5 Cornerstones That Made Me Dream High And Deep

Wherever we are right now in life is traceable to the decisions and actions we made in the past. Therefore, I am a unique embodiment of everything in the past. This got me thinking, why am I this person now and what were the things, big or small, that shaped me?

If you had the chance to read a couple of my entries here on this blog, you may recognize the suggestions of positivism in each of them. Perhaps you see a pattern of me trying (at times too hard) to show to you that there’s a better way – that positivity is just right at the corner. I’d like you to know that I am not the person I am today if it weren't for the cornerstones that I’m made of.

I’d say that I’m proud for these cornerstones for it made me see life differently. I believe that they saved me from my old self who is a depressive guy, waiting for the world to end while hoping for nothing. Don’t get me wrong. I am in no way saying that I’m perfect or better than any of you, I am just here to share how I reach such thoughts and how these thoughts enabled me to lay most of my insecurities and fears down consequently allowing me to dream higher and deeper. In short, this is an attempt for me to reach out and tell you why in the world I think like "this and that." If you’re interested, then read on.

PALS

This is a main turning point for me and I can easily admit that this cornerstone is the precursor why I prefer positive perspectives in life. PALS stands for Personal Awareness Leadership Seminar. You can say that it is about leadership, but what really made an impact on me is the personal awareness part of it. It opened my eyes to many things. In fact, if you join this seminar, you’d be surprised that almost everything I talk here on this blog is based from the things I learned from there.

In this seminar, you re-discover that you have infinite potential. It also teaches you that you are responsible for your life. Furthermore, it imparts very interesting ways on how to communicate with people emphasizing on the types of listening and handling difficult situations. Most of all, it helps you understand the “oneness” of the world. I’m confident to say that the lessons you learn from this seminar saves you half of a lifetime of learning if you were to learn them on your own. It’s a crash course to life.

Books

I am no book reader. The truth is it takes me ages to finish a book. However, I could never deny the importance of them. Self-help books are what keep me motivated. It refreshes my mind and it helps me stay in the right track. They’re great for references when faced with situations. They’re also very relatable.

I continuously read books that keep the dreamer in me. If I were to recommend books, I’d include the following: Rich Dad Poor Dad, Think and Grow Rich (where philosophies of PALS are based from), Psycho-cybernetics, and books from notable successful people like Dale Carnegie, Warren Buffet, Brian Tracy and so on. I have to admit, there are a lot of books but you can actually see a clear pattern from most of them. There’s this one message and that’s, “If they can do it, you can do it.“

IF

It’s already been proven that when you surround yourself with positive and supportive people, you get to become one as well. I never thought I’d find them in the Immanuel Fellowship group, a church that I belong with. These church friends of mine, although they may not know it, keep me motivated to do better things in life. You may not agree with me, but the church has a lot of positive things that can keep you going. From what I see it, it’s easy to form dreams just by being part of a group that has a mission to reach out and serve. I don’t want to be bias on this, but basically, you can have any group as long as they support you and your dreams, or at the very least, keep you a dreamer. It’s just that, you’ll find them mostly in such congregations who have a vision mission to reach out.

Immanuel is worth the mention since it’s a venue for me to continuously strive and become better just because I discovered a purpose other than myself. You’d realize that there are bigger things than us, and sometimes the bigger things keep us away from the boring, mundane, and destructive smaller issues, which by that I mean the dramas we think we have, the minor discomforts, and so on.

Ideas

I don’t know if my ideas come solely from the seminar or books, my unique experiences, my “we-are-infinite” way thinking, or the combination of all these. The point is my ideas are now different than what they were before. I discovered that one can meet tons of ideas when one looks at the big picture and think out of the box. I may be wrong, but I think if you have such a thought process, your ideas encompass a lot of things and not just anything restricted.

Formulating positive ideas and acknowledging them as my own is one aspect that I didn’t expect to be a cornerstone. What I know is that you are your thoughts. Thoughts form attitudes, attitudes form habits, and habits form “you” as seen by the world.

Vision and Expectations

Do you know about Pygmalion theory? If you do, then I’m actually setting high expectations for myself. If you don’t, then Pygmalion theory is just the theory that people act accordingly on what society expects from them. Basically, if the people around you expect you to become great, then you’re more likely to become one for you subconsciously try to meet those expectations. The sad part is when they don’t expect much from you.

