Day 10 - Mentors

I have received my God Whispers recently and I was greatly inspired by what it contained.  God's message for me was as follows:

Dear Kenneth,


I have sent (and will continue to send) people into your life who will make you discover the gold within you.  They will see things in you yourself cannot see.  They will make you grow.


Love,
God


PS.  These people are one of your greatest blessings, Kenneth.  Appreciate them.

The message I got was very clear.  To succeed, I knew that I would need the help of others - to mentor me, to guide me through and to provide me courage and determination.  I wouldn't be able to do it alone.  So right now, I just feel very excited for the people that I would yet to know and just thankful for those who were already in my circle.  In one way or another, I knew they've contributed or will continue to contribute to the realization of my dreams.  So I would like to thank them.  And for those whom I am yet to meet, thank you in advance.

Let me just give one very special thanks to one person I consider my greatest mentor so far.  He was a former boss and still a very dear friend.  He was not a perfect boss back then and definitely until now.  But he did one thing that completely changed my perspective towards my work and myself.  He believed in me.  He believed that I had a huge potential to succeed, persisted on honing my skills and patiently taught me, corrected me and encouraged me.  He constantly reminded me of the great qualities I possessed and he gave me the confidence to believe in myself.

Before I got to work with him, I was a very shy associate; always feeling incapable of accomplishing great things and, in the fear of committing mistakes, would rather keep my mouth shut most of the time.  But he changed me.  He changed certain beliefs I had with things around me and especially with myself.  He inspired me to do better.  And I did.  Because of his unfailing support, I was even awarded as the top performer in a training seminar I attended.  I would like to believe that that reward wasn't given not only to recognize my accomplishments but his as well, for being a very effective mentor.

Well, I hope I could get to know more people like him in the coming days.  People who would make me believe in the power of my dreams.  And in the Infinite Power inside me that will make it come true.

PS.  Just recently, I stumbled upon some great videos by Drew Canole and Darren Hardy in Youtube and they provide great lectures on how we could achieve success by believing in the power within us. Search them out in Youtube and go check their videos.  Its awesome.

By the way, if you want to receive your God whispers as well, please check out this site.  It is for free so go grab the chance.

Day 9 - Disturb Me

Earlier in the Feast, we read a prayer by Sir Francis Drake to put emphasis on the good things that come from letting your life be disturbed by the Lord.  Let me share it with you.

Disturb us, Lord, when

We are too well pleased with ourselves,

When our dreams have come true

Because we have dreamed too little,

When we arrived safely

Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when

With the abundance of things we possess

We have lost our thirst

For the waters of life;

Having fallen in love with life,

We have ceased to dream of eternity

And in our efforts to build a new earth,

We have allowed our vision

Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,

To venture on wider seas

Where storms will show your mastery;

Where losing sight of land,

We shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back

The horizons of our hopes;

And to push into the future

In strength, courage, hope, and love.

The poem was basically about moving out of one's comfort zone to achieve greater things in life.  The Feast series this month was entitled "Heroes" and the first talk focused on being a hero by letting yourself be disturbed by the Lord to reach out to serve more people.  Serving most of the time requires us to sacrifice and to live out of the comfortable territory.  It may sound ironic but I know you would agree with me if I say that most of the time, it is only through serving others without expecting anything in return that we get to satisfy certain emptiness in our hearts.

I already had let God disturbed me for many times in my life, and just recently, when He called me to serve and to teach, I willingly obliged.  Though I could not still  quite attest that I am very much willing to live out of my comfort zone I would like to think that little by little I am learning to let go of my fears and just embrace the fullness of living.  

So right now, I would like to encourage you to let God disturb you.  Let Him take control.  And witness how the Lord would use your hands to create great miracles.

PS

I am also giving you the privilege to disturb me.  Be it a problem you would like to talk about, a story you would love to share or some assistance you need on your projects or tasks, disturb me and let me offer what I can.  God bless us always.

Day 8 - Infinity in Cycles

As De La Salle University marked its 100-year-old presence in the Philippines during the year, the academe also welcomed me as an amateur part-time lecturer.  It amazes me until now how a prestigious, well-respected and established institution hired me to become one of its educators.  It wasn't everyday that one encounters such opportunity.  And I seized it.  Before I knew it, I was already in front of a class and enthusiastically explaining some accounting principles.

