Day 16 - My Special Gift

I have always believed that each one of us has a special gift or talent which is very unique to us.  I believed that, in a way, we are like the superheroes that we grew up admiring - possessing an awesome ability which one would rarely find with normal humans.  And like a superhero's mission, we also were given the task to use our core gift to save the world - or rather to bless more people and attract prosperity.

I just graduated from preschool when I had my first encounter with my special gift.  Back then I wasn't sure if my teachers considered timidity as intelligence because surprisingly I graduated with the highest honor in my batch.  Consequently I was asked to deliver a valedictory address in front of my classmates, my teachers, my parents, my classmates' parents and everyone attending our graduation rites.  I couldn't remember how I felt during the time.  I might have been nervous before I gave the speech which my aunt wrote for me.  But I could recall that it was the first time I was the given the chance to speak in front of the public.

The next encounter came in sooner.  I was in grade 3 and I just transferred school.  When the time came to choose on who should represent the class for a declamation contest, I was easily volunteered by my classmates and I felt I had no choice but to pick up the challenge.  I memorized the piece "The Guilty Child" and had my english teacher as my coach.  We practiced almost everyday and even during weekends.  Unfortunately, I did not get to take home the trophy that time.  It felt awful.  I remembered how I could not get tears to come out of my tear ducts when I was reciting the piece (to make my delivery more convincing) but when the moment my opponent was announced as the winner it became effortless for me to cry a bucket.  I never thought I would venture into public speaking again after that painful experience.

The following year, I transferred to another class and I learned that the student who beat me in the declamation contest of the previous year won't be coming in to our shool anymore.  It dawned on me that complete revenge won't be mine after all even if I join the contest again.  Still, I ventured on the contest again with higher hopes this time.  I delivered Og Mandino's "I Will Persist Until I Succeed" with great fervor and passion that I was able to convince the judges how much I improved from last year.  Ain't the piece very timely?  Needless to say, I won this time.  And year after year success came in as I continued to hone my special gift and shared it to others.

From then on, I always believed that I have a special gift - which is public speaking.  I could easily converse my ideas in front of a crowd.  Some call it charisma, others say that it is something I acquired through constant practice.  But I believe it is something God gave me and luckily I was able to grab the opportunities that helped me to develop it.

Right now I could say that through teaching I was still able to share my talent to others and, more importantly, develop other areas of this core gift that I have.  I still have a lot to learn about my talent.  And I still am left with a lot of space to grow.

However I do not think that teaching is the ultimate purpose of my core gift.  I believe that this is just a phase which I must undergo to improve my talent.  I could see that one day my talent would take me to a larger crowd.  To a lot more people who needs encouragement.  To a lot more people who needs motivation.  To a lot more people who needs inspiration.

This I know will manifest.  Soon.  And so I need to prepare.  I need to sharpen the only weapon I would use on that day: my special gift.

PS I already started investing in a Mutual Equity Fund just last week.  A mutual fund is a pool of money professionally managed and invested in specific types of securities. (fami.com.ph)  I chose FAMI (First Metro Asset Management, Inc.) to manage my investment.  I suggest you visit their website (or their office) if you would like to know more about mutual fund and its benefits.  This is not an endorsement and I am not being paid by FAMI for this.

Day 15 - Wake Up!

"If what you did yesterday seems big, you haven't done anything today." -Lou Holtz

The quote above inspired me to write this post.

I just arrived from the retreat I attended entitled TOTAL! The Secret of Big Returns.  It was a three-day retreat organized by the Light of Jesus Community intended for the Lenten Season.  Today the topic focused on giving one's talent and treasure.  And all I can say is that the timing of this talk could not be more perfect.

For the past months, I felt that my dreams had been put to sleep.  For some reason, I felt that the fulfillment of my dreams resided on some distant unreachable star.  And for days I lived with a numb heart.  It has always been like this whenever routine would catch up on me.  And I would be left hoping for a breakthrough to create a change in the monotony.

