Reflections on Reps

I don’t know if you watch Nas Daily but if you haven’t watched any of Nas’ videos I think you should. Nas did a project where he has to create one video per day for 1,000 days. No matter what happens, even if he is tired, even if he is not feeling like making one, even if it’s difficult, he has to publish one video a day. What happened was amazing. As he created videos after videos, he improved on his craft bit by bit. He iterated and improved on every video and the learning just compounded until his page exploded to 7 million followers.

Bring in the Reps

If you are into lifting weights, the term there is to bring in the reps or the repetitions. And I saw it in different aspects of my life as well. If you want to improve on public speaking, you have to bring in the reps – speak more in front. If you want to improve on writing, you have to bring in the reps – write more or maybe start a blog. If you want to run a marathon – again reps - log in the mileage. There’s a magic in consistency that somehow favors those who are biased to act on their projects.

Tipping point

There’s a portion in Toastmasters where members have to speak impromptu, it’s called Table Topics. When I spoke my first Table Topics, I was so nervous to speak in front that I stuttered. For table topics, the allotted time was minimum 1 minute. I spoke for maybe ten seconds then all silence for the rest of 50 seconds. It was embarrassing to say the least but it’s one rep, my first rep. I never stopped since. I don’t know how many times I spoke in front since then but I can say it’s a lot. It’s now 10 years since I made my first rep and I’m happy that I am now more confident to speak in front and can fill the whole 1 minute (more often overtime haha). I am not yet at the level where I want to be (still have so many points for improvement), but I’m happy where I am now in terms of public speaking (especially on confidence to speak infront).

I can’t pinpoint what specific repetition that made the difference or what specific time I improved but maybe it’s the whole exercise of bringing in the reps. We can’t notice the improvement (maybe it’s too small) of our craft after 2 or 3 reps but maybe after enough reps (like for me years), that’s when we notice the difference.

Like Nas’ videos and my public speaking journey, I hope you persevere on whatever project you are in. It is my hope that you won’t get tired of bringing in the reps. It’s worth it at the end.

PS: This post is dedicated to my fellow Toastmasters who started their first reps in their public speaking journey this week. The one in the picture is Toastmaster Rikka for her Icebreaker speech (first prepared speech). Kudos!

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