I was more than grateful for the school's confidence in my potential.  It did not occur to me, even in my wildest dreams, that one day I would be offered this chance to make an impact to my fellow youth's dreams through the institution's education system.  Perhaps what Elizabeth Browning said was true all along, that God's gifts put man's best dreams to shame.

Time indeed ran very fast for before long another semester was about to start.  Just last week I could still remember how I carefully computed for the final grades of my students and now I already needed to prepare for the policies discussion and assignments that I would give on the first day of the class.  I was just surprised at how quickly time flew and excited on the new classes that I would be handling.  I was given additional units to teach this semester and was very happy with the positive feedback that I got.  These just gave me the right amount of inspiration to strive to become better at what I do.

However, until now I would get from people a very familiar question.  I can not blame them since everyone knew how much I adored my beloved alma mater.  Why not teach in UST?

This has been asked to me several times already and just to document my response, let me put it in writing.  First, even though I am now teaching in La Salle, this does not diminish even a bit my love, respect and gratitude to my alma mater.  I still adore my four-century-old university and in any moment that it would need my service, I would not hesitate to volunteer myself.  Deep inside me, I still hold the Thomasian ideals and values I developed during my stay in the university.  And I would not trade that for anything in the world.  But, La Salle opened doors for me.  It provided me the opportunity that I was long seeking.  And that is enough reason for me to grab the chance and hone my talents there.

I still dream of coming back to my university one day and to have the chance to share with my schoolmates the knowledge and learning I accumulated since I stepped out of the university and into the real world.  For now, I would put more focus on developing my techniques and perfecting my ways - to prepare myself in the event that my dream above comes true.

Day 7 - Don't Give Up!

"Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do.  But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength." -Anonymous

Choosing to pursue your dreams didn't always mean choosing the easier path.  Most of the time, this path would seem the hardest to trod.  Difficulties along the way are encountered.  Problems, failures and frustrations would definitely weaken one's soul.  And sometimes, these hardships would push you to the verge of giving up.

I knew it was not easy.  From the moment I decided to follow my heart's desires, I was already informed that I was not opting for a more comfortable life.  As opposed to the somewhat "more secure" life that I had back then, I voluntarily threw myself to a life less stable, to an unfamiliar territory.  I took the risk - and even embraced it.  I knew back then that things were not going to be easy.  And I thought I also knew how hard it was going to be.

Over the past days, I always tried to analyze where I was at the moment and where I was headed.  I always kept my vision clear.  However, to tell you frankly, the past days had not been easy for me.  It even came to the point of me wanting to give up, of losing faith in the power of my dreams, of abandoning the aspirations I treasured both in my mind and my heart.  My impatience started to accumulate and became frustrations.  The fear of the unknown suddenly began creeping inside my head.  And my soul had gone tired and weary of praying, of hoping, of waiting.

But.

Last Sunday, I heard the words which brought me back my lost courage.  Bro. Bo talked about having a breakthrough and how it comes, most of the time, during the darkest hour of one's life.

Sometimes, when darkness comes, we tend to lose trust over the power of the mighty hand that guides all of us.  In our eagerness to survive and find light, we use our own hands to grasp at whatever is near.  We are filled with fear yet we rely on our own clouded thinking.  If we would only realize that the key to surviving darkness is trust, fear would instantly vanish.  A trusting heart sits still in the midst of the darkness knowing that soon light will come.  Darkness too shall pass.  And I feel nothing but pure excitement in waiting for the dawn to come.

A friend recently asked me if I had regrets over the decisions I made lately.  I replied instantly with a no.  I may never have the same material luxury I was enjoying before but right now I just feel happier and more content with my life.  I feel I am where I am supposed to be right now - on track to becoming a happy millionaire.

"How does one become a butterfly?" she asked.  You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar." -Trina Paulus

Day 6 - Money Machines

If I would make an illustration of how my money right now, monthly income and everyday expenses look, it would not take an expert to tell me that I am on the verge of bankruptcy.  If I won't act now, I might just end up staying inside the house to avoid possible expenditures.  Thinking about it gives me a little despair.  And despair I consider is one of the greatest suffering.

