2. Dream The Impossible. Determine to win BIG. (2)

Secondly, there have been nobody (at that time) from my kampong who manage to score a respectable results in Form Five exams (SPM). It seems that Form Five was the limit for academic achievement for anybody who comes from there. Even for those people who somehow manage to get to Form Five, they were always associated with some kind of ‘not so good’ behavioral problems (drugs, gangsterism, unwanted pregnancy, rebellion etc). This happened too often, people at the village started to associate education with negative influence. Most parents were happy if their kids learn enough just to read and count. No more.

As such, I was lacking an inspirational figure. And yet, those were the times when I started conceiving my dream. I must have mentioned my dream to some of my friends as a kid, because I can remember now I was being teased as little ‘Dr Tan’ (after a doctor who was working in Keningau Hospital at that time). As a kid I was teased and mocked by fellow kids. The grown ups at the time however did not even care to bother. The subject of someone from this kampong wanting to become a doctor was not even worth the littlest space of their time and energy.

I had no hope, on the basis my surrounding. Nobody has ever gone beyond Form Five. Nobody had any idea what is the school system after Form Five. I myself did not even realize that Form Six existed until I was well in Secondary school. No discussion at all about the existence of Form Six among the daily conversation of the kampong people. Do not even mention about Matriculation, it was totally a new word to them. University, uni – what? We did not even know how to pronounce it, let alone to spell it.

Thirdly, no one has ever travelled further than the capital city of Kota Kinabalu from my kampong. There were one or two who managed to get a good grade and continue studying in Peninsular Malaysia under Sabah Foundation Sponsorships. However, they went there fully supervised and at a very young age (Form One), so their experience was limited in term of sharing and guidance. There was no university in Sabah at that time. If I want to be a doctor, I obviously had to go to Peninsular Malaysia.

The thought of living in a local hostel far away from family often resulting in many potential students running to their jungle hide out. Therefore the idea of being whisked away in an airplane and stay for months in strange land is definitely something needing more than just courage and bravery. This is the scary possibilities that I have to accept, to nurture my dreams. There was nobody I could ask about how to be a doctor. No soul to discuss about traveling, about buying a plane ticket or boarding a plane or to get around in another part of Malaysia.

I still remember with some degree of sadness when I boarded my first plane, and started looking for my seat number at the back of the seat (thinking it is printed at the back seat like those in buses), only to find out later that I have missed it and now I had to walk against the flow of the passengers.

There were many other problems hampering any potential students in those times. Economic disadvantage is one of the serious hindrances. Others are mediocre health, lack of basic amenities such as water and electricity, language barrier, custom and tradition, poor transport and road condition and geographical isolation. All these were working toward much discouragement for us.

All the problems above render me as ‘out of his mind’ boy at that time. But I had a dream and it was big. It was seemingly impossible. Today I am alive to tell you the truth. I have achieved my dream. It was not impossible after all.

Imagine yourself in a poker game. If you are just sitting there for fun and absolutely no desire to win the bet, you better get up and let somebody else play. Play to win the big money or you will loose! I repeat it again, you will loose big time if you are just sitting there without the wildest desire to win all the money on the table.

Therefore,

DREAM BIG, DREAM THE IMPOSSIBLE!

In my seminars to motivate students, I often say to them ‘Do not just write a story, create a history’. You can only create a history if you start dreaming the impossible. If you dreams are too common and plain, then it would be just another story. If you break the academic achievement record in your region, you have created a history. If you become the fist person to go to Australia from your isolated place or you become the first person who takes the Socrates Oath as a doctor from a kampong where nobody had passed beyond Form Five, I think that is a history.

Too many people are simply satisfied with just being at par with the most successful person in their community. And they become just another story. If you surpassed the most successful person, that is a history, at least for you and for the rest of the community.

Now, you may want to look at the goal you have set before. Does it truly represent your biggest and wildest dream possible for you? Why don’t you set the biggest and wildest impossible?

3. Working Hard and Smart. One Step at a Time.

When I was preparing for my SRP, I often read books for hours continually. My fellow friends often asked how could I have done it. They often wonder how I got to enjoy reading continuously for hours. I simply said ... (to be continued).