Friday, December 25, 2015

Pilipinas Presidential Debate 2016 and Other Videos

 Source:  Pilipinas Presidential Debate 2016 Youtube Video and NEGOSYO AND NEWS 5 Meet the Presidentiable Series at youtube

Here are the various videos linked to you tube that may help us in choosing who might be the best leader to lead our country and continue the good, better and best programs that has already been in placed.

The result of our decision is very important for it will decide the fate of our dear mother land wither it will augurs well into the future or backtracks again just like before of which, we don't think in the current fast pace the world over is experiencing, we could no longer afford.

Let us watch and listen carefully and study what they are saying.  Look at their faces and gestures and use your senses who are really telling the truth.

The first of the videos is the recently concluded Pilipinas Presidential Debate 2016 followed by GO Negosyo's Meet the Predentiables via TV 5 with its version available on you tube divided into six-part series.






NEGOSYO TALKS: MEET THE PRESIDENTIABLES SERIES with Sec. Mar Roxas

NEGOSYO TALKS: MEET THE PRESIDENTIABLES with Sen. Grace Poe 








Sunday, December 13, 2015

What is Your Purpose in Life?

By:  Marc Winn

(This is from his original article entitledWhat is your Ikigai originally appeared at theviewinside.me)

According to the Japanese, everyone has an ikigai. An ikigai is essentially ‘a reason to get up in the morning’. A reason to enjoy life.

Having spent most of the last few years helping dozens and dozens of entrepreneurs find their ikigai, whilst also searching for my own, I can now visualise where it belongs.

Your ikigai lies at the centre of  those interconnecting circles. If you are lacking in one area, you are missing out on your life’s potential. Not only that, but you are missing out on your chance to live a long and happy life.

I have had a long time obsession with outliers, and interestingly enough, there are some outlier communities in the world that live far longer than average. If you are interested in learning more about this, watch Dan Buettner’s TED talk on How to Live to 100+. There are some surprising conclusions about the factors that create a long and healthy life. One of the most significant factors is ikigai.

These days, my reason for getting out of bed is to work on projects that reimagine society and education. For someone who spent decades struggling to find a reason to get out of bed, it is now a refreshing change to have this deep sense of purpose. My health and wellbeing have radically improved during recent years, too. The primary reason for this has not been the healthy choices I have made or the diets I have followed, but because I now live with a sense of purpose – and that is the platform for all the other decisions I make.

In The Dandelion Project, we are looking to make Guernsey the best place to live on earth by 2020. Part of that mission is discovering how we can all live a long and healthy life. One of our moonshot goals is for Guernsey to become the first country on earth to have a life expectancy of 100.

We have created this goal to challenge our community to look at healthcare in a radically different way. Living a long life has very little to do with medicine and surgery, which is where most of our health care spending goes. It has everything to do with moving, eating and meaning. All of which can be achieved at no cost to the community.

If we can come together with a collective sense of belief and purpose and take action on this, our population of 65,000 will live longer and be in better health. All without a single doctor’s appointment or pill!

The secret to a long and happy life is not to live in the hope of a great life tomorrow. It is to live with intention today. What I love is that this is possible not only at the individual level, but entire communities can learn from it, as well.

Have you found your ikigai?

– Are you doing something that you love?

– That the world needs?

– That you are good at?

– And that you can be paid for?

How can you live with purpose today, to live a longer and healthier life?

As ever, I am interested to hear your thoughts, comments, and experiences. Please share them in the comments section below.

Marc

Sunday, December 6, 2015

'Only 1 in 4 Filipinos is Financially Literate-' PDI Editorial Explains

(Originally appeared as EDITORIAL entitled Financial literacy at the Philippine Daily Inquirer's Opinion Section.)

It could no longer be surprising considering how many of those employed have savings which could they rely on in times of need and emergency.  See for instance most Filipino families who were already given the opportunity to reach the middle class but failed to sustain it.  Much more some who were given the opportunity to become wealthy but after sometime has to return to a much worst living condition.

An earlier article from the Philippine Star's Business section puts our country at 68th globally in terms of financial literacy index, according to a study made by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Citing a survey undertaken by MasterCard, the Philippines ranked 68th behind Malaysia, Thailand, Hongkong, Taiwan and Singapore.
The Asian Development Bank revealed in a study that the
Philippines does not have a national strategy for financial education.

In the Asia and Pacific region, New Zealand topped the list.

The ADB revealed in the study that the Philippines does not have a national strategy for financial education. In contrast, Indonesia introduced its national strategy in 2010, and India in 2012.

