【英文演讲】What are your strengths

作者：范军 （Frank Fan） 新浪微博：@frankfan7

本文是我在Toastmaster英语演讲俱乐部的演讲草稿。文章系东拼西凑而成。

opening,body和conclusion是草稿。随后是参考文章，以及别人对我演讲的评价（Evaluation Recommendation)

Topic: What are your strength

Date：16 Jan 2014

Opening

How many of you have ever done a new year’s resolution inthe past?   What do you normally put inthe plan?   I normally put something Iwant to improve in the plan, which means I focused on my weaknesses.   I pre-assume some of you are used to do thesame way.

Has anyone here heard of the philosophy of positivepsychology?  The foundation of positivepsychology is to focus on the positive in your life, not the negative!

Positive Psychology places its focus on the positive side ofhuman functioning. Rather than dealing exclusively with emotional pains andproblems, we help our clients to cultivate their strengths. This can be farmore effective and longer-lasting than simply fighting the symptoms of acurrent disorder.

In fact, research indicates that one of the best ways toboost your long-term happiness is to use your strengths in new ways andsituations, rather than focusing on your weaknesses.  

Body

Today I will introduce a simple 3-step method to help youknow yourself better.  As a result it maymake a big difference of your life.

Step 1:  Aware - Whatare your strengths:

Prof Martin Seligman and Prof Chris Peterson identified anddefined a set of twenty-four universal character strengths grouped into sixcategories. These are not concrete skills like 'good at maths' or 'athletictalent'. They are intrinsic strengths of character that we all possess to somedegree, like curiosity, humour, persistence and bravery.

You may have had certain strengths that are so natural toyou that you may not even consider them strengths.   You can participate some free survey online,such as viame.org, which generates a report of yourstrengths.  

The top 5 strengths called Signature strengths which comenaturally to us. They are an expression of who we are.  Therefore, when we allow that core part ofourselves to be expressed, we are meeting basic human needs that have to dowith making connections in our relationships and accomplishing as much as wecan in this life. Success with our goals naturally flows from this. As aresult, we experience greater happiness.

Step 2:  Explore – Question yourself about thestrengths discovered

Explore these strengths deeply (e.g., past use,current use, application to a future best self, use at the most difficulttimes, use at the times when you were strongest).

What surprises you most about the results?  When you think of a time when you wereanxious, depressed, or highly stressed, which strengths did you use to moveforward?

Do you feel these are the core of who you are and that thestrengths give you energy when you practice them?

When you think about a time when you werefunctioning at your best, which strengths did you use?

Step 3:  Apply – Just Do it!

This step involves you beginning to use their strengths inyour daily life.

Consciously identifystrengths in your environmente.g.,your spouse showing kindness, the grocery clerk displaying prudence, the moviecharacter displaying fairness, and your boss displayingjudgment/open-mindedness.

Action plan

Which strengths are you interested in applying in your dailylife?Createa concrete “action plan” that is integrated into their goals.

Use the strength in a new way. This is the classicstrengths-building exercise shown in research studies. The premise is to takeaction with one of your top strengths by conceiving of one new way to use orexpress the strength each day. Typically, this strategy involves using curiosity asyou seek novel and new ways to do things, creativity to generatenew ideas each day, or perspective to see the bigger pictureas to what might be both interesting and useful for you.

Conclusion:

Today I’d like to encourage you to focus on leveraging yourstrength in your new year’s resolutions.

By identifying and building on our personal strengths, wecan engage with life more fully. When we recognise and take pride in our bestabilities, we may become more confident, more motivated, and more effective ineverything we do.

We are what we repeatedly do. Now challenge yourself and useyour strength in a novel way.  Every day… so that it becomes a habit.  

By leveraging your strengths on a daily basis, I believe you will be more successful and happier.

Referenece:

340 Ways to Use VIA Character Strengths by Tayyab Rashid& Afroze Anjum

Taking Action with Strength by RyanM. Niemiec, Psy.D.

https://kimsteadman.wordpress.com/tag/the-7-habits-of-highly-effective-people/

Evaluation Recommendation:  

Praise:

Established credibility;Persuding by appealing to the reader's emotions;persuading by the use of reasoning (Ethos, Pathos and Logos)

Improvement:

The poster was distracting

stood on one spot for too long ; should use body language more often

The second part could be tighter. Some audience were not engaged very well

Praise:

Good personal stories; visualisation;  call for action