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