"I am taking its picture because I'm going to win this"

A bit of a context

I traveled to Skopje (North Macedonia) in mid September to give an exciting talk I've worked on for the WhatTheStack conference. And this was the first time I've ever been to a Balkan Country. I was still finalizing my slides as I left Stockholm airport.

When I reached Skopje, one of the organizers, Blagica picked me from the airport and we chatted about different things about Skopje, North Macedonia, Stockholm (Sweden), and Karachi (Pakistan). It of course, involved food 😄. But also, culture, weather, and a bit of politics as well. The first thing that crossed my mind while driving on the streets of Skopje was "this looks so much like Karachi".

And then I posted it to my facebook page. And the majority of my followers are from Pakistan. My post translates to "It (Skopje) is same as Karachi. But a bit better, cleaner, and much peaceful".

The morning of the conference

Me and Santosh Yadav, a good friend who was also speaking at the conference stayed on the same floor at a hotel. We gathered outside and left for the breakfast. After breakfast, we met some of the other speakers and headed to the venue together.

We finally arrived at the venue, and I got my speaker badge.

I could feel the butterflies in my stomach, but the thrill of sharing my talk kept me focused. This was a brand new talk and I hadn't given it to a large audience before. Anyways, I went to the speakers lounge, practiced a bit, added some more memes to the slides, as always :) And got ready for my talk.

My talk went really smooth. The jokes went well. The stories told as they should've been. And the topic of the talk delivered as best as I could. Of course, both the delivery and the content can be improved all the time. Especially when you have that little voice in your head that wants things to be "just perfect".

What the Keychron??

Yeah yeah, I know you're here for the details about the keyboard. After I finished my talk, it felt like a huge weight lifted off from my shoulders. I felt really weird and told my wife about it over the call. Before the talk, nerves had me overthinking every detail—delivery, content, and every possible mistake. After the talk, poof!, everything gone. I thought "what should I do now?", lol.

So I wandered around the booths of the companies who had their stalls there, advertising their work, and themselves. And connecting with the participants. That's when I saw the booth of Code Chem. Three things caught my attention. First, they probably had the most number of representatives and the booth was quite big. Second, as far as I remember, all the representatives were female. Third, they had a (sort of) game running on a laptop. And in front of it, was this beautiful keyboard; the Keychron K2 Pro.

The challenge

I went to the booth in curiosity. "What's happening here?", I asked. And one of the representatives told me that they're running a competition. Well, I heard the word "competition" and I was in. They were running the VIM-racer game on the laptop. And it was the standard, default exercise of 12 cursor movements using VIM keybindings to navigate the provided text.

That's when I took that picture of the keyboard. Telling the person I was talking to, that I'll win this keyboard. There was already a queue for the competition and I was waiting for my turn. Finally, it was time.

To be clear, I knew just enough VIM to get by. The challenge felt like it was daring me to embarrass myself—or impress everyone. Those of you who follow me, have seen me struggling and failing with VIM and NeoVIM during my live streams. And then switching to VSCode time and again 😆. I thought, "let's give this a try". I tried the challenge at it took me 31 seconds to finish the challenge. Let me tell you that that was not fast, at all. I pulled away from the keyboard, and let others try it.

Knowing the competitors

While I was waiting for my turn again. I asked the other folks what the highest score (fastest time) so far is. They told me it was about 10 seconds. "Damn!", were my initial thoughts. I just had to be three times faster. No big deal, right? Well, I waited for my turn.

When my turn came in, I put my hands on the keyboard, took a deep breath, calmed myself, and attempted it as fast as I could. Let me assure you that the keystrokes were nowhere near perfect. I made a lot of mistakes. Sometimes even pressed keys without thinking. But did everything fast. Lol. This time, I could do it in 9.6 seconds 🚀. Yayyy!

It was easy! Almost!

I had hope! It was almost that I had won. I got back, and went to other booths to meet other folks. And then it was lunch time. As a muslim, traveling or living in a non-muslim country it is a bit tough to find food that you love, and can eat. If you don't know, we can't eat pork, or meat that is not Halal. I.e. not retrieved and slaughtered in a certain way. Fortunately, the menu at the conference had Tacos, both meat and vegetarian options. So I got these vegetarian tacos. And mind you, they are probably the best ones I have had so far. I can't remember the name of the shop. But if you know, please write in the comments.

I got a plate of two tacos. And I already had a chia pudding so I was halfway through my meal quota. I thought, I'll eat one piece, and leave one for Santosh as he was busy talking to some folks (fans of course) and I went and sat to eat mine. I was talking to a gentleman who had a startup in North Macedonia and that's when I had the first bite. One bite, and the explosion of flavors shot straight to the pleasure centers of my brain. It was a 'wow' moment—like a mini celebration for my taste buds. I looked at Santosh, who was still talking to the folks, looked at the other remaining taco, and tried to send a message to Santosh telepathically. "Sorry Santosh, I'm going to eat it. It is too delicious.". Before I could eat the taco, the gentleman engaged me with a question and in no time, Santosh came and I offered him the remaining one :(. "Damn it, Santosh.", couldn't say it out loud of course.

