Sports isnt About Winning its About the Journey

and so the crowd goes wild

as he lands his triple axel he clears

his clean program

does a beautiful spin and ends with a

bang

that’s what every athlete every figure

skater would like to hear

you know at the end of their program

knowing that they’re

able to come out on top be the champion

and to show the world and represent the

country that they represent to show

everyone that they are the best they’re

able to win

and come on top but let’s not forget

sports is not only about winning sports

is about the journey

and how we are able to get to where we

are

and use that journey to help us in life

so i myself i started skating at a very

young age i started when i was four

years old

and i was very fortunate actually to be

able to start this sport

mainly because i had no clue what i was

doing when i was four

so i was just very glad because up to

this day i have no regrets

for skating because of what it has

taught me so far

the values that i’ve learned the uh the

lessons that i learned how i’m able to

apply it

to my life and how helpful it has been

for me

and i as i said to many people i’m

definitely not the best in the world and

i may be just a few times champion in

malaysia

but when i get out there and compete

outside the world

i’m just focusing on myself and my

journey and how i’m able to improve

myself

because what’s really important as i

said is how we are going through

life and what can we learn from that

now for me i like i said i was very

lucky to start skating at the age of

four

but one thing for sure is the passion

didn’t come from me when i was four

years old i had no

idea what i was doing when i was four

all i remember was just going on the ice

running around having fun and

maybe we can consider that as a small

little bit of fun that i had that sort

of ignited the passion

i i think what i can recall is when i

started skating

after a couple years i think i was

probably about six or seven years old

that’s when i realized i knew what i was

doing

that i was actually figure skating and

i understood the sport just a little bit

and from that it slowly evolved

to to where i am now to having the

opportunity

to compete at the world championships to

compete at the winter olympics represent

malaysia

and and for me that passion grew

little by little and what’s very

important that we all have to remember

is that

passion can be discovered

passion has to grow and most importantly

it’s very very difficult to keep the

passion going

for example when when i when i was

skating and

there came a point where i just felt

like you know i want to give up i

this was it i felt like you know i’ve

wasted

a lot of sacrifices to to do this board

i didn’t get the opportunity to mix my

friends have a social life i thought

that was it i was going to quit

and call it lucky or not

timing was great for me because that was

when

just before i was able to compete

internationally

and see the big guns when i went out to

compete

so what happened was that i think i was

12 years old i was going through that

moment of

contemplating whether i should give up

or not after all i had already probably

been doing it for the past

more than six years by then you know i

think i was eight

eight years of skating already by the

time i was 12. and

i i waited a little bit more you know i

told myself hey let you know what let’s

see

how far i can go all the years that i’ve

put

into it already it would be a waste if i

had given up at that point

and because i had waited on a little bit

more i went for my first international

competition

and that was when my eyes opened i i saw

the world for

what true figure skating was i competed

with

the best of the best of the junior

categories with the americans the

canadians the chinese the russians

and that was when i realized that

i may be a hero in malaysia

and maybe the best there but when it

comes internationally i’m actually

nowhere near a good standard

and that was when it hit me that you

know i have so much more to

learn from other people

what i think i know it’s only a little

bit compared to what the world has to

offer us

and that was the point where i said you

know what julian i

i want to be able to push myself

and be able to compete with those

competitors on the same level

because at that point i was just

competing practically by myself

i stood no chance to be even top 10

against all of them my goal at that

competition was to not come last

i came in second last and that for me

was what kept that passion growing more

and more

you know the curiosity of seeing how

well i can do

how much more can i push myself and you

know

see how far i can actually achieve if i

set my mind to it

and that sort of ignition there with the

passion that

that made me grow more and more in love

with the sport

trying to see what i can do what else is

there that’s offered

within figure skating so i think it’s

very important that

we are all open to try many things out

to discover

your passion first of all to discover

the passion

it’s it’s not instantaneous but one

thing for sure is that you’ll know

it’s second nature that you actually

like what you’re doing

be it a sports activity a hobby

your job it could be anything you want

as long as you have the heart to carry

on and try it for the first time

and see how that how that goes that’s i

find very important

that’s the first step to finding your

passion because if you don’t try you

never know

once you try it whether you like it or

not you’ve done it you can say yes

i did that if you like it great awesome

keep at it

keep trying who knows it could go to

something big

you tried it you didn’t like it never

mind carry on there’s so many more

things out there that we can try

so having that open mindness and

giving yourself the opportunity to give

it

a try that’s the very first step to

finding your passion

now coming back to what i was talking

about about growing your passion

keeping yourself interested that also

requires a lot of your mindset

being more open to ideas

had i not gone for that competition

i’d probably not find that passion again

who knows maybe

yes maybe no but for me i remember very

very clearly that was the turning point

where i knew and i said to myself you

know what i want to do this

and that was that was so important

because if

if i didn’t say that to myself at that

point my whole career up to now would

not have been what it is

it would be completely different and and

the other thing about just being

open-minded is also

giving yourself time you know

passion doesn’t come instantaneously

like i said before what you have to do

right like in my case i wanted to give

up when i was 12. i competed

internationally when i was 13.

