Dream… Believe… Survive

Dream… Believe… Survive

These are three of the proven ways to achieve success. These are actions that successful men and women have portrayed. And these are powerful affirmations that I want to follow.

Success is a very precious word. It is something that every man on earth wants to achieve. But the question is, How do we get there from where we are now. Again, How do we get there from where we are now. 

Allow me to share with you these three simple steps that I learned from reading motivational books, listening from successful individuals and living the example.

First is to DREAM BIG. Dreaming is a process of setting goals, an awareness of what it is that you want and the foundation of great fortunes.

According to Robert Kiyosaki, the author of the famous Rich Dad Poor Dad Series, one has to write his goals because if these are not written, they become mere wishes which can hardly come true. Bo Sanchez further added that when you write your dreams, forces of nature will work in your favour. It’s as if the universe will conspire to make your dreams come true. This facilitates visualization of dreams; that is to say, seeing yourself successful and having everything you want. Moreover, John Assarafhas consistently shared his story of becoming rich. He used to have a collection of photos showing mansions, money, cars and everything he wanted to have. He kept viewing it and later on in life, he became very rich and famous as a successful entrepreneur and motivational speaker.

Here is an example of a vision board and I also have a video presentation reflecting my dreams in life. I am indeed hopeful that one day, I will achieve all these. As one adage says “A man with a dream will never be denied.”

Photo Credit: Google.com

Second is to Believe in Yourself and Have Faith in God.

You have to believe in yourself when no one else does. That’s what makes you a winner, says Venus Williams, an Olympic gold medallist. Try to be confident. It may be hard at times, but it will be fulfilling. I used to be a shy-type of person in my high school and college days. I never raised a question to my instructors and never ever volunteered for class recitation unless needed when grades are at stake.

I have gained self-confidence because of my dream of becoming rich, significant and successful. I wouldn’t be where I am now if I remained hesitant. For instance, last July 19, 2011, I happened to join a club meeting in Singapore after our educational tour there. I was reluctant at first to join the table topics. The voice within told me to participate and thank God, I was able to deliver my answer so well that I was awarded as “Best in Table Topics.” I didn’t expect it because the winner is determined by the highest number of votes from those who attended and all of them are Singaporeans. Thank God I made it. 

If you have a lot of limiting beliefs because you are conscious of what others may think of you, perish the thought. I like Dr. Daniel Amen’s 18/40/60 rule. When you’re 18, you are so conscious of how you appear to other people. When you’re 40, you don’t give a damn what anybody’s thinking of you and when you’re 60, you will realize that nobody’s been thinking about you at all. So quit worrying of what other people may say about you. They are too busy thinking of what you might think about them.

Another important lesson is that you should keep your faith in God no matter what happens. The divine intervention is so powerful that will make you stronger, braver and hopeful. If you are a bit frightened, ask God for guidance and you will be amazed how you handle your fears successfully.

And finally, the third step is: Survive the Test. In moments of unbearable trials, just keep going. Donald Trump always says, “never give up. Never ever ever give up.” The moment you lose focus is the moment that you will dwell into problems. Focus on the solution and never on the problem.

There has been a series of challenges that I face and everytime I wanted to quit, I am reminded of my aspirations in life, my family and my faith in God.

We should remember that Fortune goes to those who take massive actions. This is a bit demanding but this is the plausible way to make things happen. Excuses are not acceptable. Just do things that will make you successful.

Indeed, success is a matter of choice. Choose to be successful or the other way around. It is simply a progressive realization of a worthy ideal, a combination of baby and giant steps towards greatness. 

Let me ask, does everyone in this hall want to be successful? So, all of us, regardless of age and status, will dream big, believe in one’s self and have faith in God as well survive the test.

Dream… Believe… Survive…

My Birthday Blog Part IV. The Challenge of Saying “YES”

We live in a world filled with choices. The free will we have suggests our prerogative of what to choose and in each decision we make, we become responsible with the consequences.

Somewhere along the way, you will deal with people asking something from you. It could be a favor, an assignment or a proposal. Either of these instances necessitates your answer. It could be “yes” or “no” and perhaps “maybe.”

