How Do You Look at Yourself?

When people look at you, what do they see? Do they see a small person? A big person? Someone who is successful? Or someone who looks like a failure?

Everyone values appearance immensely. Some people even base their opinions of your solely on your appearance. These people give you a very small window in which to prove your worth as a person. While they are not important in your life right now, they might be someday. You never know when you will meet a person again. As such, it would help to make a good first impression.

Now you might be thinking, "I'm not good-looking! I look like a monkey!! I have too many pimples! I'm too fat, too thin!" That is a bad way to look at yourself! If you look at yourself as such, how will other people develop a good impression of you?

This is where self-esteem comes in. People with a healthy self-esteem are people you will immediately like - guaranteed. This is because they love themselves - and they project this. When you see someone who looks like he feels good, your tendency is to feel good as well. And when someone makes you feel good, you'll surely like that person

How would you like to be liked? Very much, I think! The first person who must like you, then, is you!

By liking yourself, you begin to notice the good points of your personality. You begin to take note of your skills, talents and other good things you left for granted until you started paying positive attention to yourself.

Seeing that you are not as bad as you thought you were helps you in all aspects of your life. Once you see how good you really are inside, you will become a more energetic, happy and productive person. 

You'll become a better father, mother, executive, director, athlete, conversationalist - a better everything! All because you finally saw that you deserve more love than what you were giving yourself before.

Seeing yourself as someone who can do things will drive you to do those things. Confidence will increase a hundred times, and you will be blasting right through projects and other major activities in your life. I bet no psychiatrist can help you feel better than you yourself can. And the good thing is, you can start today without paying a dime!

My friend, I believe in you. I know you will be great, and I am expecting you to be great. Let's do this!

Should You Start Your Own Home Business?

Starting your own business may be a very profitable step to take. Millions of people around the world have amassed their fortunes, great or just enough, by getting into business. However, while it certainly is profitable, business is not for the faint of heart. Statistically, 95% of all new businesses fail within the first five years of operation. Not a very encouraging figure.

Despite this fact, many people are still getting into business. And while most fail, some succeed and skyrocket to their financial goals. One of my friends started a business while he was still in college. After college he was earning a very good income off it, and he didn't need to stress himself out anymore. He could relax because his income was very much enough for himself (him being a bachelor), and he could enjoy football whenever he wanted to.

Now, you might be wondering what he did, given that he was still in college while he built up his business.

No, he wasn't doing anything illegal. He wasn't doing any special favors for anyone.

He simply started his own home-based business. One he could attend to part-time. One that was backed by a strong partner.

He found it all in this home business that he started. He had a great supplier, giving him great products, and the only problem he had was to get the products moving. He spent a few hours each day setting up meetings with potential customers, a few hours meeting them, a few hours restocking. The thing was, he was spending only a few hours each day.

Now, what business could he possibly have been in?

I won't tell, but I'll tell you what they MAY be. There is one type of business that you can begin with a few hours each day.

Any buy and sell business. Be it real estate, high-tech products, premium quality products, if you can buy it and sell it at your own time, at your own price, you have a potential business right there.

Now, the question is - should you?

I leave the answer up to you. Just keep in mind - your financial goals will always be just goals until you turn them into reality.

Go For What Makes You Happy

As you live, day by day, you will have experiences. Many, many experiences. And these experiences help you learn many things - what things you like or don't like, what things you should and should not do, and what makes you sad and what makes you happy. They teach you how to deal with yourself, at the same time teaching you how to deal with others. Experiences indeed dictate who you become.


Most of the time, though, people are stuck with more memories of bad and sad moments than memories of good and happy moments. From this comes the old adage, "Experience is the best teacher." It's all well if you learn to keep your emotions from interfering with how you live your life. Sadly, many, many people live their lives trying to AVOID bad experiences. They fail to realize that by focusing on the negative, and working to avoid it, they use up so much of their time and energy that they rarely get to what really makes them HAPPY.


Now, let's take a little trip back into time. You're a little kid, maybe playing around or watching the world around you. Curiosity leads you to look out the window, and you see a beautiful garden with butterflies, birds hopping about merrily, and trees being blown to and fro by the steady breeze, all lit up by the gentle sunlight. Beautiful, isn't it? This is something innate in all human beings - nature on its own, with a little guidance from human hands, gives you this feeling of simple happiness, being right there in that moment.


Remember how you felt? Simple happiness such as that can be expanded to include many aspects of your life. Being happy with your family or friends stems from first being happy with and just by yourself! Then you just become contagious. People are happy around you as well. Surely beats out being pessimistic and negative, right?


