Just as a child picks itself up again and again, every time it falls while taking its first steps, champions are not afraid to fall down or fail.

They know that failure is best teacher. They learn from their mistakes and keep fine-tuning their methods till they succeed.

Champions have courage to fall down and not be discouraged. They pick themselves up and keep trying.

4. Champions are Willing to Adapt

Darwin got it wrong.

Survival does not happen to Fittest, but to Most Adaptable.

As children, we adapt to long-term change relatively easily. We are more willing to accept situations and adapt our behaviour accordingly.

Unfortunately, as we grow older, we become more rigid in our thinking, unwilling to accept that there may be better ways of doing things.

In a changing business scenario, resistance to change makes us obsolete. We end up losing out to players with a better understanding of changing trends.

Champions are those who can adapt themselves and their business to changing trends.

5. Champions are Willing to Innovate

Children are extremely inventive beings. They come into this world with no preconceived notions of doing things. In their minds there are no limits to what they can do or how they can do it.

Champions apply these very principles to take their business to top.

They not only learn from what has been done before. They find ways of doing it more efficiently, more cheaply, more successfully.

As Shiv Khera, motivation coach and author of "You Can Win" puts it, "Winners don't do different things. They do things differently."

You don't have to be like a child in all respects to succeed. It's probably not even desirable.

But if your pre-conceived notions, fears and hesitation are preventing you from reaching your goals, try looking at world through a child's eyes.

At best you will improve your chances of success, at worst you'll remain young at heart.

5. Tell a lot of stories. Budgets seem as exciting as an Excel spreadsheet. So, I'll tell them stories about what those line items mean to them and to Town employees. Whenever stories get told, emotion gets expressed. People like to think, to ponder, to evaluate, but not on a full stomach. So facts will be interspersed with many stories. Whenever you speak, unless at a funeral (and even there laughter heals sorrowing heart), get people to laugh.

6. Know when to speak up and sit down: Most people manage to listen for 18 or 20 minutes. Stomachs full of food washed down with a glass of wine causes minds to nod. So keep it simple by introducing your audience to what you will say, give them facts (lots of stories), and tell them what you said. Then end it with a purpose driven suggestion. Since our Town needs elected and volunteer officials, I may challenge them to volunteer or take out registration papers for next election. That ought to wake them up!

Finally, have fun; don't be overly confident if it goes well, or overly hard on yourself if it goes poorly. Every event provides an experience and each experience adds another dimension to your personality. Seneca (5 BC - 65 AD) wrote, "Speech is mirror of mind", so be sure to have something to reflect,. Oh, one last point, eat after you talk, and have a drink, if you want, when you get home.