so i gave it a year of just trying a

little bit more

keeping myself pushing myself and that’s

that’s when

you know it solely came together you

never know

this whole world is very unexpected we

can’t tell

how things will turn out to be right

time will tell

that’s a very very well-known phrase

that we all hear time will tell

and in my case i’m really told in the

end it showed what it is

so giving yourself time as well that’s

that’s one thing you have to keep in

mind especially when you’re looking

to uh to maybe rediscover your passion

reignite it what whatever it may be

now that’s just the first step for for

my whole career

right reigniting that passion but what

motivates me

why why does this passion motivate me

to keep going and training every day day

and night

same routine every week 365 days a year

um and personally what i find that was

that was love

my own thinking my my self-talk what i

told myself

every time i i’m in doubt when when the

day gets bad and when you wake up on the

wrong side of the bed

and when i when i get to training i feel

like you know what i feel horrible today

i don’t really want to do this

i always ask myself this question why am

i doing this

why am i waking up every day early in

the morning going to training

why what’s the point and then the answer

is very clear

it’s because i i myself wanted that i

wanted to reach

a goal and that was to qualify for the

winter olympics

and in order to do that i had to go

through every day of training

in the morning follow the routine as

that’s how it’s set

so reminding yourself the reason why

you’re doing this the reason why you

chose this path or chose this hobby

chose this activity chose to sport

whatever it may be

that is the number one reason why you’re

doing it

and i find that’s the biggest motivation

that you can push yourself through

day out day in once you sort of tell

yourself that

you sort of get back into the groove you

keep going at it and who knows

maybe you’re able to talk yourself into

doing something a little bit more

spectacular

trying something new different approach

try to make it

interesting because you know doing the

same thing every day does get quite

boring

so if you’re able to change it up a

little bit in different ways

i think that also gives us a little bit

more motivation because

i know i find it excites me when i go in

and train and i find a different way to

train today maybe

a little bit less of jumps more of spins

or you know just a different routine

it’s kind of interesting because it’s

like an experiment like will it work

does it actually

yield more results i don’t know but

i’m excited to try and that sort of

makes me a little bit more

intrigued into carrying on and before

you know it the day is done

you move on to the next day but a lot of

people also tell me you know

julian how how do you overcome the

pressure

um you know with with representing the

country

competing at sea games you know i’m sure

there’s an immense amount of pressure

and the answer quite frankly is yes

there is there is quite quite a bit of

pressure there um

and for me more so pressure on myself

than externally right but

i’m the kind of person that takes

pressure and try and turn it into

motivation

i i always like to you know i i need

that little bit of pressure to myself to

to keep things going so that the ball

doesn’t stop rolling

you know and and when when it comes to a

really really tough point in life where

especially before the the qualifiers for

the winter olympics for myself

um i was in loved out a lot of a lot of

thinking of

what happens if i don’t make it what

happens what if what if a lot of

what-ifs

right and and there was one phrase that

came to my mind

every time i think about it it just made

me

push myself believe in myself and and

the phrase is

if everybody believes in me why can’t i

believe in myself so

you have to be able to believe in

yourself because without that your

self-confidence just

shatters there’s no there’s no hope if

you don’t believe in yourself that you

can do it

then there’s the lack of confidence

there that

shows people can see it you know and a

lot of things we do whether it’s

work whether it’s sports you know

whether it’s just talking to people

if you show you that you’re confident

enough it most likely will follow

through

but if you show that you know you’re a

bit afraid you’re a little bit scared

you know you’re shy people can tell that

and that’s one one sign that we

we try our best to to be able to

to give a good vibe to everybody out

there

and and don’t get me wrong confidence

and cockiness is two different things

