These days I was reflecting with someone about the times when I was a student. Wasn't everything better then? Could you actually foresee back then what would become of you?

"Oh, you were always like that then ..." I was told. "What was I like?" I asked. - "Somehow different from the others." Well, a great statement, I thought, I can't do much with that. Everyone is unique and therefore different.

I remembered that I had to give a talk in a student fraternity. My first lecture in life, other than reciting poetry at Christmas. The tables were in a U-shape. At one wing, most were asleep, and at the other, they were playing sink ships. My lecture could not have been exciting, in fact it was grotty.

After the event, one of the older gentlemen came up to me and said that it was the worst thing they had ever experienced here. And he never wanted to experience anything like that again. Because of my miserable performance, he donated a rhetoric seminar to us young students.

Today, I am now "at home" on a wide variety of stages around the world. 8,000 attendees comprised the largest group I have spoken to. And people say I'm a born speaker.

Could this have been foreseen in student days? Hardly.

But I dared to stand in front of people and go for it, despite my poor ability. You could see that I was ready to do something. But that was all. I practiced, and I endured that it went wrong. If you're willing to do that, you'll meet success. Even professional footballers shoot more often next to the goal than into it. And it's only because they keep their nerve and keep going that they succeed and get recognition and money.

Amateurs always want to get it done in one shot. But the popular saying knows better: "No master has ever fallen from the sky," and "Practice makes perfect."

Everyone has a chance. You too!