Back to the Stage
“The true measure of success is how many times you can bounce back from failure.”
- Stephen Richards
In September, by being proactive, I came back to the Wood Egg stage with a blog and a compiled set of volunteer research work. I submitted an application to the hiring manager and Derek for a different role: writer. As a fair competition, I had Derek’s permission to enroll in the fight tournament with English words, instead of fists.
With an entry URL to a written test, a username and a password, I stepped in Wood Egg again. As a first time fighter in writing, I read the rules of the game carefully and made sure I won’t miss any necessary information.
“Make the best answers you can to those two questions. Add any information or insights you have. Whatever it takes to make the best answer.”
As a veteran exam taker in the Hong Kong traditional education system, I understood right away the questions set were not restricted by formal answers. In fact, it didn’t have formal answers at all. They were open ended and - brilliant. The creator of these two questions was sophisticated. Instead of locking you in a box, he gave you a playground larger than an auditorium. You’re not fighting with other writers word by word. You won’t even touch their body or pull their hair. All you have to do is to express yourself in a way that combines the vision of Wood Egg and yours. Explore the creativity in your subconscious mind and link them seamlessly to factual based knowledge. By convergence, all the writers were Mixed Martial Artists who did performance shows. Instead of fighting with each other, we listened to the music and immersed ourselves with our own movement. Our performance was no right-or-wrong scenario. It was OK to do a punch in Tai Chi. It was OK to do a side kick in Muay Thai Boxing. It was OK to create Jeet Kune Do as Bruce Lee did.
So, I got on the stage. The spotlight was on me. “Are you nervous?” My left brain asked my right brain. “I’m not nervous. I’m excited. I’m just going to have fun and let the rest follow.” I answered as I am the dominator with two sides of the brain. I finished the test and sent Derek a quick email to make sure he received my video tape of the performance.
A day later, I got the following response.
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Hi Nobody -
Looks great! Very very good job. More news soon.
- Derek Sivers
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Reading the email, an image vanished years ago appeared. When I was an elementary school kid, I joined numerous swimming competitions. I won a lot of them but also lost a lot of them. No matter if I won or lost the competition, I felt tremendous relief after touching the timeboard. Because I knew I wouldn’t regret it. I gave it all. I won the competition in a sense that I was competing with myself. The medals to me were nothing.
Read the next chapter: Round Final. Fight!
Or table of contents: Brick by Brick