How my experience at a military camp changed me.
[Applause]
what do you want to be
in the future what problems in the world
where you try to solve
is it to be successful to be famous
or just to be happy
everyone wants something different from
themselves
but how how do we make whatever it is we
want
in the future actually happen
being successful in the future mislaying
the foundations
for that success right now in the
present
and to do that we need to have some kind
of strategy
we need to develop the right knowledge
skills and experience
to make our future a reality
we need to be able to think long term
and understand how and why
making the right investment in that
knowledge
no skills experience right now
will yield tremendous positive returns
in the future
and we need to understand that to learn
something of real value
we often need to work real hard for it
and that’s what i want to talk to you
about today
how i make sacrifices
push myself way out of my comfort zone
i learned three important life lessons
lessons that have helped me to become a
better person
i set myself up for a bright and
brilliant future
so what was the investment i made
attending military camp
it’s one of the best and smartest things
i’ve ever done
so what do i want to be in the future
well i want to be an engineer
but becoming a top engineer
one would develop technological advances
that could someday save the world isn’t
going to be easy
the thousands of people across the world
all wanting to do the same
i knew i need something now give me the
edge
something that will ensure that i have
what it takes
to get to the top in the future
the only problem was i didn’t know
what that something was until
i enrolled in military camp
and that’s where i learned three golden
lessons
that i will share with you today
this was actually my third time at
matrix camp
the time when i had chosen to go
the first two times were mandatory and
arranged our school
but i learned so much that i want to
know
what else i could gain from a third time
one which was optional one full of
motivated young people
who really did want to learn and i
was learning every minute of every day
but if i had to extract three golden
lessons
i’d have to say their resilience
responsibility and leadership
let’s start with the first when you are
in military camp
the first thing you learn is resilience
trust me
when you first first learn how to stand
in a perfectly straight line
and then walk in unison
you practice for the whole day and i
do mean the whole day at the end of it
you feel like marching right out of the
cap and going straight home
but your legs already feel like they’re
falling off
but you have no choice to stay
but joking i say if you stick with it
and push yourself as hard as you can
day in day out it does become easier
and it gives you a great sense of
accomplishment
knowing that you dug deep
and were resilient enough to conquer the
stress
and pain when others couldn’t manage it
the second golden lesson was
responsibility
for yourself and others as well
i remember one of the best instructors
taught us
that whenever we do something you do it
quickly
do it without hesitation and you should
never procrastinate
and that’s what we had to do
whatever we were told to do we had to do
it
right away no question asked no
complaining
and definitely no whining
for example we had to wake up at 6 30
a.m
every day and then to wash our faces
a brush of teeth in only 15 minutes
and got only 5 minutes to put on our
clothes and make our bets
if you were the one who’s late you’ll be
punished by having clean your bathroom
or wipe the floor
there were no excuses no get off jail
free cards
no emotions no preferences
it would just cause an effect
so the lesson learned was whenever you
do something
just do it don’t get distracted
don’t be negative you do it properly
the first time i
had to be responsible for my own actions
all the time it will avoid
a lot of heartache later
the second lesson on responsibility
what’s to do with teamwork
being responsible for a team an outcome
he created
i remember we had to pass messages
between us
often in stressful conditions
and we had to make sure that we transfer
exactly the right information
and to the right person at the right
time
otherwise the mission will fail
in a real-world scenario could mean life
or death
given the fact that young people like me
the leaders of tomorrow
are growing up in the 21st century
where teamwork a rapid face-to-face
communication
is more crucial than ever
this was great practice and a really
really valuable lesson
in the real world whether in war or
business
miscommunication indecision
or lack of clarity can obviously
be disastrous and finally
golden lesson number three leadership
responsibility and leadership go hand in
hand
but in addition to responsibility
leadership demands vision and
perspective
and there’s no better place to learn
leadership
than a military camp because that
is what is testing and developing all
the time
you’re often asked to lead groups
through a variety of grueling
assignments
and then reflect on what went well and
what
could be improved next time
and you were also made aware of that
good leadership doesn’t mean complete
dictatorship
sometimes it actually means allowing
yourself
to bled by others in order to achieve
a common goal
it is impossible to commit yourself
fully to something like military camp
and not come out the other side a
changed person
it’s also impossible not to have learned
some incredibly valuable life skills
and understand implementing them in your
daily life
as much as you can
i became a better person
after attending military camp
it made me more resilient
it made me more responsible and it made
me
a better leader and team player
i understand the life is hard
and it gets harder as you grow older
i am 14. in a few years
i’ll be in doubt and i have to be
prepared
to take whatever life throws at me
i am confident that i now
have the courage the knowledge
skills and experience to say no to
negativity and doubt
to embrace and overcome adversity
and lead myself wisely along a positive
path a path to a seemingly uncertain
future
but a future in which i will be not only
survive
but thrive
i would definitely go back to military
camp this year
would i recommend military camp to you
yes sir
you