this up at length because after seeing these scenes playout on the farm year after year, I may not be sure that Jesus’ return but I am sure that a bucket placed under eaves during rainfall will fill up. And it is that certainty that has come to dominate my mind on all projects big or small.

The steady application of effort gets results. You don’t need an army to get something done. a number of people willing to exert their effort in one common direction will get the necessary results. It may take 10 minutes or an entire evening but it WILL happen.

So to answer the question in the title…

Assume 1 drop is equal to 50 cubic millimetres and knowing that one litre is in fact 1,000,000 cubic millimetres. If my maths is any good, you would need 20 000 drops to fill a litre. This extends to 400,000 drops to fill a 20 litre bucket.