So, how do you become happy? Well, I can't tell you! It's a personal thing, you see. But the surest thing is to do what makes you happy. If you are just doing things to avoid certain bad experiences, you won't be happy. If you're doing things just for survival, you'll find it very hard to become happy. Finding what you like doing may require you to sacrifice a bit. Let me give you a tip: Work your job or jobs, but find time in every day to hone your skills in what you like doing. Find time. This is very important. 


In honing your skills every day, you will eventually get good enough to earn some income from what you want to be doing. Then you can let go of the extra job, or get a job that requires less time from you. Then you can practice more. Then you get so good you can make a living from what you like doing! And THAT is a career, in its truest sense. You must hold on to what you like doing no matter what!


It might be far-fetched an idea, but let me give you an example. A friend of mine really likes singing. And she is darn good, but not yet good enough to perform. She works in a corporation, has a hectic schedule, but always finds an hour in which to sing, sing and sing. A few years later, at a party my grandparents hosted, she dedicated a song to them. Turns out their friend who owns a classy lounge restaurant was there, and she was asked to perform the week later! That's how her career started. She's not famous all over the world, but she makes enough money from appearances that she was able to quit her corporate job. How's that for a retirement?


This is an example of truly working with your skills and talents. Hone them, and they will pay you well, not just financially but emotionally. Find out what you do that makes you happy, and get GOOD at it. Let me know how you're doing too. I know you will succeed!

Don't Let It Mess You Up!

I hope this moment is good for you, because I want to tell you something very important today. You see, sometimes you get so caught up in the moment. You get stuck with feelings that are not as good as you want them to be. Maybe you had a bad day in the office, or had an argument with your spouse, or had a bad talk with your kids. Whatever happened, it shouldn't be affecting who you are, what you are good at and how you do other things! Otherwise it would have defeated you. I know negative emotions won't win against you - or will they?

I hope not, because the longer you hold on to bad feelings, the harder they become to let go. They never tire - in fact, they grow stronger! Resentment, disappointment, jealousy, bitterness, these are some things you should learn to let go of quickly. Let them linger and you will find yourself weaker each and every day. Hit it while you still have the strength to drive it sky-high!

You might be asking, "How on Earth do I do that? It's almost impossible because..." My friend, you are making an excuse. An excuse to feel sorry for yourself. An excuse to not do anything. I tell you, that is self-defeating behavior! You have the ability to counteract things which may harm you.

The first thing you can do is to pray. Prayer is very powerful in that it allows you to commune with the Creator of all. Through prayer, you are able to acknowledge your imperfections and thus, let go of whatever may be troubling you at the moment. To force yourself to feel the prayer, do it kneeling or prostrated. This submissive position actually relaxes your body really well.

If prayer isn't your thing, you can take a nap. In fact, do anything that can relax you so that you can think well about what your troubles are. When you're not agitated it is very easy to look at things with optimism. Any problem will seemingly grow less of a burden and more of a challenge, one that will bring out the best in you. But whatever happens, WHERE you feel a certain bad thing, LEAVE IT THERE! Don't carry it around. Leave it there.

In the end, you have to take a look at yourself:. Do you really want to feel sad or depressed? Do you really want to brood over what went wrong? I suggest you don't!

You should be focusing on what CAN happen. On what you can do RIGHT. On what is POSSIBLE. Don't let the bumps stop you from racing to the finish - for you never know how close to the finish a bump actually is.

Watch out for the Temptations of Achievement!

Since the beginning of time, people have been trying to do things either for themselves or for others. Motivated by desires stemming from one of these two, they work hard, think hard and do whatever they can to achieve their goals. But as people went after their goals, they changed. They gave up some things, gained some in return, and ended up being totally different from who they were when they began. 

In some cases this is good, as when an alcoholic stops drinking so he could live a healthier and happier life with his family. But when people are blinded by the desire for power and money, they sometimes give up their very selves to achieve their goals.

One of the great mentors of the world, Jim Rohn, said that you should be wary what you become in pursuit of your goals. He is correct to point out that as you work towards your goals, you should keep solidly bound on your values. 

You see, the world often measures success in its own terms - worldly terms such as wealth and power. There is nothing bad about being successful in the eyes of the world, but often there are many trade-offs for becoming successful as the world dictates. The greater the power and wealth you want, the more things you will have to give up.

Looking at human potential (YOUR potential), you have to be realistic and yet ambitious at the same time. You have to look at the things most important to you - will you be giving up some of them to fulfill your potential for success? Are these things dispensable?

