Some famous person said “You miss one hundred percent of the shots you didn’t take,” and as your Vietnamese auntie, I am called to tell you my story of how my self-limiting beliefs drove me to squander the shot that was handed to me like fishes in a basket, and how that lesson led me to my redemption years later. Hopefully, my story will light a fire under your chair to go take all the shots you think you’re underqualified for.

The year was 2004 and your auntie Thiên Ân was a junior in high school, busy planning a path to pay for college. One day, the school let us know that the Gates Scholarship was available for all juniors and seniors to apply. If you don’t know, the Gates Scholarship was sponsored by Bill and Melinda Gates, and it would cover 100% of college tuitions all the way through doctorates. It was a dream come true for those who won.

The only caveat is the application process was incredibly long and rigorous…but not impossible. You had to write multiple long essays and send in 3 letters of recommendations. I had a 5.0 GPA at the time and ranked 11 out of 900 in my class, so you would think I would be quite confident in applying for the scholarship that would change my life.

But…the crippling self-doubt overwhelmed me and quenched my fire before it even had a chance to ignite. “Who am I kidding? It will never be me. Only lucky people win these things. I would just waste time on all these essays for nothing. I already have enough work to deal with all these AP classes and the AP exams….” and so on and so forth. And I ignored the opportunity, but two of my classmates, one of which didn’t even have close to my GPA and ranking, decided to take their shots.

And guess what? They both won the Gates scholarship. Do you know why? Because that year, there were less number of applicants than the total number of available awards. So by default, 100% of the people who had the gumption to apply won the prize that any college student could only dream of.

I’m happy for my classmates and they both went on to become brilliant doctors in their fields, thanks to the Gates scholarship. And don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the path that I’ve taken and where I’m at now, but sometimes I can’t help but wonder how much more I could have achieved by this time if I hadn’t let my self doubts hinder me.

From that day on, I promised myself that I would try for 100% of the opportunities that come to me, no matter how under-qualified I feel. That shift in attitude led me to winning a few scholarships that helped pay for college, and getting my foot in the door of my first career out of college. But the REAL payoff would arrive in 2022.

It was January of 2022 and I was looking to leave my current field of work, but I was again feeling insecure about such a risky life change. But I promised myself that I would take all the shots, so I started applying for anything and everything that I was even remotely qualified for.

Then, late one night, I saw a job posting that was quite literally my dream job at my dream company…but it had over 1000 applicants already. I chuckled defeatedly. I felt like 17-year-old Thiên Ân again. “Whatever. Worst they can do is reject me,” I shrugged and clicked the apply button.

Out of those 1000 applicants, I was the one who was hired. And that one major step has opened so many incredible new doors for me, that I am so grateful here today for taking that 1 in 1000 shot.

So please believe me, your auntie, when I say that you should take all of the shots, even the ones that you feel there is no chance in hell for you. Whatever is meant for you will never pass you by, but you have to meet the universe halfway and extend that first action. If you don’t, you will miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

**Photo is of your auntie in her junior year.