Friday, July 17, 2009

We still have our dream, but we might have lost the courage

I like TED a lot, with a lot of speakers in different subjects, sometime thought provoking, and sometimes just pure fun, and sometimes boring as well. These talks are usually by westerners with a lot of western culture and influence in it, which I am used to due to the Internet. Recently I bumped into a speech by a chinese Malaysian Entrepreneur, though motivational in nature, but the feelings and impact does dwell deep into my heart.

Basically everyone have a dream, a lot might want to be millionaire, and others might want to do what they like most. But is the dream lost among the business of life and financial stress? Did we lost the dream, or we lost the courage to chase for the dream? Will we ever lose our dream? I think we will always have our dream. Those who didn’t try to fulfill it will keep the dream deep inside their heart, and the dream will surface deep in the night when no one is around, with tears flowing down while we hug our pillow. Those who fulfilled their dream will be proud of who they are with no regrets.


To fulfill a dream, we need courage. If you are penniless, can you have a dream? If a waiter say she want to be a millionaire or famous musician, will you laugh at her? There is nothing which makes her incapable of fulfilling her dreams. You can laugh at her, but you can’t stop her; only she can stop herself. I know a girl who once dislike running, but now a Iron Woman, and god knows swim, run and cycle for how many kilometers, and still continue to run until today and be happy about it. Who can stop her? Only herself. Can you be a Iron Man? Only if you put your mind to be one.


The journey to fulfill a dream is accumulative and full of failures. A millionaire today might need years of work, athletes will need years of training. There is no instance success, but there is a way to success which we could decide to take. Why am I not successful today? Because I didn’t do anything to be successful yesterday and the days before. Inaction is our default nature, not doing anything is better as there is assumed to be no risk. When you stop, people overtake you. When we didn’t do anything, we lose out all the opportunity to build the foundation to fulfill our dream. I give up any opportunity for a chance, for a hope. What are we doing? Waiting for something good to fall from sky? Even though good stuff fall from sky, you might not be capable of catching it or even recognize it. Opportunities await those who are ready. What we do today will decide the outcome in the future. No seed no fruit.


Failure is the obstacle to our success. The KFC uncle failed his business pitch for 1009 times and succeeds on the 1010th times at the age of 66. We are sure to fall, but can we stand up and try again is the real question. I started a business venture with a friend and fail miserably because I am not prepared. I try freelance and get back to employment again. I continue my freelance and quit my job for another business idea. That didn’t pick up and I partners with friend to start a company, and that didn’t work as well. Now I am freelancing and building my own web business, which I started to see some light finally, after 8 years of struggle. I realize I didn’t give up (because I don't want to be haunted deep in the night), though there are up and down. I have feelings and I do get sad and demoralized, but I just have to get over it and keep pushing. I can’t say I had succeeded, but it sure is getting better.

God will only help you if you help yourself. Though there are many factors which might contribute to our future success, but the most important thing is to have the courage to do it, and never give up. There will be up and down, just make sure you continue the journey until the end.

At the end, I can only succeed if I believe I can. No one can stop you besides yourself. I need courage in order to find my dream.