Anyways, right after having lunch, I came back to the booths in the curiousity to see if my record of 9.6 seconds still holds. And that's when I saw this young kid beating me by scoring 7.3 seconds. Well...

I was a bit sad, but I wanted to beat this record. And I knew I couldn't do that when I'm stressed, and not focused.

Pre-final strategy

This time, I wanted to be focused, smart, and to and come up with an optimal solution. I am a student of NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) and have learnt it on and off from various great instructors. And I did something called Stacking Resources or Stacking Anchors. You can learn about if from the internet of course but in short, It's a technique that helps you tap into past experiences where you felt focused and determined, channeling those emotions into the present.. Be it focus, happiness, determination, strength, courage, or whatever, it is really effective. I spent a few minutes working on it. And then i went again to the booth.

I asked them a very important question. "If I attempt this multiple times, will my best time be counted? Or will the last attempt be counted?", I inquired. They told me the best time will be counted. And we had unlimited attempts. I was relieved to hear we had unlimited attempts. And when you're away from home in a different country, have given your talk, and have nothing else better to do, well, you're game! 😆

Slow and steady wins the race

I got to the keyboard, started the challenge, but did not type fast, at all. I went SUPER SLOW to memorize the VIM movements required for the challenge. It was just 12 navigations, almost all with multiple movements & keystrokes. And I thought it wouldn't be too difficult to memorize and repeat fast. Once I went through it slowly, I was ready.

It was time for another turn. I took a deep breath, and attempted the challenge. And boom 🤯... 6.8 seconds. Yeah! That's right. I was super happy and I asked the representative to record it in their excell sheet or something.

Leave no opportunities to be defeated

Even though I was super fast, I still thought I could do better. And decided to attempt it one more time. Just so that there is big margin to win. And since others could attempt infinite times as well, it was quite possible to beat my score. And this time... 🥁 (drumroll)... it was 6.3 seconds. And now I was finally happy.

The guilt trip

It was about time for the conference to end and we were listening to the closing remarks. I started second guessing my multiple attempts. Part of me wanted to win the challenge, but another part whispered, 'Shouldn't you let him (the other guy) have it?' I already had a mechanical keyboard that worked just fine. But still, I couldn't help wanting the thrill of winning again. I hoped he had beaten my record and would win it instead. And had made up my mind that I won't hopefully hear my name in the announcement.

The moment of truth: I sat there, in the front row, among other speakers, hoping they'd say someone else's name—but secretly, maybe not. Humans, right?

Final announcement

After the closing remarks by Darko (the lead organizer), it was time for Code Chem to announce the winner. And to my surprise (or not), it was me. I was called to the stage, and as I made my way up, a chill ran from my forehead all the way down to my toes. My hands trembled slightly, and I couldn't stop smiling. Climbing the stairs, I saw him—the anchor, holding the keyboard, bowing down as if knighting me with a sword.

At that particular moment, I was really happy about winning the keyboard. Especially in front of the audience. Majority of which didn't attend my talk, but all of them knew me now.

"I want to thank my parents, my dog (that doesn't exist), and all the sleepless nights, pain, and suffering that learning VIM has caused me.

In the end, it was worth it!",

I said, and walked away from the stage.

Conclusion

This experience reminded me that winning is possible as long as:

• God (Allah) wills it.
  • I as a Muslim am a firm believer of it, and without having his will, no amount of efforts or hard work matters.
• You imagine winning before winning.
  • As Tony Robbin says, “Whatever you hold in your mind on a consistent basis is exactly what you will experience in your life.”
• You grab the opportunities as soon as they present themselves.
  • I could've ignored all of this, but would miss the entirety of this awesome experience.
• You don't shy away from the hard work and efforts required for the task.
  • I didn't win in my first attempt. I tried multiple times, removed distractions, increased focus, and optimized my approach.
• What you do is more important than what you want to achieve
  • Throughout my multiple attempts, the goal or focus was never to win the keyboard. It was always on being the best in those moments. And giving my best efforts.
  • Once you focus on your identity instead of the outcome, things become much easier.

Winning the keyboard wasn't just about speed or skill—it was about embracing the process and giving my best effort, regardless of the result. Sometimes, the prize isn't the object you win, but the growth you experience along the way. When you focus on being the best version of yourself, the outcomes often take care of themselves.

So, whether it's a competition, a talk, or even just learning something new, remember that the real victory lies in your journey, not the destination. And if you're lucky, you might just win a cool keyboard along the way!