There’s nothing wrong with saying yes. In fact, it is thru agreements between two parties that set the pace of something to happen, be it worthwhile or not. Its impact even goes worldwide that with a single “yes”, everything changes. For instance, the “yes” of Mary has changed the history of mankind and our faith. This I learned in high school managed by Dominican Order of Preachers. 

In my 27 years of existence, I have been to test of saying yes or no to someone. Of the many requests, proposals, etc. asked of me, I often say “yes” and I have come to a point of asking myself, why??? … specially so that I have become more conscious of the consequences of my decisions.

I consider myself as a highly emotional person that I want to make someone be happy because of my favorable response. This goes to my family whom I love so much and would love to give everything that I have. Individuals who have become breadwinners because of financial constraints could relate well with me and they too will agree how we strive hard to give what they need. For the grownups who have been to it also advised not to make them parasites, after all, they can survive in their own ways.

My coming to Iligan City to further my studies welcomed me with more choices to consider. I have been exposed to the MBM Student Board where I take the lead as the president. Assuming the responsibility entails time for planning, organizing and facilitating events. I admit I enjoy the experience and I love what I am doing. Organizing educational trips for instance is a rewarding experience. I get to know more places, culture and business practices. We also have explored outreach activities like visiting home for the aged, giving alms to the needy and participating in tree growing. My schedules for my studies then have changed because I need to spend time for the student board. I believe learning is at its best if there is application, hence my willingness to undergo such.

Being a student also led me to the blogosphere-community of bloggers. With my classmate Lovette who extended some help for my first blog, I already got excited exploring the blogging world. I wanted then to have a website and I wanted to be a journalist :D. True enough, I enjoyed doing it because I can express myself through writing until Iligan Bloggers Society was created. The first meet and greet allowed us to know some of the bloggers in the city and right there and then was the election of officers. Assuming the responsibility as the Vice President was another challenge. It necessitates focus, coordination and time to perform the responsibilities well. I also admit that I enjoyed the first set of experiences but time has come that I could no longer attend to tasks associated with it not to mention other factors.

Worth mentioning also is my membership in Iligan Toastmasters Club. We meet every other Saturday and the experience is truly amazing. With the tension felt during the session, one can appreciate the lessons embedded in each of the speakers’ talk and the confidence developed in public speaking. I also have learned the essence of preparation for every speaking engagement because your performance matters. I admit that I don’t have perfect attendance. Looking forward though to become a competent communicator and hopefully a distinguished toastmaster someday.

More opportunities have come along my way and I learned the following:

·        Before saying yes, we should review your priorities and commitments.

·         Time Management. We should know how to draft a list of schedules and the ways to perform all of the tasks.

·         Anticipation of Learning. We should make learning a goal in every undertaking that we make.

·         Have fun. For every opportunity and endeavour, we should enjoy the moment and share happiness with our colleagues.

·         Stepping stone towards success. I believe opportunities come along our way because these will lead us towards the success we dreamed of.

·         An opportunity to help others. We should also think of our roles of being an inspiration to others.

·         A chance to make a difference. With the learning we get from everything we go through, hope we can make a difference that would be beneficial to everyone.

The challenge of saying yes continues as we explore life. A road of decisions awaits us and for every choice we make, hope we call on to God for guidance and enlightenment. I thank the Lord for everything I’ve gone through. I know all of these serve as a training ground for me to become a better person. J

My Birthday Blog Part III. Learning to Appreciate Education

Getting educated is everyone’s dream. Having a degree then is one of the greatest achievements one can ever attain. While it is our right to be educated, circumstances say otherwise. Let’s face it, not all get the chance to be educated.

My love for education developed when I realized that only one of my siblings received a college diploma. I wanted to do good in my studies so I could earn a degree. True enough, I was focused with my studies that I graduate in every phase of education on time and with colors.

While it is true that the learning we have in the classroom is far different from the real world and that we often say that it is no longer relevant, certain values are developed as we perform our roles as students. These serve as our strong foundation to face life and deal with challenges. Among these are:

• Persistence. Attending classes 5 days a week and 8 hours a day from elementary to high school is surely a humdrum :D How boring it is to go back to those days when we spend more time in the classroom than in our homes :D Throughout these years of struggle, we actually have developed the virtue of persistence. We still go on despite overwhelming odds and we linger no matter how hard situations seemed.

