{"id":513,"date":"2024-09-16T18:28:51","date_gmt":"2024-09-16T10:28:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orkedlab.com\/blog\/?p=513"},"modified":"2024-09-29T08:50:42","modified_gmt":"2024-09-29T00:50:42","slug":"no-pressure-no-diamond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orkedlab.com\/blog\/?p=513","title":{"rendered":"No Pressure, No Diamond"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let me take you through my recent experience of participating in a speaking contest for the very first time. It was a journey full of apprehension, discovery, and personal growth.<\/span><\/p>\n

One day, our club announced that a speaking competition would take place on September 5. My immediate reaction was a firm, \u201cNo way. This is the scariest thing ever.\u201d The mere thought of speaking in front of an audience filled me with dread.<\/span><\/p>\n

As days passed, more and more club members signed up to participate. Meanwhile, I remained resolute in my decision: I WOULD NOT join the speaking competition.<\/span><\/p>\n

The idea of freezing on stage and forgetting my lines haunted me. It felt like an insurmountable challenge.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then, I had a conversation with my mentor about the contest. He asked, \u201cLin, are you participating in the speaking competition?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I responded with a resolute \u201cNo.\u201d I felt that public speaking wasn\u2019t my forte, and with my busy schedule, I didn\u2019t have the time to prepare a 5-minute speech.<\/span><\/p>\n

To my surprise, he suggested, \u201cYou could try the table topic session. No preparation needed, just talk for two minutes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

His suggestion only added to my stress. I felt unprepared and overwhelmed at the thought of speaking on an unprepared topic.<\/span><\/p>\n

The day before the contest registration closed, my mentor followed up again. This time, his encouragement made me reconsider. I thought to myself, \u201cMaybe it\u2019s not as bad as I imagine.\u201d Plus, I had been practicing public speaking at the club.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, I decided to take part in the table topic session. My mentor was pleased with my decision.<\/span><\/p>\n

From the moment I committed to participating, my stress levels soared until the competition day.<\/span><\/p>\n

September 5 arrived, and I woke up feeling utterly miserable. It felt as if I was facing a personal apocalypse. The 14 hours from 5 AM to 7 PM seemed like an eternity.<\/span><\/p>\n

The contest venue was at a university, in a building called KB. At 6 PM, I drove to the university, a 15-minute drive from my house. Traffic was heavy, especially from the Grand Saga exit to the university.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I arrived, I parked at the building, across from KB. I walked into KB and took the lift to the first floor.<\/span><\/p>\n

As I entered the contest hall, I saw many familiar faces from the club and some guests. The adrenaline was overwhelming, but I was fortunate to have supportive club members around me. Their encouragement helped me feel more at ease.<\/span><\/p>\n

The event began with a humorous speech session, followed by the table topic session.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was the sixth candidate. When the contest master presented me with the table topic question, I was taken aback. \u201cWhat? How do I answer this?\u201d The question was unexpected, and I hadn\u2019t practiced for it.<\/span><\/p>\n

In that moment of panic, a tip about dealing with public speaking fears came to mind: \u201cAdmit your feelings.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

So, I stood there and, with a loud voice, confessed my fear of public speaking. I admitted that speaking in front of strangers in an unfamiliar room was terrifying!<\/span><\/p>\n

As I spoke, it felt as though a tight rope around me was loosening and dropping away. Admitting my fear made me feel liberated, almost like I was being reborn.<\/span><\/p>\n

I reflected on my journey and saw how much I had grown. Despite my fear of public speaking, I faced the challenge and participated in the contest.<\/span><\/p>\n

What I learned from this experience is that embracing such challenges can lead to personal breakthroughs. As the saying goes, \u201cNo pressure, no diamonds.\u201d A diamond remains unbroken once it is formed.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, I encourage all of you to take on the challenge on try something new in live. It\u2019s a powerful way to grow and discover your true potential.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let me take you through my recent experience of participating in a speaking contest for the very first time. It was a journey full of apprehension, discovery, and personal growth. One day, our club announced that a speaking competition would take place on September 5. My immediate reaction was a firm, \u201cNo way. This is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"0","ocean_second_sidebar":"0","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"0","ocean_custom_header_template":"0","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"0","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,7],"class_list":["post-513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication","tag-communication","tag-orkedlab","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orkedlab.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orkedlab.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orkedlab.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orkedlab.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orkedlab.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=513"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/orkedlab.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":564,"href":"https:\/\/orkedlab.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513\/revisions\/564"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orkedlab.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orkedlab.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orkedlab.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orkedlab.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}