Actually, I found a hack on this. You just need to set high expectations for yourself and act as a standalone source of expectations. This enabled me to have a clear vision what I will be 5 years from now or even 10 years from now. I can see a clear picture of myself. I know it can be crazy (even delusional) of me, but no, I’m just setting high expectations for I deserve the best even if it is just lies in my imagination. I know eventually that people will see these expectations I set for myself, thus inadvertently you dictate them what to expect from you. And there goes your Pygmalion theory hack.

As you noticed, I never included my formal education in the list. I think my formal years of study have not developed me much as the person I am now. It’s ironic to say that what I learned in college is not so helpful to me now. However, I would never forget the great mentors that contributed along the way. If I were to choose my own path, I’d rather had done self-study (or a more focused form of study) and learn from actual experiences and people who really made it. But it’s also important to note that we’re better off with no regrets. We don’t have to be too radical. It’s important to consider that each step, no matter how useless or long it may seem, is necessary for anyone to reach the now. Your past tenses are essentially what bring you to your present tenses.

After sharing all these cornerstones to you, I’d now like to ask you several questions. What do you think are the influences in your life that led you to think the way you think right now? What are the cornerstones of your life that built who you are right now? What will you do if no one stops you from becoming what you want? What will you do if you can be what you wanted 5 or 10 years from now? Will you still settle for less? I hope not and I hope you continuously strive and build a firm foundation. I bet my 25 centavo that it’s better to aim high. Therefore, I’m going to leave you with this, “Always dream higher than the sky and deeper than the ocean.”
(All photos used in this post copyright of Kevin Abad)

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5 Wonderful Ways To Value Time

Time is probably the most wasted asset. Let’s admit it, most of us take time for granted. Some of us may already have realized that this separates us from people who make things happen. Those people who have offered something substantial to the world actually have the same-dear-old 24 hours each day. We don’t value time and we carelessly manage it. The results are devastating: depression, delays, rat race, and any of the sorts.

You might be one of these, one who finds it hard to sleep because they are guilty of not doing anything for what they want to become or for what they want to get. If so, here are 5 wonderful ways for you to get away from this rot.

1. Tomorrow is not a guarantee

Always consider that tomorrow, heck, anything in life has no guarantee. We might die in our sleep tonight without anyone knowing or we might get mobbed and shot in the head while walking on the streets. Picturing this, it ain’t hard to imagine these, “Have we truly lived our life and not just existed?” “Are we ready for death?” I bet many great ideas now unfold as you ask these questions. “You could have done this and that” kinds of statements you can create straightforwardly. Don’t live a life of regret. Start living as if it is your last day today and be productive.

2. Time your activities

A wonderful way to actually get good results for the day is to time your activities. I keep a 25-minute timer on my laptop. Whatever work I do using my laptop, say creating a website or writing an article, I would try my best to work on the allotted time. So I just focus on a certain activity for 25 minutes without letting anything distract me. After the alarm rings, I then set a 5-minute break to do a bit of stretching, a bit of Facebook, or even just looking at something else to prevent eye strain. I feel that by doing this, I already given myself a good balance on things and get more things done. This might also work for you.

3. Jot it down

If timing your activities seems to be lacking in some ways, then you can jot them down. This, I imagine, helps you sleep at night, especially when you are working on a self-goal that no one knows about.

Jotting what you’ve done for the 25-minute activities helps you see the big picture. You’ll discover that everything is about forming habits. That consistency is key and you just have to do one small step each day. So write it down, even things that you do for others. Say, “I spent 25 minutes watching a short TV series with my girlfriend.” Wouldn’t it make the whole thing memorable? Just don’t be geeky in writing everything especially when you’re out in the public. You don’t have to write it at that instant, the whole point of this is that you remain conscious if your spending time wisely or not.

4. Exercise

Studies show that you are a lot more productive if you set 30 minutes to an hour of exercise each day. It could be just an ordinary jog early in the morning. By doing so, you get to be more focused on things, a lot more alert and awake, and not to mention, healthier and fit. Do exercise not because people say so, but because you love yourself.

5. Always consider your priorities

Your time is always more valuable than others. So never let others dictate to you how to manage your time. I’m not just saying this because that’s what I like to think about my time. But, actually, this is also how many successful people think about theirs. Let me mention one friend who don’t compromise his time and business just because his friends (including me) are out drinking and all. With that good value of his, he and his brand continues to be the top indie-clothing brand in the Philippines.

It’s actually funny how most of us let our plans and activities are allowed to be easily swayed by our girlfriends, boyfriends, friends, and even family, and let it be like how they want it to be. I mean, that’s totally sad letting others control our priorities, our valuable time. Disrespecting our time makes us look like fools since we’re the ones who set them schedules in the first place. If you are going to allow people to mess with it anyway, then at least put up a fight.

