The Importance of Preparation

[This story was inspired after hearing from my friend's kid, who is in Primary six now and taking part in inter-school track and field. Hey, I took part in one before too! More than that, the experience was totally unforgettable...]

The $5 "rooster challenge"

In the beginning, there was a rooster...

Well, not a real rooster, but a piggy bank rooster. It stood tall on our form teacher's table, right in front and in the full view of everyone in the class. The rooster was made of transparent plastic and stored all the coins that the pupils in the class had donated since the beginning of semester. It was about two-thirds full of one cent and five cent coins.

I gazed at it one day and challenged myself, "If I win the A-girls individual champion, I'll donate not one cent or five cent, I'll donate $5!!" 'A-girls' means all the girls in Primary 6 in my School.

A few months later, a crisp $5 note sat comfortably in the rooster piggy bank, in the full view of all, especially in the full view of the one grinning from chin to chin, because what she set out to do, she did it! I came in first in my division for 100m, 200m, shot put, high jump and four by one relay. And hey, $5 was quite a big sum for a 11-year-old then.

The after-glow or was it the after-math?

If you think this blog post is to show off the trophy, actually, that's only half of the story... This trophy also reminded me of my subsequent failure, and an important lesson behind it.

After winning the individual champion in my School, I was naturally chosen to represent my School in the inter-school track and field events. I was totally ignorant of the HUGE challenge ahead and did not take the trainings very seriously. Well, I did turn up for the trainings and did my best. Perhaps I wasn't mentally prepared or did not have any exposure to inter-school events to realise the challenge that was ahead of me. I don't have vivid memories of the trainings, which goes to show that these trainings did not really matter big time to me. Sigh... ignorance is not always bliss >_<

That fateful day came. I took part in the 200m heats. The energy I felt at the event that day was tremendous. Ok, I'm talking about the energy around me, not that I just drank some energy drink or something O_o The athletes were so... were so... in good shape and full of confidence. They have that look of "this is it - the day I've been training for". I felt so out of place! I must be out of my mind and lost sight that it's a competition I was going for, not a walk-a-jog funamania. I think I was defeated even before I started running...

After the gun shot, I ran with all my heart, only to see my fellow competitors fly past me. I think I vomited after the run. Too much pressure and too much butterflies.. >_<

Turning failures into lessons

Yes, I totally flopped. The champion flopped.

Curtain.

Oh, it's not over yet... I must reflect and glean lessons from it. "I did prepare for the race what...", I pondered... But yes, I realised I did not prepare in a way to win the prize. I did the 'sloppy' preparation of turning up and thinking I am preparing but really I'm just going through motion...I took it way too casually... I did not train in a way to win the prize!! The training is the hard work, but the greater challenge was my mentality and outlook towards the competition...

There is something called, "it's too late". What can I do on the day of the race when I am so ill-prepared in the face of the challenge? Can't go back in time and salvage myself... I can only learn from it and do better the next time. I was given time to prepare yet I did not treasure it. Ok, learn and move on with greater resolve and wisdom!

Learning forward...

The extent such lessons hit me is the extent I will learn, do something about my life as I move forward. If I still don't get it or gloss over it, or worse, justify and push the responsibility to others (the sun was too hot, my leg was painful, the coach is too laid back etc), I will surely face the "it's too late" realities again. If I live my life numb to "it's too late" realities, it will be akin to drinking poison myself but hoping someone else will die from it!

Interesting how simple life experiences can dish out nuggets of truth... if only we learn and take heed... As we grow older, we do not have many more years to learn... the window of life gets narrower and narrower.... we can't count on 'next time will be better' because we lose some things (possessions, relationships, opportunities) permanently in the course of it... Some losses can't be reversed... So may we give our best in every situation! 8-)

Time passes by quickly. Events come and go. It is human to forget and get drowned in the hustle and bustle of life. I guess that's why some people are not so mature as they should be at their age because they let life's precious lessons pass by them without really learning. They will need to be responsible when one day they realise it all, if that day comes at all. Perhaps they might say, "How come no one told me so?" or "I should have known better..." or perhaps they are just happy to settle with a 'primary-six-trophy-mentality' and not reach higher.

Whenever I see a rooster piggy bank, may it be a kind reminder to myself of life's precious lessons- that of preparation- to live my life in a way to win the prize!