In the Philippines, only the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has its public awareness campaigns on economic and financial issues. Other government agencies that limited initiatives for raising financial literacy are the Securities and Exchange Commission, National Credit Council and Insurance Commission. The private sector unfortunately operates on its own.

The reason?  ONLY ONE in four adult Filipinos is considered financially literate, or understands basic concepts such as interest rate, inflation, savings and debt. This fact highlights the difficult task of both the government and the private sector in expanding public access to financial services.

According to a survey done by international credit watchdog Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, two-thirds of adults globally are financially illiterate, with only one in three, or 31 percent, showing an understanding of basic financial concepts. The survey findings are said to represent the world’s most comprehensive global measurement of financial literacy to date.

The S&P Global Financial Literacy Survey conducted last year found country financial literacy rates ranging from 13 percent to 71 percent among 143 economies, with Yemen, Albania and Afghanistan at the bottom and Denmark, Sweden and Norway sharing the top spot. The Philippines is ranked with, among others, Vietnam, Cambodia, Nepal, Bolivia, Turkey, India, Jordan, Honduras, Romania, Macedonia, Uzbekistan, El Salvador, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Iran, Kosovo, Nicaragua, Bangladesh, Haiti, Angola, Somalia, Afghanistan and Yemen in the bottom 30 in the survey. Among the Southeast Asian countries included in the survey, Singapore has the highest financial literacy rate at 59 percent, and Cambodia the lowest at 18 percent. Vietnam is the only other economy to score lower than the Philippines at 24 percent.

Younger Asians are more likely to be financially proficient than older ones, according to the survey. Globally, there is also a five-percentage-point gender gap: 35 percent of men and 30 percent of women are financially literate. Gender gaps are present in most countries, even in highly developed ones.

A respondent is judged financially literate if he or she can correctly answer three of four multiple-choice questions on financial concepts:

1) On risk diversification. “Suppose you have some money. Is it safer to put your money into one business or investment, or to put your money into multiple businesses or investments?”

2) On inflation: “Suppose over the next 10 years the prices of the things you buy double. If your income also doubles, will you be able to buy less than you can buy today, the same as you can buy today, or more than you can buy today?”

3) On numeracy: “Suppose you need to borrow P100. Which is the lower amount to pay back: P105 or P100 plus 3 percent?”

4) On compound interest: “Suppose you put your money in the bank for 2 years and the bank agrees to add 15 percent per year to your account. Will the bank add more money to your account the second year than it did in the first year, or will it add the same amount of money both years?”

The correct answers are: 1) multiple businesses or investments; 2) the same as you can buy today; 3) P100 plus 3 percent; and 4) more money in the second year.

S&P observed that while the lineup of financial products available in Asia continued to grow rapidly, the survey results suggested that most consumers lacked a general understanding of credit, compound interest and other key concepts. An example is China, where credit card ownership is believed to have nearly doubled since 2011 yet less than half of the respondents could not correctly answer the survey question on interest.

Matthew Bosrock, executive managing director and head of Asia-Pacific for S&P’s Ratings Services, pointed out that understanding concepts like interest, inflation and the importance of savings is at the core of economic development: “A lack of basic financial understanding is one of the factors obstructing faster growth in Asia. This survey gives policymakers the tools to identify the gaps in education and also a chance to improve access to financial products.”

While the government should see to the financial wellbeing of the marginalized sectors, private employers should take responsibility for ensuring that their workers are saving enough for the future. They should put up programs to help ensure their employees’ financial wellness, including those that will help workers be more careful with money, build emergency funds, and cope with financial stress.

In the end, education is key—and not just in high school where many of the financial concepts are taught but not quite absorbed or learned, but in a continuing program until a person’s retirement. Otherwise, financial illiteracy could lead to high debt, loan defaults or, worse, bankruptcy.

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Mar Roxas Explains the MRT Woes

The 2016 presidential bet Mar Roxas explained the root cause of the MRT woes.  An issue, which was never or not being discussed by the sensational media.  It was during the ANC Meet Your Candidates aired at Manila Polo Club, Nov. 25, 2015.

Karen Davila seems to fry him with sensational questions commonly hauled against the current administration but he was able to make his point.  It didn't affect his over-all composure.

Before he was put into the hot seat, fellow presidential aspirant Grace Poe was also interviewed.
Watch both and then think, reflect, analyze and finally, choose.  But after all the presidential candidates have underwent the same process.  Take note of the videos with an open mind and let it help each one of us as we decide.  The future of the succeeding generations all depends on the very important decision that we shall make in 2016.