right confidence is believing in

yourself cockiness is

you thinking you’re better than

everybody else so it’s very important to

differentiate

that slight factor and

in in another way what else motivates me

is the people around me

having a good social group

good friends good family that’s very

important

to to keep you going with what you’re

doing having the support from them

just gives you that extra little boost

to to carry on and push yourself because

i find without a good support system

it’s not impossible but it’s very

difficult so surrounding yourself with

the right people i find it’s

one of the best ways to help you get get

by every day as well you know

it’s it’s good to also talk to them

every now and then and it’s just a great

way to

to release some stress as well that you

have because you know that they

understand you and they want to try and

help you as

much as they can

so all in all with with all this passion

and motivation i think

what ties everything in together and and

make you want to do more make you want

to achieve more

is starting with yourself

knowing what you want to do discovering

what you want to do

and pushing yourself through what’s what

you want to do that’s the most important

thing

and from all that all that

learning that discovering

this whole process has taught me so many

values

especially being a sports person

there’s so many life lessons that i

learned through sports that has helped

me

in life learning how to apply what you

have learned

you know for me very simple example is

discipline um a lot of athletes do have

a lot of discipline waking up early in

the morning

getting things done by this and this

this has helped me a lot with

with with school with work

knowing to respect the deadlines get

things done

and i think what’s great about that is

it has become second nature to me i

don’t even think of it as a

deadline more of as okay i have to get

this done and it will be done

so it has become very natural for for me

to just adapt to things as well

and i find that really helps especially

with work

um there are a lot of deadlines that you

have to meet and that’s one great way to

to approach it apart from that if we

talk

not about sports but about let’s say a

hobby of

whatever it may be there’s i’m sure

there are always things to learn and

one thing that i think is very

very important that i can share with you

is learn from other people’s mistakes

that will save you a lot of time if

you’re able

to not make that mistake you have

already saved that amount

of time that the other person has made

the mistake so you’ll be able to reach

your goal

much quicker much more efficiency

efficiently

because you already know what to do so

especially now when i because i’m a

coach as well and i teach all my

students i always try to

to educate them with the mistakes that

i’ve made in hopes that they don’t make

it

and they’ll have a quicker pathway to

succeed

as a figure skater and that’s that’s

something that

i have applied through not only skating

but even with my brothers whenever my

brothers made a mistake at home

i would learn i’m the youngest brother

right youngest in the family so i know

that if they did that i would not do

that because i know the consequences

they would face

and that if i did the same thing i would

face the same consequences so

it’s it’s it’s a good way to to get

around things and

see how it goes and yeah just

everything that you learn like i said

have an open mind

there’s nothing wrong with learning

whether you choose to apply it that’s a

different story

i always like to to take it in filter

through what i like

and use what i like it’s not everything

that would suit me but at least i know

what it is you know i’ve been exposed to

it the experience is there

because experience does help you a lot

in life so just

just have an open mind listen to ideas

listen to different suggestions and

whether or not you use it’s a different

story like i said

just take it in first get what you can

and then figure out what works best for

you and apply that

and and with that i tell you life will

be so much easier in terms of

getting around things because you would

already know the different ways you can

anticipate what other people are doing

because

you have hurt their ideas and that will

give you the extra edge

in succeeding so with that said i hope

that all of you guys are able to take

one thing or two again

have an open mind you don’t have to

listen to every single thing i say

but yeah just take it in use what you

like discard the rest

and i hope that you guys have learned

something from that

thank you very much