Don’t get me wrong, this valuing of time is not selfish. Actually, the more you value your time, the more you can offer it to the people who you really value as well. Say you set aside just 8 pristine hours of work and then you set two hours for your girlfriend, and probably another hour for your family. Now, ruining your work schedule can already have massive effects on the other schedules, namely for your girlfriend, family, and even your rest. This compromises all others and you’ll miss out doing the most part instead. So, try to value your time and respect the time given for each day.

At the end of the day, what you went through for yourself are the only things that matter. Your parents, your girlfriends/boyfriends, and your friends won’t know what you were achieving for yourself. It’s always about you and your dreams. Dreams are the things you struggle with and achieve while no one knows about. So, don’t just let anyone take it away so easily.
(photo credit by Julian Bialowas)

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Investing Versus Saving In Bank

Perhaps you’ve thought of saving money? If you haven’t, you can read my previous post about savings. In this post, I will share my views on investing in comparison to saving in banks.

You may already have encountered some people who talk about investments and how it is way better than saving your money in banks. Yet, in some instances, you might also hear that investments are not worth it and it’s better to be safe and save your money in the bank. Well, the answer is, it depends. The choice greatly relies on what you see as purpose of your money.

You have total control of the cash that you carry right now. In fact, you could spend all your money down to the last cent this very moment. These days, it’s easy to buy anything and spend any amount of money. That’s how fickle money is. You may recount some news you hear on lottery winners who had poorly spent their enormous capital in just a matter of months, which most thought as impossible.

On the other hand, you also have the power to use your money wisely. For most people, using money wisely means saving it in order to allot it for a better use in the future.

However, just putting money in the bank may not entirely be a wise decision. You’re 100 thousand pesos today, might not buy as much goods in 5 years compared to what you can buy today.

Yes, inflation is real and it has a yearly average of 8 percent here in the Philippines. The annual interest gain rates for your money in the bank is about 3 percent. As you can see, money is not really growing and it definitely depreciates over time when you put it solely in the banks.

However, placing money in the banks also has its benefits. You can withdraw your money anytime and it is perfect for dire situations where you need the ready cash.

In investing, you do have a chance to increase your money significantly. This depends on what investment modes or vehicle you avail. There are lot of investment opportunities out there. It’s important to note that a considerable amount of Filipinos are not into investments yet.

Here are some of the common modes of investments:

Stocks - a very good way to invest and you can take a role as daily trader or long term trader. Gains are likely, yet risks are moderate to high. This depends on how you do your trades.

Mutual Funds - if you think stocks is not your thing but you still want to gain, then you may want to trust your money to established organizations of professional traders to do the decisions for you. This is how mutual funds work. Most banks offer mutual funds. Mutual fund organizations have their own risk profiles that you can compare and help you decide which one is for you.

Cooperatives - it’s another famous investment model. Though I have to be honest I’m not so particular about this. I know however that you trust a cooperative for your money and it will be used as a central fund for the members, optimizing it for gains, thus increasing the value of the money you put up.

What do they all have in common? They have risks. You have to note that you may lose all your money.

If you’re a person who’s afraid to risk or a person who’s not willing to lose, then investment is probably not for you. However, there’s a smart way to invest and it’s just taking a small percentage of your income for these investments. You can check this type of allocation in my previous blog.

What’s the verdict? As you can see, it really depends. If you were to ask me, I’d save in the bank and at the same time invest. It doesn’t really matter if you started small, as long as you stay consistent and set your eyes on the long-term goal.

Want more tips? Here’s something interesting I learned.

Since we’ve mentioned on the benefits of saving in the bank to use in a difficult situation such as losing a job, hospitalization and unforeseen events, there’s a way to solve this.

An interesting technique I read from a book is to save money in the bank that equals to 6 months of your monthly needs.

Assuming that your  monthly salary matches your monthly expense, then you just multiply it by 6 to come up with the money you want to put in your bank. So if you lose a job or an emergency happens, you have spare money to use. Six months is an adequate period to land a new job. Now, you have a secure amount in the bank and the rest of it can be invested.

But for the risk takers, you may just want to invest most of your money. If emergency situations arise, they think abundantly and see through it that they can find money they need, at any given time. That’s one audacious approach but very plausible.

As usual, thanks for reading. Don’t forget to leave your comments below.

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