Sunday, November 22, 2015

How Overspending Can Be Avoided When Extra Money Comes

By:  Gilbert M. Forbes
Financial Wellness, Stewardship Advocate
DepEd CALABARZON

Christmas Season is coming too fast once ber-months is around.  And this month of November, most of our employees or workers in the government sector are starting to receive their bonuses.

Once, we receive additional money, we begin to think of things to buy e.g., new clothes, gadgets, We even justify that it is needed, let say for instance, the need for a heater or a replacement to an aging cellphone.  Until, we just wake-up that none is left already.  Worst case scenario is to be in a budget dilemma because we forgot to buy things that are necessary like the food on the table for Christmas and New Year.  For sure, we will resort to credit or debt which of all the things, should not have happen.

This could be avoided if we will do the following:
  1. Budget and carefully plan your expenses.  In your budget, include all your payables and irregular expenses for at least three to five months. Think many times before buying some thing by asking, is it really needed? Is there no other alternative but to buy it?  What will be its effect to my general finances or cash flow?
  2. Save It All.  Correct, if you are not in a tight budget, save it all.  Just get the budget for Christmas to your existing irregular expense account savings.  Be sure that what you will take is only the amount budgeted and actually allotted for it.  Don't over-spend, otherwise, your other irregular expense needs in the future could be affected badly and so your monthly cash flow or finances.
  3. Invest.  You may get an additional insurance protection if your current protection has not yet reached the suggested minimum.  Or you can get additional health insurance apart from your PHILHEALTH hence it is not usually enough to cover hospital bills whenever ourselves or any member of the family got confined.  The bigger the coverage, the better.
Let us always remember that all financial benefits we regularly receive is not part of our salary and so not part of the so called active income that we are suppose to spent to make a living.  Financial literacy experts are constant and united on their suggestions that it should not be spent, instead save and later make it grow.

After all, delayed gratification today, is worth a thousand joy and peace of mind. We are to choose. For inspirations and increased motivation to start your financial wellness journey. You may also like to attend our free virtual seminars via zoom by registering at  https://402183ph.imgcorp.com/attendancehttps://402183ph.imgcorp.com/home/workshop 

Monday, November 9, 2015

Simple Importance of Irregular Expense Savings Account

By:  Gilbert M. Forbes
Financial Wellness, Stewardship Advocate
DepEd Quezon, CALABARZON

Suddenly, your washing machine runs out of order.  Then in just a couple of minutes the CPU of your desktop computer.  As if your day turns to a bad fate, your DVD player too.  What will you do then?  Its still a week earlier before the pay day.  And even if it so, your net salary is just enough for a living.


It would of course be not a big problem if you have a withdrawable savings account in times of unexpected events like this.  This is the so called irregular expense savings account.  A savings account intended for seasonal needs, including emergencies,  tuition fees, birth day party, fiesta etc.

With an irregular expenses account, there would be no problem in looking for money in times of emergencies and seasonal needs. Most of all, you will not be tempted to apply for a loan and have debt.  Of course, having debt will mean you have to pay it later including the interest and its impact on your monthly income would certainly be great for it will mean decrease in your buying capability instead of increase.  But this can be avoided.

Personally, it just happen to us for this year is a good year.  One by one, our household appliances just broke.  The first were our two stand-fan and desk fan last summer.  Then, just more than a month later, our washing machine, then our CPU and CRT monitor and just recently, our two-burner stove was discovered to have a leak.

Just try to imagine if you have no extra cash for the said appliances repair and replacement?  What will you do?  For me, I took the zero interest credit facility to purchase a 16-inch LCD PC Monitor and TV into one at Php3,499.00 only payable for three-months.

You might ask, so you fall into debt.  Yes but its a good debt because we could have paid it in cash but instead of paying it at once, we used first our budget for it from our buffer fund for leverage. The double burner gas stove will follow after paying in full the said monitor.

These are just simple things.  It still doesn't include quite serious matters as family sickness and destruction brought by both natural and man-made calamities.  You are the one to decide folks.

But one thing is sure. We can make things simple or complicated depending on our choice.  So what is your choice then?  

You may also like to attend our free virtual seminars via zoom by registering at  https://402183ph.imgcorp.com/attendancehttps://402183ph.imgcorp.com/home/workshop or reading more below:

Sunday, November 8, 2015

FACT OR FICTION: 'Without EDSA I, We Could Have Been Like Singapore-'Bong-Bong Marcos

Exerpts from Ramon J. Parolan's original article at opinion.inquirer.net with "Lee Kuan Yew on Philippines" as original title

What has the late former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew has to say about this?  Is the son of the former dictator Sen. Bongbong Marcos, telling the truth?

