Have you ever failed? I have.

Have you ever felt hopeless? Of course.

Have you ever experienced defeat to the point that you do not want to move forward anymore? I sort of had that feeling.

One of the major disappointments that kept me awake 8 days straight happened in the year 2012. It was a year of super high and depressing low.

When I saw the advertisement; I told myself “Yes! Finally! I’m going to nail this! I am going on TV”.

I applied like every other 30K applicant, and I was selected to be on the 1st Apprentice Asia show. I was thrilled!

I was confident and determined but I’ve failed. I was fired for the first time in my life in front of millions of people. It felt like I was going to fight for Malaysia to win the Thomas Cup and then I failed to do it.

It’s true that everyone fails, but this was very different for me; I’ve failed in front of the entire nation. I didn’t felt ashamed, I felt angry and annoyed because, after the show, there were pros and cons occurrences. The pros were random strangers started taking photos with you wherever you went, but the cons were such as strangers talking shit about you because you were on a TV show.

I was doing training with a telecommunications company not long after the show and one of the senior sales managers directly confronted me by saying things like, “Hanzo, talk is easy-la, you also fail what!”.

I replied,” Yes, but why am I still standing in front of you when I’ve failed in front of millions of audiences? I then continued to ask them how many rejections have they faced on a daily basis? I told them that I’ve received hate tweets from total strangers commenting that I’m rude, I deserved it, I’m stupid, and so on. I received personal attacks for going on the TV show; while all you did was a cold-call and got a “not interested (click)” and you felt demotivated? That can make you feel down the entire day? Failing in front of millions is like being rejected with the intensity of 10,000 cold calls!

I continued to share with them that even at Mamak stalls, people nearby would whisper to each other while looking at me and then started laughing. Do you know how some people watch football and then talk as if they are the greatest footballers in the world? Yes, indeed; they said similar things about me, sitting right next to me!

I persisted with my point, that I’m standing here today, facing your criticism, and taking the beatings. But I’m still going out there, hustling, cold-calling, meeting clients, getting rejections, being laughed at, and still, I give it all out with my full effort, continued to work toward my dreams and goals. Taking care of my family, ignoring all external factors, and just focused on what matters in my life.

Frankly, I feel fear just like everyone else. I feel my ego being crushed just like anyone. I feel the need to deny the fact that the TV show was edited and it wasn’t a fair game. But most importantly, I’ve chosen to face the truth that I’ll need to work harder to be more successful than ever. I chose to keep affirming myself that I can do it, despite many telling me that I can’t. That one event does not determine my life; in fact, it gave me the strength to challenge myself in doing things that others can only watch but not capable of.  That one event was a great life experience for me in self-discovery and to finally see the true colors of others around me.

Do you want to be successful? To build a great career? Turn your life around? Just focus on your aim in life, strongly believe that you can do it, overcome the challenges persistently and give in great perseverance to deliver the results in every task you do. If you do that and continue doing it consistently, you will enjoy the rewards after you’ve punched through the obstacles that limit your potential and who you can become.

So, how do we get back up after we’ve been knocked down?

The aim, Belief, Challenge, Deliver, and Enjoy – ABCDE – It’s that simple, but yet tremendously hard.