• Diligence. With thousands of assignments, seatworks and projects from kindergarten to date, we managed to submit at least 50% of those :D The pressures for all of these requirements, we learned to be diligent and hardworking to submit some of these for the fear of being given an INC or even failing grade. :D In real life, we cope up with the demands of time and the organization which we belong.

• Resourcefulness. Occasions every month call for a preparation to undertake and yes, even in our primary years, we were given tasks of bringing fruits, vegetables, flowers, utensils, cleaning materials, rags and every little thing needed in our classrooms. For the exciting month of December, we give ourselves pressures to prepare a creative Christmas tree using indigenous materials and the recycled ones. So resourceful we were that we explored the forests of Tubo-tubo to get pako-pako only to find out that some yelled across river because they were drowning. :D Thank God everyone was saved. To date, we think creatively to meet the requisites of what is pleasing to the eyes. :D

• Patience. For at least 16 long years of schooling, we often feel tired. One school year for instance seemed very long that we tend to complain. While we bear the angst, we also learned how to wait :D To wait for another 4 years before getting a college degree after being exposed to 4 challenging years in high school. If we needed something, somehow we become patient to wait for the right time for opportunities to come and for dreams to realize.

• Time Management. The various activities we were compelled to join :D and the exhausting hours we spend in the school daily should have crashed us :D Quizzes and exams to pass, assignments and projects to submit were time consuming that every hour missed is a problem of meeting deadlines. We might have missed some requirements, but we also learned how to manage our time in our own ways. To date, being exposed to various obligations poses a problem on our time, but with our extensive experience in school, we somehow know how to balance things. :D

• A Sense of Competitiveness. In a class of at least 20, suggests an implied competition. Who speaks well, who writes well, who’s the best in Math, English, Science, etc. Who’s the best dancer, best singer and the list continues. With our desire to do good leads us to become competitive in our ways. True enough, it’s a source of joy at some point and a reason of disappoint at times. Nevertheless, this instance taught us to be better in the real world, more challenging and demanding.

• Compassion and Love. Being surrounded with classmates from all walks of life is truly amazing. With everyday need for intermediate and yellow papers as well as ballpoint pens, someone could miss bringing either of these and we tend to empathize :D and the same happens whenever we miss any of these. I could say I was compassionate and other people have been compassionate to me as well.

How about infatuations even when we were in elementary years :D Having crushes made us inspired and motivated to do things great. We honed our feelings to define for the first time what love is :D Along these is the hard times of facing that your crush likes someone. This instance is a great background for dealing with the present if I may say so.

These are just some of the values I have learned through the course of time. You can share yours below this post. I believe you too have more to share on the traits we lived on while we were in the academe. I am indeed thankful for the essence of education, most of which are unseen.

“Truly, it is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eyes. “ - The Little Prince.

My Birthday Blog Part II. Sharing Happiness and Dreams with my Friends

Every person we meet is a source of learning. Their presence is never a coincidence. People come into our lives to teach us, challenge us and guide us towards success. I am thankful to God that He sends us special people we call FRIENDS.

I have spent my childhood days with a group of kids from whom I found budding friendship. It remains fresh in my mind when we hurdled quite a number of challenging activities like jumping to the ocean from the peak of the ship, swimming endlessly across bridges :D and harvesting some fruits owned by some villagers :D How would I forget how we in a group battled fear when the leader of the group expose us to seemingly fearful situations like the sound of falling twigs by saying it was caused by a “KAPRE” hahaha and that passing by a huge acacia tree made me shiver resulting to a breathtaking track and field so we could move away immediately from the acacia tree… :D hahaha. Worth mentioning is the series of beauty contests we hold in our homes and even near the fox holes. Ten2, Jen2, Kit2, Loloy, Ondoy, Tawin, etc.

These and a lot more routinary activities have helped me conquer fears in various aspects. Thanks to Asterio Ugat Jr, who later on have successfully facilitated the creation of the group BROLJ – an acronym for Brian ven Bag-ao, yours truly, Rolly, Ondoy, Lloyd and Jun2. This circle of friend is truly unparalleled specially the fun we share and the trials we overcome together. Funny it is to say that we do face common challenges for social obligations and even love-life matters. Good to them who have been into a relationship :D Thank you BROLJ for everything. I want you to know how grateful I am to have you in my life. Individually you have shown me the essence of life and the challenge of moving forward no matter what happens.

