How would you behave if you knew you were the best in the world at what you do? What would you do if you knew you could not fail?
My best friend asked me these questions a couple of months ago and my initial answer was, “I would celebrate!”
Now I know that sounds very simple but for someone who’s used to failing at life and bouncing back from failure regularly and who also suffers occasionally from Impostor Syndrome, that is absolutely the very first thing I would do. It wouldn’t be to gloat but it would simply be to rejoice in the feeling of security. I would be fearless!
I wonder whether I would still be anxious about the future if I knew I couldn’t fail or if I were the best in the world in my chosen field.
Would I finally write and publish the novels I have planned?
I would most likely learn and master new languages like Spanish, French, Arabic and maybe Mandarin so I’m able to communicate with other people better.
Maybe I’d actually start up that café I’ve been thinking about since I was little and eventually run an empire.
Would I be able to fulfil that dream of mine since I was about 12 to someday build a school in the Philippines to provide free education for the poor?
My ambition has always been to be rich and successful enough to give me the means and time to help out.
Is the fear of failure what’s been holding me back all these years in fulfilling the silly notions I had as a kid? I’m not putting all the blame on that fear but I think it would be ridiculous to dismiss that as one of the main reasons.
I have a degree in Creative Multimedia and what really caught my fancy in college was filming. I loved everything about filming, from pre-production writing to being a crewmember, from directing to editing—I found the whole process exciting and exhilarating. While I wanted to pursue that full-time, the truth was I didn’t want it enough to go hungry. I was raised to be practical. I knew that choosing a career in the film industry wasn’t going to provide me with the stability I needed in life. So when the opportunity presented itself to me to work as a Marketing Executive for a private gaming club in 2011, I took it. What was originally supposed to be a transitional job became the starting point of my marketing career and now I’m well and truly in the corporate rat race.
Working in the corporate rat race may be a nightmare for some who don’t want to be forever constricted in an office hating Mondays, delighting in hump-days and celebrating Fridays—there are actually some pros to it. For one, you’re never actually uncomfortable working in a corporate rat race. It can be stressful and sometimes it can be monotonous and you feel like a robot but you get paid a salary sitting in a comfy chair with free tea/coffee, bread, jam, butter and fruits and you rarely work weekends. If your main goal in life is simply work to live, the corporate world is perfect for you.
But anyway I have digressed from our question!
Other than the things I mentioned previously and perhaps achieving some personal development goals like play an instrument well or learn how to draw or paint, I would focus my efforts on creating, building and developing a system that will provide opportunities for people who are poor in different parts of the world but first and foremost, the Philippines. Because I am human and I will be constrained by time and ageing, I don’t think I’ll be able to cure cancer or end corruption or solve climate change but I’ll definitely pursue activities with the sole purpose of making positive changes to the world.
What would you do if you were the best in the world and you knew you couldn’t fail?