I have always been a firm believer of pursuing one's dream and passion and I think that is the reason why whenever I would feel that I am losing that burning desire in my heart, I would really be bothered and greatly depressed.  One of the biggest dream that I have is for me to be able to realize my full potential.  Through that I know I would be able to serve my life's purpose, serve God and bless as much people as I can.  The Lord granted me with so many talents which I can use to prosper myself and others.  However, right now, I feel that I am not maximizing all these talents.  I could feel that I have a lot more to offer to the world.

In the talk I attended today, Bro. George Gabriel mentioned that there are two reasons why people say "no" to God or why some would opt to stay in their comfort zone and choose not to showcase their God-given talents.  First reason is that they feel they are ungifted.  I could very much relate on this one.  For most of the missed opportunities that I have, I would say that it could greatly be associated with my insecurity.  Growing up, I did not feel that I am gifted enough.  I would often compare myself to others and end up finding out how much they are better than me.  The second reason given was that people feel they are unworthy.  There were countless times that I felt unworthy of God's blessings.  As I already said before, it has not been always easy for me to forgive myself.

This Lent I want to change the habit of feeling ungifted and unworthy.  Deep inside me, I know I am meant for greater things.  The world is eagerly waiting to see what talents I can offer.  And God's love is enough to serve as a fuel to energize me to finally realize my potentials.  For God is my courage, strength and inspiration.

My dreams took a long unexpected sleep.  But as the Lord rose on Easter, my dreams shall again wake up. And through God's grace, it will come to completion.

PS The metal cross above was given to me by Sister Mel, a missionary of Singles for Christ, also on the day of the retreat.  I believe that it was a gift from God.  It is His way of telling me that He believes in me and in my dreams.  And whenever I would see this cross I would always be reminded of that.

Thank you, Lord.  I shall forever be thankful.

Day 14 - Failure and Little Deaths

In order for us to achieve success, we must experience failure.  In order for us to know how to fully live, we must experience little deaths.

I have failed countless times before.  I am not afraid to admit that.  The truth is, saying this makes me feel proud of the achievements that I have so far.  It makes me realize how persistent I am, how determined I am in succeeding.  Admitting I failed is easy.  But having to pick up the shattered courage I have and build up my determination in order to start anew is the difficult part.  I have always maintained a positive outlook on things.  But whenever frustration would get in the way, it manages to push me back in my comfort zone.

I had always considered mysef as a perfectionist.  I had high standards set for everything, even to myself.  And that was the reason why whenever I would fail, I did not find it easy to move on.  Because I did not find it easy to forgive myself for failing.  

The business I started out with friends is not in a healthy state right now.  We are experiencing a setback.  For months, we have tried to come up with ideas to move the business forward.  But most of our attempts failed.  For months I have also tried to analyze and pinpoint why we are not moving forward.  I came up with different conclusions, yet I really could not say that only one of it is causing the problem.  I think each cause I have on mind contributed in one way or another to the slow down of our business.  I feel frustrated.  Yet, I don't feel that we should give up. 

I firmly believe this is temporary.  This is just a phase that we have to go through.  And we'll be able to overcome it.  The vision that we have for our business is bigger than the problems the we are currently encountering.  And I would love to stick to that idea.

Ever since I grew my relationship closer to the Lord, I also have learned to forgive myself a lot.  I am human.  I am bound to make mistakes.  But I am also all set to learn from them.

We all have a huge future ahead of us.  In store for us are big surprises and immmeasurable success.  But in order for us to achieve it, we have to undergo some trials.  Because that way, victory will be sweeter.

I am surrendering to God all the plans that we have.  I trust Him that he shall bring it to execution in His way, in His time.