To increase one's income is not really synonymous to desiring a higher-paying job.  Although that would, in general, contribute to one's earnings, in the long term, it would be advantageous rather to desire to increase your money machines or your income sources.  That, I learned from continuous reading of articles about money management.

Right now, as I had decided to quit my corporate career, I am left with only two money machines, my part-time teaching career and a small business I started out with friends.  However, for the next two months, I am going to increase it to five.  Yes.  I will be adding three more sources of income by the end of the next two months.  I am now in the planning stage of a new business and I am intending to launch it by the last week of August or by early September.  Also, I am thinking of getting back in the corporate world.  This time I will be pursuing a career in a multinational company and will be doing a night shift job.  I already attended an interview for the position I was eyeing for, however, I am still thinking thoroughly if this action would fit my long-term goals and objectives.  Lastly, the third money machine would be the investment I will put on the stock market.  My friend and I are scheduled to attend a seminar on stock market investment on September and I hope it would truly guide us and give us the jump start that we needed.  I am very much looking forward to achieving all of these.

Let me share with you words from Paulo Coelho's blog.

Facing despair

A warrior of the light often despairs.

He thinks that the feelings he had hoped to awaken are nowhere to be found. Many afternoons and nights he is forced to adopt a position of the defeated, and no new event can bring back his enthusiasm.

His friends comment: “perhaps your fight has come to an end.”

The warrior feels pain and confusion upon hearing these comments, for he knows that he has not come as far as he wished. But he is determined, and does not abandon that which he set out to do.

Then, when he least expects it, a new door opens.

Today I read about an article by Mark So which tackled on money management.  It was a very good read and most articles in his blog are similarly inspiring and easy to decipher.  You can check out the article and the rest of his blog posts here.

Day 5 - Hone Your Craft, Develop Your Character and Learn From Your Mistakes

Two months after I decided to quit my corporate job so I could give more focus on my budding career in the academe, I found myself sitting in front of the internet wasting my time looking for another job which is absolutely the same as that I just abandoned.

How stupid.  Really.

Reading through the few posts I had in this blog and being reminded of the dreams I keep in my heart, I knew that getting a similar job is the last thing I need to make my dreams alive.  Perhaps it is true that humans tend to easily forget pain.  Thus, allowing us to give in to temptations and commit the same mistakes twice.

I have been attending Bo Sanchez’ Feast every Sunday for more than five months now and I could gladly say that it made a huge impact in my life.  It taught me many things and gave me the necessary courage to go in search of what would make me happy.  It just rightfully deserves this space in my blog.

In one of his talks, Bo emphasized the need to finish strong.  In terms of professional career, relationships, personal life and spiritual beliefs, finishing strong, much like success, requires patience, endurance and commitment.  Oh but we all know that.  However, he mentioned two very important multipliers that greatly affect how strong one would finish and eventually succeed.  And these are Capacity and Character.  Capacity is defined by one’s talents, gifts and potentials.  Character is how one uses these.

I was greatly surprised by this revelation for it opened my eyes to the reasons of the major failures I had in my life.  I started out strong (having the right Capacity) but finished wrong (lacking enough Character).  It has always been that way.  I have been blind about it all these time.  I even put up reasons like, “I’m really not a finisher.  It’s just not my thing.”  But, reflecting over the character I upheld in the past years, I had a clear realization of why, most of the time, I fail.

Walking away from a job entails leaving behind the life I used to live.  With it, I hope, I would also leave the bad habits I had and the mistakes I committed.  With me I would carry only the lessons, the valuable lessons and the loving memories.  Right now I just feel very fortunate.  Many don’t get the chance, or afraid of the taking the chance, at a renewed life.

From this time on, I would only walk with faith.  The Lord has been so kind and so generous to not limit me of chances to recreate my life.  I had already been granted several chances before and had miserably failed.  But now I’m dusting myself off and, with more confidence, will brave a new life – a life filled with success and happiness.

For in Christ, nothing is impossible.

PS. The Feast is a prayer meeting led by Bo Sanchez every Sunday, 8:00am-10:00am and 10:30am-12:00nn at the PICC.  If you wish to be part of it, please feel free to come.

Day 4 – Saying YES to GOD

Today I am saying Yes.  I am saying Yes to God and to His plans for me.  I am entrusting everything to the Lord.  I am surrendering my life to Him.  For without Him, my plans are nothing, my desires are empty, my soul is lost.

