Being First is EVERYTHING

Before you read my entry, please kindly watch the video first.
The topic starts from 8:00 onwards.
If you like it, you can watch the whole video :)

 From Wikepedia:

Malcolm T. Gladwell, CM (born September 3, 1963) is a Canadian journalist, bestselling author, and speaker.^[1] He is currently based in New York City and has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996. He has written four books, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Make a Big Difference (2000), Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (2005), Outliers: The Story of Success (2008), and What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures (2009), a collection of his journalism. All four books were New York Times Bestsellers.

Have you ever wondered if being first is everything?
Is there any different between: Being first is everything and Being first in everything?
Which one are better and why?
Where is our stand on this topic and how do we see this view?
From the video Malcolm said that being first was not that good at all.
How many persons who are first that are not more successful than the second/third?
We can see Google is not the first search machine but make the biggest till today.
Apple was late in entering the market but could stand the ground.

If we look around our neighbor, we can see others example that being first is not always good.
Improving and making the old ideas better, bigger, and cheaper are much important in entering market.
How many copy cat company can gain more profits than original?
And most of the times people goes to cheaper product with lesser quality.
Being first entering market gives us more advantages but at the same time gives us more risks to handle.
Whereas the second and third will only follow the platform with some improvement along the way.

Being first is everything but never be the first in everything.
I don't think you will agree with me but for me I think we should consider about this.
Yes we should try our best to be the best that we can be.
In addition being first will give us sense of accomplishment and self esteem.
It is always great to be in first rank in the class.
I'm really proud to be the winner of International Speech contest in my club.


However I can't be the first in everything and none can do the same (IMHO).
Maybe we see people who are so wonderful; first rank in class, pretty, rich, nice, etc.
However believe me, there is some flaws that we may not see with our naked eyes.
Well I met such person before in my life.
Nobody is perfect and nobody will be one.
There is always some course where we can't be the first and we don't want to be.
I don't want to be the first punished by new law.
I don't want to be the first getting new disease.
I don't want to be the first tasting the death.

As human there is an urge to be the first in every subjects.
Even our mother pushed us to be the first in class.
Hence we grew up with this "program" that we need to be first always, every time, and   everywhere.
We don't like to be defeated and there is a big shame in losing.
Instead of realizing that we may be weak in this area, we push ourselves to our limits till the end where we break.
Hopefully people can realize that it is good to be first but the best is we learn from the process.
End is not an end at all without realization and understanding of the road.
Who will achieve it? Where is it? When will it be? What can it be? How to get there?


Instead of running to be first, give all our best in our work and process.
Whatever the end; the important lies on our means.
Improving and innovating is the key to sustain our existence.
People who fail to see their enemy are deemed to lose their position.
Being first means that we need to work harder to make the gap bigger with second and third.

~Wilson Wijaya, Lee/12 June 2012~