“Things which matter most must never be
at the mercy of things which matter least”
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto observed in 1906 that 80 percent of the land in Italy was owned by 20 percent of the population.
If You Don’t Believe In Yourself, Who Will?
“Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except
by those who dared believe that something inside
of them was superior to circumstance.”
-Bruce Barton
The most notable person in Indian history is Mahatma Gadhi. He was not someone who was very charismatic like Hitler and John F. Kennedy nor was he very strategic like Napoleon Bonaparte and Julius Cesar.
MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!
Making Mistakes
One of the main problems in our societal and school systems is its tendency to look down on making mistakes as something bad. We punish people for making mistakes. Therefore, we have detentions, fines, mental institutions and prisons to regulate people from making mistakes. What’s ironic is the more of these punishment systems exists, the more people commit mistakes.
What Influences Us
Be Happy
A Wake Up Call
The “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind” book author Harv Eker once said,
“There is a secret psychology of money.
Most people don't know about it.
That's why most people never become financially successful.
A lack of money is not the problem; it is merely a symptom of what's going on inside of you.”
In the Philippines, out of 100 Filipinos who are at the age of 65, the age where people are suppose to retire:
-45 are dependent on their children
-30 are financially broke
-And 23 are still working
In other words, 98% of these Filipinos at the age of 65 are financially struggling and ONLY 2 are financially independent.
Looking Ahead
"All three construction workers are doing the same job,
but when asked,
one says, ‘I’m laying bricks.’
The second says, ‘I’m building a wall.’
And the third says, ‘I’m building a cathedral.”
-The Bricklayer’s Parable
One of the main reasons why a lot of Filipinos don’t get ahead in life is because of the lack of vision towards the future.
We Are Our Habits
“Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.”
—Lao-Tze
Webster defines the word “habit” as “a usual manner of behavior” or “the prevailing disposition or character of a person's thoughts and feelings.”
Sharpen The Saw
Imagine yourself being in a forest and seeing a man working very hard to cut down a tree.
You: What are you doing?
Man: Can’t you see? I’m busy sawing this tree to build a house.
You: I see. You look tired. How many hours have you been sawing?
Man: I’ve been sawing for 10 hours. I’m so exhausted but I think I’ll cut this tree anytime now.
You: Really? Why don’t you rest for awhile and sharpen your saw so that it’ll be faster?
Man: I can’t.
You: Why?
Man: I’m too busy sawing!
A lot of us in life are so caught up doing a lot of things (even if these things are not important at all!) to the point we forget about taking care and developing our most important asset: OURSELVES!
Focus On Your Core Gifts
“Enter every activity without giving mental recognition
to the possibility of defeat. Concentrate on your strengths,
instead of your weaknesses... on your powers, instead of your problems. “
-Paul J. Meyer
The reason why a lot of us are not happy and satisfied with the way we live life is because we don’t focus on our core gifts. I would like to define “Core Gifts” as those unique talents, skills and traits bestowed upon us by God so that we may be able to live quality lives and fulfill our life purpose.
Take Responsibility
“I am the master of my fate.
I am the captain of my soul.”
-Invictus, Willian Ernest Henley
There are a lot of things in life we can’t control. Unfortunately for a lot of us Filipinos, we tend to focus our time, attention and energies on these things. We blame everything (the government, the environment, people and even our parents!) but not ourselves for the way we live our lives.
The First Things
The Richest Place On Earth
The richest place on Earth is not located in America nor in China but in the cemetery. The cemetery is the richest place on Earth because the dreams, hopes and aspirations of billions of people are all buried in there. It’s not only the richest place on Earth but the most musical place too because billions of people have already died in this place with the music still in them.
Promises Are Meant To Be Kept (Not Broken)
Screw the “promises are meant to be broken” adage. We live in a messed up world where betrayal, disloyalty, adultery and duplicity are everywhere. Furthermore, the media makes a lot of money out of these by sensationalizing these themes. And worse, a lot of us are lead to the belief it’s normal to make promises and break them. The “well, since everyone does it, I should do it too “attitude has destroyed a lot friendships, families, marriages and societies. More importantly, we not only destroy these relationships but we set up our inability to trust ourselves and others to keep promises. Why is it a lot of us are so good when it comes to making promises but are failures when it comes to keeping them?
A lot of us, especially Filipinos, are so good when it comes to making promises but are bad when it comes to keeping them because we want to please everybody including ourselves. There’s no feeling like promising to do something and being looked up to for doing so. We’re so preoccupied with making promises and feeling good about it in the present that we don’t think about its consequences in the future. Unfortunately, this feeling good eventually fades away when reality hits us in the face with the fact that we have made promises and, thus, the inevitable responsibility of keeping them. Keeping promises (be it in the form of paying your debts in time, doing something for the people you love, or producing something to people you work with) takes time and effort. And as we all know, putting time and effort into something has a degree of pain placed into it. Since it’s our natural tendency to repel pain as human beings, we procrastinate and, eventually, we break promises. Not only do we break promises in the process, we also break the trust of people and more importantly our ability to trust ourselves in making and keeping promises.
Since we’re so “good” when it comes to making promises and bad when it comes to keeping them, I would like to elaborate more on why we should avoid making promises we don’t want to keep and keep the promises we make.
A promise or a commitment is the disciplining of oneself to do what is more important in order to achieve one’s promises to self and others. Let me make it clear to you, we make promises and we keep them because we want to develop the quality of trustworthiness towards others and ourselves. We make and keep promises because these people you’re making promises to are important.
The ability to make and fulfill commitments first starts with the belief of oneself. If you believe and trust yourself that you’re capable of making and keeping promises to yourself and others, you’ll keep them. The Law of Reciprocity works when it comes to making and keeping promises. The more promises you keep, the more trustworthy you are and the more you trust yourself. And trust towards oneself is very vital in achieving our personal goals and aspirations in life. Because if we don’t have that ability to trust ourselves, we won’t get far ahead in life. So it pays to keep promises.
The number of promises you make is nothing compared to the promises you keep. It doesn’t matter how many promises you make, what matters is the degree of quality when it comes to keeping those promises. Here’ s a thought: only make promises you can keep. That’ll make your life easier and better. Of course, there’ll be people who may be disappointed but the thing is you’re not only doing a favor to these people by not making promises you can’t keep anyway but you’re able to preserve the trust of people towards you. That’s something more than just the fleeting feeling of feeling good on making promises you don’t want to keep.
Remember, by learning to say “no” to promises you can’t make, you’re, in fact, saying a big “YES” to people and activities that really matter to you. By learning to make promises you can keep, you’ll be in the position to live a better quality life which God promises and intends us to live.
Make promises and keep them because promises are meant to be kept. That’s a promise we need to keep to ourselves, others and God.
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