Here is what the prime minister statements about Marcos from his autobiography “From Third World to First” discrediting Bongbong’s assertions.
Courtesy:  Google Images

“ It was not until January 1974 that I visited President Marcos in Manila… Marcos received me in great style... I was put up at the guest wing of Malacañang Palace in lavishly furnished rooms, valuable objects of art bought in Europe strewn all over. Our hosts were gracious, extravagant in hospitality, flamboyant.

In Bali in 1976, at the first ASEAN summit held after the fall of Saigon, I found Marcos keen to push for greater economic cooperation in ASEAN. To set the pace, Marcos and I agreed to implement a *****eral Philippines-Singapore… to promote intra-ASEAN trade…I was to discover that for him, the communiqué was the accomplishment itself; its implementation was secondary, an extra to be discussed at another conference.

He once took me on a tour of his library at Malacañang, its shelves filled with bound volumes of newspapers reporting his activities over the years since he first stood for elections. There were encyclopedia-size volumes on the history and culture of the Philippines with his name as the author. His campaign medals as an anti-Japanese guerrilla leader were displayed in glass cupboards. He was the undisputed boss of all Filipinos. Imelda had a penchant for luxury and opulence. When they visited Singapore…they came in style in two DC8’s, his and hers.

Marcos, ruling under martial law, had detained opposition leader Benigno (Ninoy) Aquino, reputed to be as charismatic and powerful a campaigner as he was. He freed Aquino and allowed him to go to the USA. As the economic situation in the Philippines deteriorated, Aquino announced his decision to return. Mrs. Marcos issued several veiled warnings. When the plane arrived at Manila Airport from Taipei in August 1983, he was shot as he descended from the aircraft...

International outrage over the killing resulted in foreign banks stopping all loans to the Philippines, which owed over US$25 billion and could not pay the interest due. This brought Marcos to the crunch. He sent his minister for trade and industry, Bobby Ongpin, to ask me for a loan of US$300-500 million to meet the interest payments. I looked him straight in the eye and said, “We will never see that money back.” Moreover, I added, everyone knew that Marcos was seriously ill and under constant medication for a wasting disease. What was needed was a strong, healthy leader, not more loans.

… In February 1984, Marcos met me in Brunei at the sultanate’s independence celebrations. He had undergone a dramatic physical change. Although less puffy than he had appeared on television, his complexion was dark as if he had been out in the sun. He was breathing hard as he spoke, his voice was soft, eyes bleary, and hair thinning… An ambulance with all the necessary equipment and a team of Filipino doctors were on standby outside his guest bungalow. Marcos spent much of the time giving me a most improbable story of how Aquino had been shot.

With medical care, Marcos dragged on. Cesar Virata met me in Singapore in January the following year… He said that Mrs. Imelda Marcos was likely to be nominated as the presidential candidate. I asked how that could be when there were other weighty candidates. Virata replied it had to do with “flow of money; she would have more money than other candidates to pay for the votes needed for nomination by the party and to win the election. He added that if she were the candidate, the opposition would put up Mrs. Cory Aquino...

The denouement came when Marcos held presidential elections which he claimed he won. Cory Aquino disputed this and launched a civil disobedience campaign...A massive show of “people power” led to a spectacular overthrow of a dictatorship. The final indignity was on 25 February 1986, when Marcos and his wife fled in USAF helicopters from Malacañang Palace and were flown to Hawaii.

…There was no reason why the Philippines should not have been one of the more successful of the ASEAN countries. In the 1950s and 1960s, it was the most developed, because America had been generous in rehabilitating the country after the war. Something was missing, a gel to hold society together. The people at the top, the elite mestizos, had the same detached attitude to the native peasants as the mestizos in their haciendas in Latin America had toward their peons. They were two different societies: Those at the top lived a life of extreme luxury and comfort while the peasants scraped a living, and in the Philippines it was a hard living… They had many children because the church discouraged birth control. The result was increasing poverty.

“The Philippines had a rambunctious press but it did not check corruption. Individual pressmen could be bought, as could many judges.  Something had gone seriously wrong. Millions of Filipino men and women had to leave their country for jobs abroad beneath their level of education. Filipino professionals… are as good as our own. Indeed, their architects, artists, and musicians are more artistic and creative than ours…

“The difference lies in the culture of the Filipino people. It is a soft, forgiving culture. Only in the Philippines could a leader like Ferdinand Marcos, who pillaged his country for over twenty years, still be considered for a national burial. Insignificant amounts of the loot have been recovered, yet his wife and children were allowed to return and engage in politics. They supported the winning presidential and congressional candidates with their considerable resources and reappeared in the political and social limelight after the 1998 election that returned President Joseph Estrada.”