I am certain that everything that is happening to me right now has perfectly good reasons.  And in time, in God’s time, all of these will be revealed.  God has planted dreams in my heart and I knew that God has likewise given me enough resources to fulfill it.  I am on the right track, as long as I follow God’s guiding light.

Choosing a part-time teaching career over a large-paying corporate profession has been a very difficult decision to make.  However, after too much pondering, I ended up letting my heart decide on what it truly desires.  Many have warned me that I won’t earn as big in the academe.  And it scared me.  I have always been used to the security of having a stable job.  But I heard God’s calling.  And with great joy in my heart, I fearlessly heed it.

God knew that I wanted to be wealthy.  And perhaps he knew too that I won’t grow as much if I will stay in the comforts of a high-earning job.  I will just be dependent in its false security and be less striving.

God calls me to come out of my comfort zone – to expand and grow my potentials to the maximum.  And I am saying YES.  God calls me to become more creative in terms of generating money machines – to be wiser in using his gifts and blessings.  And I am saying YES.  God calls me to serve with more passion – to be dedicated and focused in achieving the true desires of my heart.  And I am saying YES.

Today I am saying YES to GOD.  And today I am also saying YES to the fulfillment of my dreams.

Day 3 – Death and Physical Wealth

If there is one thing certain about every man’s existence on earth, it would be that one day it would end.  Death, like the sunset, is a natural occurrence – a part of the cycle of human life.  Each one is expected to undergo through it one day.  Yet, most people (me included) would often find talking about it too morbid.  It normally generates an unexplained fear and resistance.  But, if death is certain and we expect that one day it would happen (today or tomorrow perhaps), instead of running away, shouldn’t we be preparing for it?

I love how Paulo Coelho shared how awareness of death creates an impact to men.  He says, “An awareness of death encourages us to live more intensely.”  If today you were given a chance to know the exact day and time of your death, would it change how you would plan to live the next years or months or days or hours of your life?  I bet it definitely would.  But how different would it be from how you planned your life today?  If you see significant differences between the two, I suggest you reassess the way you are living your life right now.

If you will ask me today if I am ready to die at this very moment, I would answer you with a “yes”.  I won’t deny that there would be a little trembling, but I would humbly tell you that I am happy with how my life has gone so far, how proud I am with the courage I have gained and how content I am with the relationships I developed with people.  I know I still have dreams in my heart that I still would want to fulfill.  But what truly makes a man is not the prize he gets from achieving his dream, rather the journey he took and the people he met along the way.

I have always tried to live every single day of my life as if it was my last.  And because of that, I try as much as possible to avoid harboring regrets and what-ifs.  I seize every opportunity that comes my way and uphold every decision I make.  Whatever is done is already done.  Some things may have turned out not quite as planned, but there is nothing much left to do about it.  What I have in grasp is my future.  I could only sharpen my skills, do better than the last time and hope for the best outcome.

From today, I would see to it that I exert all my efforts to seize every single moment of every single day towards achieving true happiness, towards gaining true wealth.

I often play badminton with my friends as a hobby.  However, in the past months, we have restricted ourselves from this recreation and put more focus on the demands of our jobs.  But from now on, since I am developing healthier habits, I am committing myself to playing this sport as an exercise once a week.  Further, to develop more discipline, I will schedule a jogging session for at least an hour thrice a week.  (This is yet to fit my schedule; perhaps after I get unhooked with my current full-time job.)  I have registered myself to a fun run (5K) on June 19.  I need to practice my running skills prior to that.

Developing a healthier lifestyle does not automatically shield one from death.  But too much abuse of one's body by giving in to harmful human desires could increase one's risk of ending his life rather much early.

Day 2 - The Power of 28 Days

Today is Friday.  I woke up early, thus I was able to arrive at the office early.  I was lucky that when I reached the shuttle terminal, a van bound to Taguig was readily available.  This has been my usual routine for the past six months.  However, lately, I noticed that I was slightly gearing out of this routine as I tend to get late in coming to work the past few mornings.  Yesterday was worst- arriving an hour and a half late.  But now that I have regained my hope and commitment to becoming wealthy, I would also want to commit to healthier habits.

