Best Debater — LASU Debate Society, '25/'26
The story behind my first public speaking award. In a game of two truths and a lie, I claimed I'd already won a competition — then spent the next two months making it true. Winner of the LASU Debate Society's Intra-LSUDS Competition, December 2025.
The lie I told
I once lied about winning a public speaking award — and then I went out and won one.
I was at the Orators' Retreat, a five-day public speaking training, and we were playing two truths and a lie. Right before my turn, I was working out which lie people would actually believe. "I've won a public speaking competition" came to mind. Just as I'd guessed, everyone took it as true.
What they didn't know is that I was, at that very moment, in the middle of two competitions. And sitting there, having said it out loud, I made myself a promise: if I'm going to say it, I'm going to make it real.
Making it true
Less than two months later, I did — Winner of the LASU Debate Society's Intra-LSUDS Competition, December 2025.
Not a story I made up this time. The certificate was real.
What it taught me
Sometimes speaking something into existence — even when it feels like a lie — sets the intention you need. But saying it isn't the trick; the trick is what comes after. You speak it to yourself first, then you do the work to make it real.
You owe that to yourself. So — what's one goal you can speak into existence this year?