“Some Filipinos write and speak with passion. If they could get their elite to share their sentiments and act, what could they not have achieved?”

Thursday, September 24, 2015

How Do You Design Your Success Story: According to Francis Kong (Part 3)

By:  Mariae Francesca Ramos for  http://www.imoney.ph/

In the conclusion of this exclusive three-part interview, Francis Kong tells us how to design your success plan, the benefits and pitfalls of success and gives us a glimpse into his own journey to success.

(Did you miss the first and second part of this interview? Read How Do You Climb The Mountain Called Success and How To Recognize Your Potential For Success?)

How do you design a success plan?

You design a success plan the same way you would design a business plan.  You start your plan by taking care of your daily habits first. Ask yourself the following questions:  Do you go to bed late and then you wake up late — well, that’s something you have to change.  Do you exercise? What about your health?

What about your money management skills? Do you track all of your expenses?  What about your work? Are you still driven in your work? Do you chip in and offer your services? Do you study more, and then don’t just wait to be promoted, but present yourself to be promotable?  So these are some of the things you have to do. Start with the small things that add up to be big things.  Next, you have to be honest in making your SWOT Analysis.

What are your areas of strengths?  What are the areas of weaknesses: What are your bad habits? Am I critical of other people? Do I envy other people? Do I react violently when somebody criticizes me, especially those closest to me?’  What are the threats: I’m not getting any younger. What are the new technologies challenging my areas of competence?

What are your opportunities? Well, if you don’t have much to write here, then you’re in trouble.  Last, and very important, who are the people in my circle of friends? Are they losers, too? This is what I say in my seminars: ‘Birds of the same feather poo-poo together.’ If you find yourself in a circle of winners and achievers then mahihiya ka eh. And you’ll be driven to be like them.

So these are the things that you have to do and consider to come up with a good personal life plan. What are the benefits and pitfalls of being successful?  The benefits of achieving progress and being successful are:
  1. Your life now carries meaning. You have reason now why you want to wake up in the morning.
  2. Your network of friends and associates continue to expand.
  3. You continue to grow because of the expansion of your network.
  4. You now know and accept that you don’t know. So you begin to put yourself in a mode of wanting to learn more.
  5. Money becomes an afterthought. Money now becomes second to yourself because of your competence.
  6. You now have the moral right to encourage or cheer, even rebuke and correct other people who are in a rut and pull them up. Somebody said, ‘if you want to pull me up based on your moral high grounds, then you have to make sure that you’re standing somewhere higher than me.’
  7. Your family respects you. You have a very holistic, healthy family life. Your children respects you, your spouse loves you, and your relationships continue to grow.
  8. And for me the biggest, biggest benefit, you see that what you are enjoying now is beginning to take place in your own children as well.
Meanwhile, the pitfalls are:
  1. Hubris, or an unrealistic expectation of one’s ability to be successful in anything you do. This begets recklessness, arrogance and you begin to overestimate of your capacity.
  2. Because of success, you think you’re invincible and beyond failure.  
  3. You close your mind to ideas and suggestions of others whom you deem as inferior to you.
  4. The higher and more successful you are, the more difficult reality and truth reaches your level. The higher you are the more the information is filtered before it reaches you. And nobody is courageous enough to tell you ‘Sir you’re wrong.’
  5. You begin to believe your press releases. Suddenly you are being interviewed and then you go ‘yeah, I’m really that good.’ Pride leads to arrogance, arrogance leads to isolation, isolation leads to being left in a rut, and then being detached from reality.  
  6. And the biggest, biggest pitfall of success, it distances you from your loved ones who were with you in your initial journey. I think the most painful thing to happen is for couples who went through difficult times together, but upon achieves success, separate because they cannot enjoy the success because of disagreements and conflicts.
There are many pitfalls, but I think the benefits far surpass the pitfalls. Why? Because the benefits are continuous. You become a good citizen, you build your community, you become an asset to the country, you become an inspiration to the younger generation…

So are you saying, rather than an endpoint, success is a new beginning of sorts?  Oh, yes. Success is just a platform to bigger and better things. Cliché, but it is a cliché because it has a semblance of truth. Success is never a destination, it is a journey.

You never arrive at success. You spar and you wrestle with success. Sometimes you get hit, sometimes you hit back. But it must be a forward momentum of continuous progress.

Do you know how I check: my resume. At the start of seminars or lectures, people would always introduce their speaker. So they read my bio. And when they do, I challenge myself: What new things can I add to my resume this year? So I want to make sure every year I add something. It is ongoing.

