A friend of mine asked me to help him come up with a very short but funny speech on motivation. Here’s the sample of the speech.
Faculty, professors, instructors, janitors, dear students: Good morning.
Thank you for inviting me to speak. I didn’t ask to be here but your (who invited you) forced me to share so here I am, standing in front of you without any idea where this speech will go. So if this speech becomes boring and all of you fall asleep, remember that it’s your (who invited you) fault. Blame her. No pressure.
I am honoured to be here with you today. I am so honoured that I’m asking the dean what honor do I really get after this. Is it first, second, third honor? But for sure I’m expecting to receive a medal after this talk because I am honored.
I didn’t do very well in college (I am assuming) so I am not really so sure why I was invited here. But regardless of what I achieved or failed to achieve, I can probably give you some ideas which can help you survive your life here in the most prestigious and the best state university in Sta. Mesa, Manila.
If you are ready to listen, please give me another round of applause. Thank you.
(Share your Freshman days, your first day in class, and your adjustments from high school to college. Share how you got along with new friends etc. and emphasise how difficult “change” can be.)
Many of you are excited to leave your high school because you are anticipating that life in college will be easier. Some of you are on your own now. Some are not. You may probably thinking that being free is good. Maybe it is. But not all the time. There will come a point in your college life that you would wish you were still in high school.
College life, while it is challenging and fun can also be disorienting and confusing and complex. It’s not a paradise. It’s more like a Clash of Clans. You will be attacked and you will have to defend your self, your dreams, and your ideals. It means you don’t eat you lunch and dinner dahlia kappa kumain ka, baka masira ang base mo at mapatay ang ma army mo.
But college life isn’t only like Clash of Clans. It can also be Walking Dead sometimes.
Literally, you will walk like dead before midterms and finals because you will review everything just one night before the exam.
There’s no success unless you pass through all the hardships and challenges presented to you.
Life in college can be disorienting. Suspension of classes during typhoon may happen when you are already in the campus therefore you might go home swimming. On many occasions, college life may be confusing and if you are not so sure about what you are doing and why you are doing it, you may probably just let it come to pass. Without any purpose, you will finish the four years and hope to have a better life after college.
When you do that, trust me when I say, it’s not going to happen.
You need more motivation now than ever. College is your last chance to prepare for wars in the jungle of life. If you don’t prepare well enough, it’s enough reason for you to lose.
Have something set for your self and spend every day of your life trying to make sense of what you are enrolled for. Are you enrolled just because everybody else is and you are pressured to finish school or, you are enrolled because you wanted to prepare for the future?
You can find real motivation from your self. Don’t expect to get it from the people around you because chances are they are also looking for their motivation. Keep the fire burning inside you para hindi kayo maging dahilan ng sunog diyan sa labas.
Finally, having made it to the Pamantasang Utak lang ang Puhunan (PUP), you are here because of people’s money. You are able to study because of the taxpayers. That also means na karibal kayo ng mga politicians sa pondo ng gobyerno dahil sa halip na ibubulsa na nila, napunta pa sa ma tuition ninyo.
Mahirap pumasa sa PUPCET. And when you made it here, it means you are not just lucky. You are gifted. And you are intelligent. Can you look at the person beside you. Just look. Mkha bang matalino? Ah, parang hindi?
You are not here as if by magic. You may only have a little now kase karamihan daw ng nasa PUP e kapos sa pera. But having a little is nothing but an opportunity to having more.
Let me tell you one more story.
I have this friend who is also an alumnus of PUP. He took Electronics and Communications Engineering in 1999. After five long years of studies, he left the university and is now a best-selling author and one of the country’s best motivational speaker. His name is Lloyd Luna and he’s also known in social media as #PambansangInspirasyon.
During his stay here in PUP, they had this Chemistry class. In that class, their professor would tell them to do the experiment without any apparatus—no test tubes, no water, no chemicals, no nothing. But he said, after the experiment, they were able to answer the questions.
If there’s one thing that PUP has taught him, he said, it’s the ability to imagine that things that don’t exist and such mental ability has propelled him to pursue his passion for writing.
Many students in private schools are given with everything to begin with. They have all the facilities and apparatus in their Chemistry subject. They have air conditioned room and so on and so forth.
While we don’t have many if not all of those things, we have the deeper desire to achieve something. That is our advantage over them. We are more hungry and more driven to succeed.
Some of us came to PUP to just enroll and finish college. Some came because they really want to learn and prepare for a better life. Some came because there is no other place to go. Kapag tambay kase, walang baon. But some came here to find their place and make their mark. They want to prove something.
Whatever your reason is, nothing will change the fact that you will be here for that diploma. After four years, you will realize that on your graduation day, it’s actually just a blank bond paper. But what good will your diploma make if you are not happy with your life?
You are given a unique opportunity to make your dreams real. And if this is your only opportunity, would you even think of giving less effort, less passion and less dedication?
May you find joy in your stay here. Remember what I told you about being bored and falling asleep? I would like everybody to wake up now because I’m done. It’s time to blame (who invited you).
Thank you so much and may God bless you.
