Fake it till you make it?

My trip to Beijing this time was amazing—I met so many amazing people who truly shows what it means to be elite. I learned a valuable lesson—sometimes, we just need to be confident in who we are and that simply shows our confidence and passion for what we do. 

I was back at Beijing for a Model United Nations conference, and I will be forever grateful for the fact that I got the opportunity to chair with such amazing Directors and a fellow assistant director (Lishore and Sahra who are the Directors of the committee representing Yale University from Yale Model United Nations, and Jasmine who is my fellow AD), as well as being able to see so many delegates grow and develop their skills throughout the conference. However, on July 31st, when it was time for me to go to my Assistant Director training, I was asked to make a self introduction to the rest of the assistant directors, but I stuttered really badly, probably because of the fact that basically all the other assistant directors are so much older than me. They are all in either grade 10 or 11, or some are even going into their senior year or first year of college. Me? I will be going into ninth grade next semester. Their age and their difference in friendships and the way they talk to each other just makes me feel quite distant from them and the fact that I was late for 20 minutes and everyone already kind of knew each other because I had roommates to talk to beforehand and everything, made me feel quite nervous and unsure of whether this experience would be the best for me. I stuttered really badly when I did my introduction, but no one really cared, as how you present yourself is just a small portion of the big picture of how people will see you. The others did their introduction fluently, at least making me feel like they are so amazing to the point where I am inferior to them. Thus, that taught me the importance of feeling confident and showing confidence, even if you are unsure.

The second thing that I learned from this conference is that it is only when you start doing what you think will benefit you in the long run. For example, after meeting the students who are from Yale and other top universities, I learned that they are not hard to get along with. In my mind, those elite college students are mostly introverted and only socialize with people who are “above” them and who bring value to them in terms of their career and academic journey, and not ordinary middle or high school students like me. However, that could not be further from the truth. Those students who are truly open to all and who are elite in terms of their academic journey and overall future, are smart in every way possible, so they do not just limit themselves to a group of people in terms of their friend groups. They are strategic in the way they communicate and maintain their relationships with those people, which is the key in making them successful.

Hopefully I will be improving my sense of confidence and strategy when it comes to interpersonal relationships, but can someone tell me what are the other factors to success?