In my workshops I ask people, ‘if I were to ask you to put up a piece of paper right now and write your resume, what new things can you add? If you can’t think of anything, that means you have not grown.
Have you found your success?

No, I still feel like I’ve such a long way to go. I’m no longer searching for success, but more adventure as I strive to progress over the years.

I’m looking forward to newer things to learn, newer seminars to attend, newer information that I can share with my clientele, newer technology which I can share to people and warn them that this might take over their job unless they brush up or use it to propel them to the next level.

I’m so excited with what is happening in the world. I do almost 330 talks a year, and have been doing it for years. The latest that I gave a couple of days ago was my 177th this year.

And during these talks, I get to learn from my clients as well. I learn what’s happening in pharmaceutical, in oil, telecom. And then I see the general pattern. And then how to write principles and then teach and share them with people.

How did you start with public speaking?

It started with something simple as a bible study consisting of six people. I got so scared with just six people there.  The funny thing is after that talk, they all encouraged me — maybe they saw how bad I was haha. But I felt the joy of researching, studying then sharing.

Research, study, put your personal experiences in it, make it more relevant and practical, then share.
Ang sarap pala ng process na yan.

It’s the main thing that pushed me to public speaking. Soon the six became 12, the 12 became 25. Then someone from the group said, ‘hey, why don’t you speak in Rotary?’ So I spoke at Rotary. I spoke for 12 years, averaging 120 talks, all for free.

I just kept on sharing ideas: marketing, advertising, even fashion, because my business used to be in garments. I love it — research, study, apply, share. And people appreciate that.

Do you think the same principle of research-study-apply-share can be applied to other aspects? Absolutely. This should have been the foundation for the word passion.

Have you heard people say ‘I want to follow my passion.’ Hey, that isn’t your passion, it’s your hobby. How can you pursue your hobby but totally neglect your responsibility?

Passion comes when you follow the process.  Any message for your readers?  There’s instant ramen, instant milk, and instant coffee, but there’s no such thing as instant success.

Success entails a process. And process requires intentionality, and discipline. You do that and you’re sure to arrive there.

Friday, September 18, 2015

5 Surest Way to Finish and Graduate from College

By:  Gilbert M. Forbes
DepEd QUEZON, CALABARZON

Most are studying college for the belief that it is the best thing to do so that one can find and land a good paying job in the future.  A good paying job that will improve the family's standard of living. However, for the most poor college student, there is a great uncertainty even if one is full scholar.  Even those already receiving enough monthly stipend as part of their scholarship may still find a hard time.  What can be done:
Images courtesy of google search

1.  Focus on your studies. Avoid all negative influences and don't get into serious romantic relationship as much as possible. Remember, you are studying to graduate and have a college degree and ultimately a good job once graduated and not settle.

2.  Don't be shy just because you couldn't go along with the fashion trend, gizmos, events, parties etc of your classmates, friends and barkada's particularly the financially well-off because they already know and would have actually understood your situation from the very beginning that they got to know you.  Prove your worth in everything that you do with excellence but with humility and love for the glory of  God

3.  Be truthful to yourself and don't pretend that you belong to the well-off or middle class families just to get along with the real ones.  It will not do any good but harm.  Be proud instead of your situation and be the best that you can be.  Remember, you are there to study and ultimately finish not impress the social caste by becoming a social butterfly.

4.  Be extra-productive.  While, in college, studying, you could apply as student assistant in your school or a part time job outside which will help you earn while you learn and improve and enrich your resume' as well. It will put you step ahead once you graduate and start looking for a job. If having a part time job is not feasible, you can try 'direct selling' even multi- level marketing during your idle time.  You could also engage into seasonal business during semestral breaks or help in family income generating jobs.

5.  Leave all your worries to God in prayer and trust Him.  He will surely make a way when there seems to be no way by using other people whom at the least you are not expecting that they will.  Be surrounded by positive and religiously active people.  You could join the parish choir or the youth organization or even offer yourself to minister.

Surely, with diligence, patience and trust in God, you will achieve your dreams.

Saturday, September 12, 2015

How Do You Climb The Mountain Called Success: According to Francis Kong (Part 2)

Written by Mariae Francesca Ramos originally for http://www.imoney.ph

In part two of this three-part exclusive interview, Francis Kong gives us a different view to success: recognizing and tapping on your strengths and talents to find purpose and meaning and, what you can do when you find yourself stuck in your quest to ultimately attain success.

(Did you miss the first part of this interview? Catch up here.)

Images courtesy of google search images.
Do you think it is important to find success?

Rather than saying it is important to find success, I would shift that thought to it is important to find your unique purpose and meaning in life. Once you do, and you do it well, the meaning comes and  you can qualify yourself to say ‘I am really successful.’

