A Story Behind Succes
What is success? People define success in
various ways. Some say
success means a lot of money.
Others say success is related with fame. But I am only fifteen and I am still
in high school. Fame and money are not how teenagers like me would describe success. My friends would
describe success as
looking as fabulous as world models, having good grades and getting into the best schools. But I personally would relate
success with winning
competitions. I have
joined a lot of
competitions in my life since I was three: fashion shows, karate, story writing, story reading, storytelling, scouting
competition and more! I have won some of them
and I have lost some of them. I have to say that winning a competition is hard, but it’s not impossible. In order to win a competition,
you need a good preparation
before the competition, the
winning attitude during the competition, and continuous self-reflection and improvement after each
competition.
Let’s discuss it one by one. First, in order to win a
competition, any competition, you need a good preparation before. Actually, you need a good preparation before doing anything as
the saying goes: if you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail. The basic
preparation you will need for any competition is the skill. The problem is
different competitions require different skills. For example, in a karate competition, you need to prepare your physical stamina and fighting skills. But these preparations are useless in a story telling competition. A story telling competition
would need a story telling skills that would include voicing
characters, showing facial expressions, using properties and communicating with
audience. Develop the
necessary skills. Practice a lot. And you will have
a chance to win the competition. It would also be a good idea to find
out how good is your competitors. Make sure you are better than them all.
Otherwise, you can’t win.
People say, if you fail to
prepare, you prepare to fail. But nobody says, if you succeed to prepare, you
prepare to succeed. Do you know why? Because your winning or losing would be
determined not on your preparation, but on your performance during the
competition. Whatever happens during a competition, you have not won until you
do! I was just a white-belt when I started joining karate competitions. I did
not know much about karate competitions except that I needed to beat my
opponents. My sensei had told me which body parts I could hit, which I must
not. You know, basic do’s and don’t’s. And I did just that. I won over the
first opponent, and the second, and the third, and the next, until it was
announced that the next fight would determine who was to take the first and
second place. And I started looking at the enthusiastic faces of the audience,
the disappointed faces of my opponents, the poker faces of the jury and my
sensei. And my mother had told me not to get hurt earlier that morning just
before I left home. And here I was. One step away before winning my very first
karate competitions. Did I win? Nope! I was called three times, but I was so
amazed or tired, I am not sure. I simply failed to pull myself together to get
up there to fight. And I lost on walkout. Do you see what I am trying to say?
Your winning or losing is determined during the competition itself. Focus on
winning. Control yourself. You don’t win yet, until you are annouced as the
winner. Before it happens, keep on fighting!
What if you still lose? That’s
ok. There are more losers in a competition than winners. Losing is a common
thing. I have lost too. What do I do when I lose a competition? I cry a little.
Then I evaluated why I have lost. Is it me? Or the other participants are
simply better than me? What is it that I don’t have that make them win over me?
What is it that they have that make them win? What can I do to improve myself
so that I become better than them especially in the next competitions? Losing
in competitions has given me a chance to be humble and to see how I can improve
myself.
Actually winning a competition is
more challenging, especially if you want to win again the next time. I won a
storytelling competition on Saturday and on Monday, a journalist from Zona
Pantau showed up at the gate of my school. The principle then arranged an
interview and a chance for him to videotape my performance. You can see it on
youtube. It has got more and more viewers and likes, especially closing to
upcoming storytelling competitions. At first, I thought it was just a
coincidence. But would coincidence happen all the time? I don’t think so. I saw
more and more copy of me in storytelling competitions. It was a rough copy at
the beginning, but it got finer and finer, and eventually, I had to lose to a
very fine copy. Winning a competition sets standard for other participants to
see what a winning performance should be like. Winners are studied and copied.
This is the reason why you often see video camera in a competition. They don’t
just videotape their players. They videotape other players as well to evaluate,
to ensure their players would have a better chance to win the next time. So,
when you win and you want to secure your winning in the next competitions, be
sure to always come up with something new. Be creative.
All in all, winning competitions
is not easy, but it’s not impossible. Prepare yourself, do your best and make
continuous improvement. For the record, life itself is a competition. Although
you don’t join any competition, do your best and keep on learning and improving
and success will be upon you.