It is human nature to compete; thus, faced with the opportunity to compete, there is no choosing, or choice at all; there is only competition. For no other choice is befitting of any human, or even any animal. There is little wisdom to be found in declining such an opportunity. Competition is like survival; it is an instinct, written into the fabric of our very being.
Euroskills 2008 was a skills competition I had the good and most precious fortune to participate in. Like any competition, it is an opportunity to prove and better thyself. Truly, it would be impossible to travel through such an experience without doing the same to some degree. Any individual who had the extraordinary fortune to participate in the competitions left Rotterdam a better person than they were entering.
What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. This is something of a mantra for me and many now. It is a philosophy that I genuinely hold faith in. Other philosophies I particularly take to are the philosophies that sometimes, you have to live on so that you can fight another day... and that you should live in the present, not spend your life tending to the past or obsessing over the future.
I participated in a team of four, my person included, that comprised the UK Office ICT team. We came fifth; we were seven out of one hundred marks from first place.
Many people like to hold onto the philosophy, in this situation, that one did their best, and to take comfort and psychological tranquility in that concept. This philosophy could not induce more the opposite in myself, curiously.
I, frankly, reject outright the concept that I, and we, did our best. I reject this not just because we didn't come in first place, but because I don't believe that anybody truly does their best.
Understand what I am saying carefully; I take this philosophy not to be negative, pessimistic even; on the contrary, this gives me hope, moreso than the philosophy that is 'you did your best' would ever create in me.
It gives me hope because it means I, and any competitor in any competition anywhere, has the power to exceed the potential they demonstated in that self-same competition. To me, it is that no matter how much potential someone may render in some circumstance, they always have the power to achieve a greater potential still. There is no limit to human endeavour.
Accepting that 'I did my best' means accepting that I will NEVER be better than fifth place. I outright reject that notion, completely and utterly.
This is not to say that I am rendering myself a sore loser. I accept the outcome of the competition I participated in; more than than that, I am at peace with that outcome, and I believe that I, and the team in general, did very reasonably.
But I recognise my ability, as a human, to EXCEED THE POTENTIAL THAT I DEMONSTRATED, and, more than that, I WILL EXCEED that potential. Be it at WorldSkills, be it in another competition, be it in academic contribution, be it in the field, be it in invention. I will exceed what I rendered here, this year, in Rotterdam.
Recognising that power is mutally exclusive with believing that 'you did your best'. It is to me, at least.
Euroskills, to me, is perhaps a prelude to greater things to come. I believe that because I believe that I can, through my own action, effort and passion—wrought with my own two hands—come to exceed what I demonstrated here, and that in doing so, I will render myself a greater person still. I seek to better myself, and prove myself. I will do so. I swear it, and I promise it; not to you, but to myself. I give up self-improvement not for this.
I will exceed.
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Hugo Landau
Open Source Specialist, Office ICT Team, UK
Euroskills 2008 · 2008·10·04