I read on Bo Sanchez’ 8 Habits of the Happy Millionaire that to change one’s beliefs (or unconscious habits) it would normally take 28 days of constant action.  28 days.  I thought this sort of declaration is worth giving a try.  I would greatly benefit from it if indeed it was true.  After all, I have too many bad habits that I want to change; and, not to mention, a ton of good habits that I want to absorb.

Aggressiveness.  Today I also read how aggressiveness relates to one’s commitment to being wealthy.  If I assess myself truthfully, I would say that in the past years of my life, I have given just the right amount of aggressiveness relative to what I demand from God’s universe.  However, since now that I am claiming more of God’s abundance, it is only but necessary that I be more aggressive.  I must be more determined in creating and striking every opportunity I would get.  And that is one belief that I wanted to imbibe from now on – that I am very aggressive and passionate in becoming wealthy.

My Wealth Beliefs.  Here are some of the wealth beliefs that I want to incorporate in my subconscious.  Actually, most of which are lifted from Bo Sanchez’ 8 Habits of the Happy Millionaire.  But I want to make them my beliefs too.  I want to let these unconscious habits flow naturally in my system.  Thus, I will be reciting this daily for me to be able to accomplish that:

1.       I’m God’s beloved and it is His great happiness to bless me.

2.       God’s river of blessings is flowing to me at every single moment of my life

3.       Everything I need comes to me.

4.       I’m a blessing magnet.

5.       I’m guided by God at every moment.

6.       I am blessed with great relationships.

7.       I’m always meeting wonderful people that bless me and make me grow.

8.       I’m anointed by God to serve and bless the world.

9.       I inspire millions of people.

10.   I’m a brilliant entrepreneur creating wealth for God’s purposes.

11.   Money flows to me in great abundance

12.   I can earn any amount of money I choose.

13.   I’m a fantastic communicator and teacher sharing God’s love to my audience.

14.   I love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength.

15.   I love others as Christ loves me.

It was a fine day.  I feel excited as I get closer and closer to being rich.

Day 1 – Defining Wealth and Happiness

I was on page 31 of Bo Sanchez’ 8 Habits of a Happy Millionaire when I finally decided to declare how much I wanted to earn after a certain date.  I wrote, without hesitations, “P2 Million” and “December 31, 2012”.  And it read:

“I will earn P2 Million by December 31, 2012.”

And just like that, I felt committed in achieving this goal.  As I continue reading the book, I began to understand that I need to define my emotional hunger, my emotional why – the need to be wealthy.

I pondered over all the reasons I have.  Why do I need this wealth?  Why do I need to be wealthy?  Why do I need to get rich?

I thought of all the beautiful things that I could do once I have this immense amount of wealth and the list in my head seemed endless – local travels, international travels, photography class, driving lessons, cooking class, luxurious cars, huge mansions, investments, constant date with my mother and my father, helping out the poor, establishing charity organizations, etc.  Afterwards, I felt ashamed of myself.  I realized that my desires are all very selfish.  Prior to wanting to give and share, I immediately thought of the material wants that seemed unreachable at the moment.

I quickly searched through my soul for the deepest desires of my heart –the things that will truly make me happy.  I knew that a lot of the things I thought as my emotional hunger were self-serving.  They will make me happy.  But the kind of happiness these things will bring is not the kind that forever lasts.  When I thought of the one thing that gives me true happiness even when I was a child, I just thought of one thing: relationships.

Right then and there, I categorized in my mind all the stuffs in my head and properly classified each according to priority.  And I was able to narrow down my list of why I need to become rich into three:

·         I wanted to develop and grow my relationship with my Family

·         I wanted to enjoy my relationship with my Friends and Others

·         I wanted to reward Myself for fulfilling my dreams

I felt happier after being able to define what gives me true happiness.  And being wealthy will help me achieve these things.

I passed my resignation as Finance Manager today.  If things go out as planned, it will be effective June 27, 2011.

I received a text from our director a while ago telling me to reconsider the decision I made and ponder over the advice she gave me two days ago.  The truth is, I still am not 100% sure of what my life would become after I resign.  I do not even know if I will survive without a stable job.  But right now, I’m staying positive.  I know God is with me all the time.  So I don’t have anything to worry.

I am filled with great hope and optimism.  I am looking forward to a life outside the comfort zone.  I know I will face greater challenges ahead.  But I will not fear.  For God is always here.