*Thursday, February 23, 2006*
Hi guys. I'm rather free for a while now, so I've decided to blog a bit for the class and maybe it's a little something to ponder on. The stuff about to be written might be surprisingly familiar to sports athletes if they hear it time and again from their coaches, but I guess it's alright to share with the rest of you people. Although it is directly applicable to an athletes' life, the situations can still be applied to anybody's.
Follow it if you think it helps, ditch it if otherwise. It's your life. You make the choices. You live the life you want it to. You choose and you face the consequences of the choices you choose. It's all up to you.
*I'm not imposing anything on anybody, but if it weren't good, I wouldn't put it down here.*
You know... Yesterday, I went for a sports seminar organised for the sports CCAs of NJC. I don't know how many of you guys apart from me went, but that doesn't matter. The main theme for yesterday's sports lecture was "Conquering the Fear of Failure".
It spoke volumes about not needing to be afraid of failure, that to fail is necessary in order to achieve success and that to not be afraid of trying just because of fearing to fail. I feel it applies even in our social and academic life.
First, I start with a quote the lecturer left me with, " Champions hate losing but they are not afraid of losing." And to pair it up, I add on another quote from somewhere I read off, "Nobody trains for second place". The thing is, even when your studying, you should start off not being satisfied with just the pass grade. Aim high. Aim for first. The odds of you getting it is really low, but it doesn't hurt to aim for it right? I mean... Even if you aim for it and didn't achieve it, then that's just too bad. Sometimes, only one person can be the best but that doesn't have to matter. What mattes is the experience you've received from doing the process, and then being able to look back in retrospect and say, "Hey. I didn't regret getting second (or third or fourth or even last place), because I've indeed tried my best."
I know it's cliche, but still, even if it is, how many of you live by it? Everybody is a champion as long you belive yourself to be. Think that you can do anything, and indeed anything can be done. There is no need to fear not being able to succeed, because all you are doing is failing to achieve other peoples' expectations. Don't let others choose your targets and goals, because either they are beyond your reach or they are too easy for you to get it. Pick it out on your own because you know yourself best.
Before a test, just prepare duly for it. Never say beforehand, "I'm so going to flunk this" because the more you say it, the more your mind is prepared for failure. You will go into the exam with that negative mindset and your test score will be negative too. You will then go on to think that you were expected to fail, and the domino effect will continue onto the next test. Instead of saying "I'm going to flunk this", how about "I'm going to ace this" or "I'm going to get full marks for this". Why not? We should all aim for perfection, even if the chances of attaining it are so low. If we keep on doing it, and should one day we do eventually achieve that perfect score, then I say, Congratulations. You deserve it. You psyched yourself to perform to the best of your ability. You prepared yourself mentally to succeed when you think you should.
Of course, that is not enough. Brainwashing never helped anybody without any action done. Instead, it will just make matters worse. It is important to prepare yourself mentally, but still, you have to study for it! You have to read your notes. You have to do those practices. You can't possibly expect to have it all by doing nothing at all. Both aspects of mental preparation and action is needed. As (if I not wrong) Disney once said, "Ambition without action is like a bird without wings."
Ok ok. That's quite a lot that I shared with you guys. Well... I should leave some for next time. I have a couple of online articles that my coaches once sent me and I'd love to share it with you guys. Succeeding alone is never my intention. I want everybody to succeed as a team, and in this case, the team is 06S21. =D
Haikal picked a waterdrop @ 8:37 PM
