success is in the process.

While judges determine who goes home with the trophy, they don't determine who goes home with success. If we as competitors allow the subjective opinion of others to determine whether or not our journey has been a success, then we have failed... If, whether we win or we lose,we recognize the growth that is still available and we choose to persist; then we win.

Rory Vaden. 27 years old.
First runner up for Toastmasters' World Championship of Public Speaking 2007.

I just finished July 2010's Toastmasters magazine copy and found the above excerpt in the article "My View from Number 2". It's about "what happens to the people who don't make it as the numero uno"? As a person who have not made it as champion to about 5-6 speech competitions, I can only understand 1/100th of what he feels (seeing that he came in SECOND at the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP). I've only had to go through sleepless nights for a month, whereas he had to undergo immense and tremendous pressure for 2 years before setting second place.

The first thing that came to my mind when I read his article was not about speech competitions, rather about studies itself. I'll admit that I am not a brilliant IQ-smart student when it comes to studies. Some people might dub those who have low grades in school as "stupid". After reading Rich Kid Smart Kid, I realize that there are different types of geniuses (what my mom has told me a long time ago but it did not seem significant to me at that time). What the current education system focuses on is the "verbal-linguistic genius", whereby they focus on reading and writing. Ergo those with strengths in reading and writing would inevitably thrive. The thing is, not everyone has strengths in reading and writing, that is not exactly the best way for them to learn. They might be better at "numericals" or "physical" or "environmental", just some of the other geniuses to name a few.

What I'm attempting to say is that grades and certificates does not necessarily determine you to be number one. You may need them for qualifications and to determine quality (as they are made out for) but at the end of the day, who really has the right to determine whether you are successful or not? Who can honestly say that you have grown as a person? It does not matter whether you are in a competition, whether you are studying or working: If, whether we win or we lose, we recognize the growth that is still available and we choose to persist; then we win.

Jim Rohn (Self-made multimillionaire, success coach and philosopher) says, "You want to set a goal that is big enough that in the process of achieving it you become someone worth becoming."

Jack Canfield writes: The ultimate benefit of overcoming considerations, fears and roadblocks is not the material rewards that you enjoy but the personal development that you achieve in the process.

Ultimately, success lies in being a better person everyday. Most of us forget that because we are too focused on the end-goal to realize that we are already winners when have gone through the journey to reach our aims.

To all of you who have dared to take a step forward, congratulations. You are winners already:)