BETWEEN SENAYAN SPORTS HALL AND LOSARI, BREBES, CENTRAL JAVA
Senayan Sports Hall (Istora Senayan), September 26-27, 2009
The seminar stage which had the size of 30x10 meters seemed to be a huge one for me. It
was built by BSI (Bina Sarana Informatika), a private educational institution that has many
branches nationwide. “That is the stage where I am going to deliver my motivational
speech”, as I mumbled to myself. I sat at the back waiting for the master of ceremony to
invite me to come to the stage. It was the time for me, the moment of truth, to speak in
front of 18,000 audiences that broke the world record, according to MURI (Indonesia’s
Museum Center for Record Breaking), back in September 2009. As long as nobody in the
world claimed a bigger number of audience in a single gathering of motivational training,
this was, and will always be, the greatest gathering of motivational training ever held.
I sat silently and was speechless. Suddenly tears fell on my cheek as I remembered the
moment I left my hometown in Kalibuntu, Losari, Brebes, Central Java, leaving my ailing wife
who had been resting for one week. The doctor told me of an unknown origin of her illness.
I kept on confirming myself that everything would be OK and these 18,000 students in
Jakarta needed to be enlightened and in return God will heal my wife as I only had a sincere
and earnest intention to these students. Suddenly I heard the voice, ”Ladies and
gentlemen, please welcome, the youngest motivational speaker, the author of best selling
motivational books nationwide, Nanang Qosim Yusuf!”. Loud applauses were thundered
through the sports hall and echoed everywhere.
Flanked by four escorts I walked past the audience, with full of confidence. Never in my
whole life have I given a talk to more than 10,000 people in a single occasion. These new
and fresh college students would listen to the best content of the 7Awareness program from
me, which is the drive to get out of the comfort zone.
I believe that everyone will be reluctant to jump out of his or her cozy comfort zone. Only
when a person finds himself his own One Minute Awareness (OMA), he or she will believe
that not a single minute is to be wasted for leisure. The twenty four hour given to us for a
day seems to be insufficient. There will never be enough time to do good things and to
develop the legacy of good deeds. These were the messages I conveyed to the 18,000
audiences who attended the two-day seminar, September 26-27, 2009, from 7am to 5pm.
As soon as the seminar ended, Mr. Jaya Suprana, the founder of MURI (Indonesia’s Museum
Center for Record Breaking), conferred me the certificate stating that I have made the
Indonesian record for becoming a public speaker to the biggest number of audience. As I
finished giving my motivational speech, I hurried directly to Kalibuntu, Losari, Brebes,
Central Java, to meet my family, especially my ill wife. On the way to my hometown, a
message buzzed, “Brother, thanks to Allah that your wife is now recovering’. I suddenly
burst into tears, as another message buzzed,” Brother, your wife has now started to
recognize everyone, including mom and dad!” Another message buzzed, “Your wife wants
to meet you”. Therefore spontaneously I replied,” Don’t worry; I am on my way home.
Thanks Allah for this miracle!”
I read the message slowly, letter by letter. It was such a mixture of feelings that I had to
endure at that moment. As I recalled it, I remembered it was sent by my younger brother,
Hambali, who is ten years younger than I am. I was 29 years old at the time. I directly replied
to him, “Please be patient, I am on my way home, thank Allah everything is OK”.
I really wanted to go home first to my home in Serpong, South Tangerang, but due to the
urgency that I faced the only thing I had to do was to go home to Kalibuntu, Losari, Brebes,
Central Java.
On the way to arrive at my hometown I recalled all that has happened in the past. In my
7Awareness book I wrote, ”we cannot change the past but we can learn from it”. My past is not attached as an accessory to my outer heart (my shadr), but it is truly engrossed deep
inside my inner soul (my lubb).
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