My high school batchmates create another special group of friends from whom I also shed tears :D it always feels good to meet them from time to time. I miss you guys. Take care always. 

My college life has also offered me good friends whom I also miss. Hello Hazel, Imee, Kulot and my kababayans. Glad to have known you guys. Missing you already.

From the depths of my heart, thank you for being part of my life.

Indeed, friends are God’s blessings to us. :-) 

My Birthday Blog Part I: Sourcing Strength from my Family

Days from now, I will be turning 27 years old. Setting aside my excitement of what lies ahead, I would like to thank 7 important people in my life who made me what I am now today and who I will become in the future.

First on the list is my family.

Born to be the youngest of 8 siblings, I feel I was the most loved and cared :D – this is what every youngest kid would feel. I was given most of my parents’ attention and even that of my brothers and a sister. That was way then when I always cried for my needs to be satisfied. :D

Given the situation when family members had barely reached college, my love for education was developed. I used to be a consistent honor student from my primary years to college. My mother always had the privilege to pin me the ribbon or award me the medal. I had a goal then to finish a college degree in four years time so I could land a good job and be able to help them. With the help of my siblings who are with their respective families already, I was able to equip myself with the most basic needs a student can have. I must say that we are financially challenged and this has led me to aspire more for my family. Graduating college was my way of extending gratitude to my siblings and the award I received was dedicated to my parents for keeping me focused to my dreams.

I thank my Nanay who kept reminding me of our family’s future if I won’t do good in my studies. (Till now, I remain the single in the family with no intimate relationship with someone :D) I thank my Tatay, who was more than willing enough to give me his hard earned money from piggy bank so I could go to MSU, Marawi. I thank my siblings for supporting me financially. And I would thank my 14 nephews and nieces who serve as my additional source of inspiration.

 

To my family who believes in me, thank you so much. You are a source of strength to me and I wouldn’t be what I am now without your love and support. I admit I haven’t realized more of my dreams to give you a more comfortable life and this just keeps me going. Salamat kadayaw sa inyo tanan. I love you. God bless you…

I'm excited to meet you... :-)

I was browsing the internet when I encountered this photo shared on facebook:

“YOU DON’T NEED SOMEONE TO COMPLETE YOU. YOU ONLY NEED SOMEONE TO ACCEPT YOU COMPLETELY.”

The texts made me pause and smile for a while :D not mainly because I’m still single at this very age, but simply because of the thought that I will be able to find someone who would accept me completely :D Hmmmm… I’m excited to meet you… :D 

What made Myrtle the PBB Teen Edition Big Winner

Pinoy Big Brother is a reality show on television whereby housemates are given various tasks and challenges to show off their personalities and test their ability to deal with other individuals. ABS-CBN recently concluded PBB Teen Edition on July 7, 2012 and proclaimed Myrtle Sarrosa as the Big Winner at Malolos Sports and Convention Center.

What I admired most with Myrtle is her determination to win the competition. She had a clear goal of making it to the top. For instance, among the Big Four, she was the sole contender to be very honest of winning the contest. She was wholehearted in putting her banner on the flag hole even if it meant criticisms from the society by virtue of “pakikisama” or living up with the Joneses so to speak. She didn’t mind what other people think of her, instead, she pursued her dream of becoming the BIG WINNER – This I like and would love to emulate because oftentimes, I become so conscious of what other people think of me. This reminds me of Dr. Amen’s 18/40/60 rule which goes:

“When you’re 18, you worry about what everybody is thinking of you; when you’re 40, you don’t give a darn what anybody thinks of you; when you’re 60, you realize nobody’s been thinking about you at all.”

We shouldn’t be clouded with our reservations of what other people may think of us. Oftentimes, this could hinder us from doing actions that would make us become better persons and be successful.

I’m not an avid fan of PBB because there are tasks that I find irrelevant and nonsense. Nevertheless, lessons learned make it worth the watch.

To all young men out there, continue believing in your dreams. Never let anyone take it away from you through their criticisms, so long as you are doing things right. God bless us... :-)