I believe no one promised him that his journey would be an easy one; no one painted him a journey with straight smooth paths and flowers at the side, where the sun will always shine brightly with occasional rain to nourish the lands. And definitely no one guaranteed him result.

It was his fate to scale all brick walls that stood in his way to top his class and I believe that he will continue to go against all odds in his life.

Brendan Lee emerged as the top student despite his dyslexia. He said,

“I didn’t have much of a childhood. I had to go to the dyslexia association, Singapore General Hospital for my speech therapy, home tuition, school tuition, so there was no time for leisure. Many times, I was demoralised. My friends would ostracise me because I failed all my subjects.“

Fortunately for Mr. Lee, he chose to play the cards that was dealt to him differently and against all odds. How would we have played his cards? Are we to resign to our fates? Or are we to re-engineer our own fates? Either way you are right to choose whichever path you want to take.

The path to re-engineer our own fates is not one without challenges, just as it was a challenging one for Mr. Lee. And I certainly do not promise you that it will be an easy and smooth sailing one. As the saying goes, “There is no shortcut to any place worth going.” Now the question is, “Is it worth it for Mr. Lee?” I would leave you to answer that question on your own. Either way, you are right; it is a matter of choice.

Even for billionaire Richard Branson, he didn’t do well academically; he has mild dyslexia and according to an article by John Shepler,

“Richard didn’t breeze through school. It wasn’t just a challenge for him, it was a nightmare. His dyslexia embarrassed him as he had to memorize and recite word for word in public.“

Richard Branson is the 261st richest person in the world according to Forbes’ 2009 list of billionaires, with an estimated net worth of approximately £2.6 billion (US$3.9billion). Was it worth it to re-engineer his fate and not resigning to it? Mr. Branson wrote in his autobiography of the decision to start an airline:

My interest in life comes from setting myself huge, apparently unachievable challenges and trying to rise above them…from the perspective of wanting to live life to the full, I felt that I had to attempt it.

Fear was not able to stop me that day, as it sometimes did. Most of us, if not all, have some kind of fears. A lot of my friends have fear of height. Some people have fear of drowning. Fear occurs in different forms and varies in different degree to different people.

I believe that most of us have heard of Richard Branson and his adventures. In case if you haven’t, Richard Branson (pardon me it’s Sir Richard Branson) is the man behind the Virgin. I only got to know more about him recently when I read two of his books, ‘Losing My Virginity‘ and ‘Screw It, Let’s Do It.’

In one of his adventures shared in ‘Screw it, Let’s Do It’; he and Per Lindstrand became the first to cross the Atlantic in a hot-air balloon. However, they did not know how to land. They faced the danger of crashing and burning with the leftover full fuel tanks. When they finally managed to do away with the fuel tanks, their hot-air balloon became too light and shot up into the sky, out of control. Their plan B was to land on the beach where they won’t hurt people but they missed the beach because of thick fog. Per Lindstrand eventually jumped into the stormy sea from 56 feet up. Sir Richard Branson was alone in the hot-air balloon and was carried towards Scotland. He jumped into the grey sea eventually and was picked up from the icy water by helicopter which was out searching for him. Per Lindstand was also in the sea for hours and was rescued just before he froze to death.

Did he not know what fear is? Or maybe he did. As he shared in his book, ‘Screw It, Let’s Do It,’ “… no one had ever flown that far in a balloon before. It was mad. It was too risky … What would happen if I died?” However, he shared that he couldn’t resist a challenge and the chance to try something new. Probably that was how I felt too when I took the jump last year. I wouldn’t compare my little feat with his adventures but I do see a slight similarity. I too, look upon my fear as a challenge.

“Always do what you are afraid to do.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Just like the quotation above, I want to do what I am afraid to do. The more I fear, the more I want to do it as long as the things that I planned on doing do not cause harm to others or to myself. I had previously shared about my fear in public speaking or presentation a few years back. Back then, I was practically thrown into the position to make presentation to a group of audience on stage. I was not ready and I had never done it before. I had jelly legs and the first presentation did not go exactly how I wanted it to be.

Was it a failure? Yes, as long as I chose to give it up totally. Before one can be really good at something, one has to start taking the first step. As the saying, “A journey of a thousand miles begin with a first step“; we must be prepared to take the first step and learnt from it. One can never be ready to do something. One can be well prepared, but one cannot be ready. I continued to put myself in the position to make presentation until a point of time where I was making presentation to a group of audiences about the size of 50-60 comfortably and engaging them at the same time. Have I conquered my fear of public speaking? I have not completely, I just acknowledged its presence, face it squarely and co-exist with fear.

How would you respond to fear? Different folks different strokes. What is more important is that it must work for you. Whichever way one may choose, one has to first acknowledged the presence of fear and then face it. Last but not least, I would like to share with you one last thing that Sir Richard Branson said from his book, ‘Screw It, Let’s Do It‘; “… whatever it is you want to achieve in life, if you don’t make the effort, you won’t reach your goal. So take that first step. There will be challenges. You might get knocked back - but in the end, you will make it.” Have faith in yourself and move on fearlessly.

“Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.” — Marie Curie

Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is an English entrepreneur, best known for his Virgin brand of over 360 companies.

Branson’s first successful business venture was at age 15, when he published a magazine called Student. He then set up a record mail-order business in 1970. In 1971, he opened a chain of record stores, Virgin Records, later known as Virgin Megastores and re-branded as zavvi in late 2007.

With his flamboyant and competitive style, Branson’s Virgin brand grew rapidly during the 1980s - as he set up Virgin Atlantic Airways and expanded the Virgin Records music label.

Today, his net worth is estimated at over £4 billion (US$7.8 billion) according to The Sunday Times Rich List 2006, or US$3.8 billion according to Forbes magazine.

When Richard Branson was at school, his headmaster predicted he would wind up either a millionaire or in jail. Since then, he done both. Here he talks to TED’s Chris Anderson about the ups and the downs of his career, from his multibillionaire success to his multiple near-death experiences, from Virgin’s line of spacecraft to the failure of the Virgin condom. He also reveals some of his (very surprising) motivations.