Being best in study enough to survive you think?

I came from a normal Malay family, my dad is a medium ranked police officer and my mom is a housewife. Like any other middle-class family, after years of struggling with financial problems, the only thing my parents always remind me is to study hard and change my life to be better. All I know was study and study and study until I got excellent results in UPSR, PMR, and SPM. yeah, I do play sports and have some other hobbies as well but it was not as much as a study.

Later when I join PASUM (Pusat Asasi Sains UM), a foundation study center where you get to meet a lot of Malaysian top students from all around Malaysia. It was this time I realized that there so many people out there that are smart as well as capable of doing a lot of great things like best in sport, music, acting, dancing, and the list go on. So I started to think, what is my strength other than good in studies, everyone can be that, do I have anything else I can do best. ? I feel less confident with myself at this point.

One year in PASUM really open my eyes, searching for what am I good at. But the way PASUM syllabus works like any other matrics program, its a one year full of hell with the highest focus in the study because at the end of the day, what you need is a good result to secure a scholarship. It was a race of life between friends. So you don't do much during this one year. 

"Wasting" a year didn't do much in PASUM, I know I need to change myself, I can't be like this forever. I always think in a way that what have I done today, yesterday, last week or even last month. did I learn anything? Life a continuous learning process where you will learn something new along the way, FOR SURE!! 

So I started my degree life in Sept 2013, and I challenge myself to change to be better. I started to join a lot of project activities, join more sport even the one I never played before because it's never too late to learn something right?. I took up a challenge to lead some projects, as well as being a team player in another project. I was doing so many things at the same time that I learned to manage my time well. so here is the first achievement without even I notice it because my intention was just to learned as much as I can and improve myself, which I was already doing, BINGO!! that's my second achievement. Along the way, I was given so many task and opportunity to handle many projects which need a lot of interaction with people. Here is my third achievement, working with people...in a confident way (well that's the fourth point now). Being a leader you learned dealing with people, you learn correct words to use (good communication with people), you learned making a decision (a sixth point now I guess), you learned how to convince people with your decision because you are confident and know what and why you are doing. 

Was given even much greater responsibility later being a college president, a lot of times you just have to stand in front of a crowd and start talking, now remember that impromptu speech that your English teacher asks you to do in class which you always put your head down and pretend to be busy or reading/searching something in your textbook ???? well now you know we were in the same cup of coffee. 

There will be many times you will be forced to do something that you are not prepared to, such as talking in front of people with confidence. Now at first, you will be nervous, but use the old way your school teacher told you, speak in front of the mirror, or alone or use your friend or whatever your teacher told you because it really works!!!! I learned using proper words to get attention, I learned to put some jokes in my talk to make get people's interest, I learned using low and high tone to get people's focus. I learned to include some interesting facts in my talk suitable with the age of my audience, I learned to engage with my audience to make them feel my talk because I was the kind of boy who sleeps listening to boring talk so I know how it feels. Now I'm not practicing public speaking since school or was even good in communication with people, but I was so interested to learn that in 3 years, give me thousands of people in front of me, I will willingly to speak with full confidence. 

Now that you don't get to be good at anything without practice. Ask those bodybuilders, how many hours they spend in a gym per day, ask those MMA fighters, ask footballer, ask musician, ask painter, ask everyone who is good in something, how many hours they spend, only a few where born to have such talent, the rest change themselves by the motivation they have. 

In this era, being smart in studies will not get you far anyway. You will get up to a point where all of the people in the same room have an equal level of intelligence and then tadaaa its the point of life where you will be searching what else you do best in. Well you need to present yourself for whatever reason you are in the room (interview maybe?) and there is nothing you can present to them other than all your A's in the result slip. Now, remember why your future employer always asks you "Tell us about your strength?" This is what they mean.

In conclusion, as you learned to do something, and try to be best at it, put extra effort and do things that can help you achieve that goal. Put more time even if you failed to achieve it, at least you can say to yourself that I tried. No one else can help improve yourself if you yourself didn't do it.

Attached are the pictures of some sharing I did through radio, in school, college, university as well as when I was sent to represent my country and university. Still there are many room for improvement for me, and I will keep enhancing myself. Cheers and have a good day.