The question now, does that entail lots of money — not necessarily.

There are people in NGOs, and there are people in their vocation who will never trade who they are and what they are doing for pockets full of money. That for them is success. Then there are people with tons and tons of money, who are not exactly happy. They look at themselves in the mirror and say the saddest statements anybody can ever say. ‘What is the meaning to all of this,’ they would say. So, it is important to find purpose and meaning.  So how do you find purpose and meaning?

This is what I teach in my seminars. You and I are gifted with different talents. For me, that’s God-given. You cannot do anything about it.

The people inside my seminar hall are a mixed bag. Some would be good in singing, some would be good in speaking, others in writing. So they are given different gifts. They have a natural propensity for what is in their strength-zone.

But while talent is God-given, skills are what you acquire for yourself and what you do with your talent. When you bank on your talent and you work on it, this increases your competency. And when you reach a level of mastery, your talent then becomes your skill. Your purpose in life is to find your own talents and skills — where you are strongest at.

If you look at successful people, they know their talents and skills. For example, Mark Zuckerberg, his talent is in social networking even from when he was in Harvard. He has an entrepreneurial spirit and he knows he’s got it. Similarly, Bill Gates has left right analytical talent.

Locally, you have MVP (Manuel V. Pangilinan) who is an extremely talented finance guy. If you look at all these taipans, their talent is in looking at something which doesn’t seem to be work and then make a tremendous amount of profit developing it, whether in manufacturing or in services.
They all know their talent. They hone it into becoming their skills — and that’s their purpose.
Do you know when meaning comes? Meaning will only come when you give your purpose away. So profit comes as a result of honing your competence. But you don’t keep it and you don’t become greedy because of it.

You share. And you use those rewards in order to help others. This is the best time when meaning comes.  And that moment will give you an immense sense of joy that would make you say, ‘This is what success is for me.’What if you only have skill but no talent? Is it still possible to find success?
Marcus Buckingham came out with a very good book entitled Now Discover Your Strengths.

It starts with parenting talaga. Some parents would force their dreams to their children. They would tell their kids to take up medicine or engineering when the natural propensity or the natural talent of the kid isn’t geared towards that area.

They love their parents, so they obey them. This is not a sweeping generalization, but among many who follow their parents’ wishes, some would develop skills. They too become competent. But they would just reach a particular level and that’s it. 

There are others who once they’ve mastered a skill and have satisfied the wishes of their parents, go on to discover other talents. They instinctively jump into their natural talent.
This is why there are doctors who were lackadaisical in their medical profession, but when then they open businesses for distribution, they become so good because their natural giftedness is in entrepreneurship, not in medicine.

If you have the natural talent, but what you do isn’t in alignment with your natural talent, and you built that into a skill, it is still possible to be good at it, but it’s a hard, long climb. It’s tough. It can still be done but you have to work double, triple. And force yourself to be good with that particular skill.

Meanwhile, if you build of your skill in alignment with your natural gifts, not only is it easier, it’s more fun. You enter into your strength-zone, and then you can level up many, many times.
I’ve noticed myself that being a public speaker is a natural talent for me because I am very talkative and I express my ideas in a clear and concise way. I never knew I was going to be a public speaker. But the moment the signs came, I developed it. Until today, I still read books on public speaking. I still hone it, I still practice. I still study the best of the best. And that elevates me into a very comfortable zone.

How do you know your talent? How do you know when you’re good at something?
The field has become so scientific that we all have different tests on personality to find your talent. I would highly recommend the book by Tom Rath called Strengths Finder which is now being used by many corporate structures.

Before this we had the DiSC Assessment. But today our minds are wired different. So I would rather use Strengths Finder. Briggs-Myers is also still workable.

What if you can’t afford to use the studies? Ask the people around you and those close to you who would not be afraid to tell you what you have to hear.

For me, this is a very philosophical and theological statement: God won’t get out from you what he did not put in you. For instance, God led Joseph to go through many years in the desert only to prepare him for becoming prime minister of Egypt who served in the palace. God prepared Moses for many years inside the palace to prepare him for forty years in the desert.

In other words, there’s always a purpose if we’re open to searching.  I have realized that my purpose is not really speaking. My purpose is to equip people that leans more towards education. This is the reason why I dislike the term motivation. Sometimes when you think about motivation, you only appeal to the emotion. You’ve fired people up, but you haven’t educated them.

I would rather embrace the term inspirational speaker, because when you inspire somebody, you have to touch both the emotion and the intellect. Appealing to the intellect causes a person to begin thinking, and that person now becomes more self-motivated.