I have a friend who had great dreams - to make a lot of money every month. At first he was doing good, but soon he traded us off for another partner - in the hope that he can make more money with that partner! As a result, he drove us away. And I don't think he's making enough money to make losing us worth it. In fact, he lost six friends. What are six friends worth to you? That's a question you ask yourself. And I tell you, it can never be answered with a monetary amount.

What can you do so that you become successful without giving up the most important things in your life?

The first step you can take is to find time looking at the things you find the most important. God, family, your country, helping others, these are the most common values among people anywhere in the world. Can you align your goals with these values? Can you dream the dreams that will allow you to honor God, take care of your family, build your nation, and help others all at once? It is a daunting task but I want you to know it can be done. Sleeping 8 hours a day, that leaves sixteen for you to work with. What will you do with that time?

After getting your goals aligned with your values, it's time to spend time achieving them. Anything you want to have or give requires that you give time to it. You have sixteen hours a day. The more time you give your work, the better you get at it, the more money you make. The more time you spend with your family, the stronger your bond becomes. 

You have to find the right balance of time for taking care of yourself, your family, your work, and your relationship with God. By removing unnecessary activities like smoking and drinking, watching TV, or bumming around, and investing that time in sports with your friends or kids, or helping out at the local charity, you become a person more deserving of the title "Successful".

Achieving your goals is important, but sticking to your values is more important. You may not be as rich or as powerful as you dream you would be, but if you are a good parent, or a good spouse, a good friend, and you help everyone you can in your own small way, you are indeed successful.

Rock the Boat, Damn It!

You've been told so many times - by your parents, your friends, your religious leaders, your teachers, your professors. Do NOT rock the boat! Or, in more familiar terms, "That is wrong! This is how you SHOULD act!" Yes, once you enter college, you've been molded into something that would usually not get on anyone's nerves. Something that almost blindly follows tradition. Something - not someone.

You see,becoming part of a culture, a family, requires that you give up some things. Some things not worth giving up, in my opinion. Like dreams. Always you hear the words "Be practical". Well, practical is something akin to "existing", a far cry from "living your life". 

Repression is one of the most rampant phenomenon in our country. Repression of talent, repression of dreams ("Taas ng pangarap mo!"), repression of the greatness that lies within. If only we realize that we need to do something different from our forefathers, we could be the greatest nation in the world.

Let's look at Filipino history. A history of defeat, I am sorry to say. 300+ years under Spain, 40+ years under the USA, a few years under the Japanese, we are a people DEFEATED time and again. Why? Because we are never united toward a common goal. Case in point: Jose Rizal, national hero, wanted the Philippines to be a province of Spain. Screw historians for naming him national hero. Katipunan wanted independence. But then again, Aguinaldo and Bonifacio both wanted the power. See the division? See the lack of agreement? It's time to do something about it!

If only we can be united, we can be great. But sadly, we can't even be united under one language! Some people insist on maintaining the local dialect over the national language. Save cultural heritage? Bullshit. The only way to ensure a culture's survival is for it to be in a flourishing environment - but with this divisive behavior, how can we flourish? Some Filipinos don't even know how to speak Filipino. Dear.

Shame on the politicians who pocket the money for education and development. We need support for our talents, but the money is too busy getting politicians free trips to Europe to ever get around to helping scholars, scientists, or athletes.

Shame on them in their Mercedes-Benz cars and their mansions and their children in the Ateneo or in La Salle, while the rest are excluded because they "don't know how to play the game". These apathetic people make the nation stagnate. They should be inspiring poor people, not ignoring them. They should be reaching out. I never see that happening. EVER. People, giving dole outs is NOT reaching out and inspiring them. Talking in documentaries is NOT reaching out. Pope John Paul II got shot - he was reaching out. That's the standard. But avoid getting shot if you can.

Please, rock this boat of ignorance. Rock this boat of every man for himself. Look at how that worked out. We make the mistake of thinking that achievement is NOT something we can do working together. The rich leave out the poor, and the poor think badly of the rich. It won't work.

Survival of the fittest is an excuse you cannot afford to use, if you really want to see the Philippines as a first world country. If you think some people deserve what they have, think again - that is what they've been set up for. Maybe YOU can help them realize what they have to do, instead of blaming them for their plight. If you think you don't deserve what you have, you must be doing something wrong. Find it, ask for help. Again: no man is an island!

In the meantime, I'll be here inspiring people to think and look at how they can help other people, and help themselves in the process.