Day 13 - Rise

Even when I was a kid I already knew that one day I will become an entrepreneur.  I believe it was my mom who first inspired me to be one.  It was amazing to think back how she was able to put up one small business after another.  Though it were small businesses, each had its share of success.  My mom's persistence and efforts truly paid off especially whenever I would think about how these businesses were able to support us during financially difficult times.  Indeed, a degree is not necessary to become a successful entrepreneur.  My mom is a big proof.  She did not even finish high school.  But her desire to provide us a more convenient life served as a great motivation to become victorious.

To become successful, it all boils down to one's powerful why.  Why does one want to become successful?

Aside from becoming a successful business magnate, I also desired to become a writer when I was younger.  And you know why?  I had a big dream.  I want to touch people's lives.  I want to create an impact to as many lives as possible.  And I dreamt of making this come true through writing.  When I said I wanted to touch lives when I was younger, all I thought what I wanted to do was to stir emotions from people's hearts.  But I was wrong.  As I grew older, I realized I wanted more.

Long before President Noynoy Aquino occupied the highest office in the land,  I already had a strong belief that one day the Philippines will rise again and our people will never have to experience poverty anymore.  I am very happy that right now, people are becoming positive that we'll be able to achieve this.  Yes, I have great hopes for the Philippines.  It is one my biggest dream - to see the Phillippines rise.  And you know what's creazier than that?  To know that I have contributed significantly to the rise of our country.  My dream of touching people's lives has now evolved into a more defined objective.  I want to tranform my fellow Filipinos' lives.  I want to make it better.

And I would be able to do that more effectively when I become I multi-millionaire.  I would be able to serve more people.

I love the Philippines very much.  That is my sole reason why working abroad has never been an option for me.  I feel very proud whenever I say that, amidst the economic problems that the country is facing, I deeply believe that I could still make it here.  I will become a multi-millionaire here in our country.  And I think that is one of my greatest purpose - to help my country and countrymen rise.

Day 12 - Peace

This would just be a very quick post.  I just feel very excited and happy right now and I can't wait to share to you why.

I couldn't exactly describe how I am feeling but if I were to sum it up in one word, I would say its "peace".  Years ago, I would not be able to imagine myself being in this state as I was buried in debt, living a lifestyle more than which I can afford, and unsurprisingly not being able to save.  That was me in the early two years of my corporate career.  And this state of "peace" that I have in my heart, back then, remained only as a dream.

I am thankful that I was able to surpass that moment in my life and, of course, now that I am in a very much comfortable state.

Right now, I just couldn't contain the excitement as I started to ride another vehicle which will eventually bring me to the happy millionaires' land.  During the past months, I have two major leaps and these are:

1. I started investing in the Stock Market! - Oh yeah! I never knew how fantastic it felt until I bought the first shares I now have for long-term investment.  The feeling was surreal.  What once just a dream for me was now a reality.  If you may have noticed, it took me months to decide before I bought my first stocks.  Why?  Because of fear.  I must admit that I am very much a control freak.  And it scares the hell out of me if you would tell me to invest on something that I completely do not understand.  That explains why I did not easily jump on stock market investing.  And analysis-paralysis made it worse.  For months, I searched for materials and seminars which could increase my knowledge on the matter.

I was not able to convince myself to invest until...

2.  I joined the Truly Rich Club! - Its an online membership community organized by Bo Sanchez which helps people to understand long-term investing on stock market.  Indeed, the information I got from this helped me to jumpstart my stock market investment.  It provided me the information that I need from how to go about creating my account up to buying my first stocks online.  And I'm looking forward to more meaningful information that I will get from Bro. Bo as I continue investing.

The old Filipino phrase "Magtanim ay 'di biro" is undoubtedly true.  It would entail great amount of effort, suffering and discipline.  But never did anybody tell me that its also fun and exciting!  Most especially when you visualize the fruits that you'll reap come harvest time.  Oh, isn't it such a wonderful idea to retire as a millionaire?

PS.  If you are interested to know more about the Truly Rich Club, please click on the image that appears at the left side of this blog.  God bless. :-)