There I was sitting at the area speech competition for Toastmasters International , waiting for my turn. A few minutes ago, I had just received news that the Tall Tale speech that I had practiced at my club to rave reviews, was too long. At the practice run, I had clocked in at 6 minutes, 4 seconds, which was great when I thought the speech was supposed to be 5-7 minutes long. However, I was just informed by the competition official time keepers that the Tall Tale speech is 3-5 minutes. Currently the speech I had prepared for was over by 1 minute 4 seconds, instant disqualification. There were two other gentlemen that were in the Tall Tale Competition as well. The first man started pacing back and forth quietly lamenting that he thought he had 5-7 minutes as well to give his speech. The other man confidently announced, “That’s what I planned for!” He reminded me of Sergeant Harvey Walden IV from Celebrity Fit Club . This former Marine sergeant was always barking tough, motiva