How can you tell if you’ve finally found success?

This is very subjective, but I find myself extremely happy in what I’m doing, so much that I am actually willing to do this even if I’m not paid for it.

Because I love doing it. But clients pay me high, because they know that I can deliver what they want.

I want to have my meaning, that’s why I give it away. So I continue to give talks to parents, teachers and students and I have never charged them. No matter how tired I am, I’d still do it. Some speakers won’t do that. They think I’m losing opportunity, but not even I knew that someday the rewards will be so visible.

Whenever I give trainings and talks to paying clients, they pay me well, and that makes me happy because that buys food for my family. But when I give talks to schools for free, it gives me a sense of fulfillment and inspiration that propels me to do my job better. So when I give my paid talks and seminars, I do even better. So there’s no loss.

And throughout years of giving talks to schools, I never imagined that many of my former participants would someday be my current clients.

My students would say, ‘You know Sir Francis, I recommended you to our HR because I’d never forget what I’ve learned from you when I was in high school .’

And I would say, ‘Shut up, was that so long ago?’
I never knew that I was able to help them. More importantly I was investing goodwill. No wonder the bible says, ‘The more you give, the more you will receive.’ It is now so visible to me, very visible. I don’t know if other speakers see that.

So for me, that’s success: That I could do what I’m doing, even if you don’t pay me, yet happy to share, and excited about the future. At my age, I still feel like a beginner because there’s so much that I can still do, and so much to explore.

Now, the antithesis of that is ‘I don’t want to do what I’m doing anymore.’ You get depressed. You feel like you’re in a deadbeat job. And the only thing you look forward to is retirement.
What if you find yourself stuck? How do you shake yourself out of that rut?

There are three things I want to share with you that might work.

1. You need to have somebody real and honest to you. You need somebody who can really shake you up and say, ‘Pare, let’s get out of this current situation and let’s improve.’

Human beings have a tendency to be blindsided. We don’t really see who we are and where we are unless there is somebody strong enough to tell you that ‘you’ve stopped growing.’ ‘Things are not working for you.’ ‘Pare, you got to get out of that one na.’

2. How do you improve? Some people attend a seminar. Some people read books. Some listen to podcasts. While others listen to audio books. But if you look at the four factors, they all have something to do with knowledge.

There will never be change unless there is new information. So you have to seek for new information.
I’ll give you a very good example. ‘Friend buy this french fries, these are good.’ You say, ‘No!’ ‘Come on friend, these are really good.’ You still reply, ‘I don’t want to.’

I’ll do it again, ‘Buy it now, it’s 50% off!’ And now you say, ‘Oh, you didn’t say that! OK I’ll buy it.’ So now there’s a change in response because there’s new information.

3. Make everyday the first day of the year with that sense of wanting to have a new beginning, and wanting to change. This may be difficult, but I say, make every Monday the first day of the new year. And then assess: ‘what have I done last week?’ ‘what are the new things that I need to do now?’ ‘Have you worked on it consistently.’ And the most important part is you go back to the first one and say, ‘Pare, i-mentor mo naman ako.

You got to have a sense of accountability, accompanied by a firm determination to grow. Self-growth, and development should always be intentional. Why? Because you have a choice. You can live your life with miserable people, or you can live your life by means of design.

Designing will be a lot better. You can design a success plan for your life.

Thursday, September 10, 2015

How Do You Climb The Mountain Called Success: According to Francis Kong (Part 1)

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

5 Quick Classroom-Management Tips for Novice Teachers

By:  Rebecca Alber
Appeared originally at www.edutopia.org

I made a good number of blunders my first year teaching that still make me cringe. I learned though. And it's fair to say, when it comes to managing a classroom, most of what we learn as new teachers is trial by fire. It's also smart to heed the advice of those who have walked -- and stumbled -- before you. If you are struggling with discipline, here are five tips that you can start using right away:
 
Photo courtesy of Rappler.com
#1 Use a normal, natural voice
Are you teaching in your normal voice? Every teacher can remember this from the first year in the classroom: spending those first months talking at an above-normal range until one day, you lose your voice.

Raising our voice to get students' attention is not the best approach, and the stress it causes and the vibe it puts in the room just isn't worth it. The students will mirror your voice level, so avoid using that semi-shouting voice. If we want kids to talk at a normal, pleasant volume, we must do the same.

You want to also differentiate your tone. If you are asking students to put away their notebooks and get into their groups, be sure to use a declarative, matter-of-fact tone. If you are asking a question about a character in a short story, or about contributions made by the Roman Empire, use an inviting, conversational tone.

#2 Speak only when students are quiet and ready
This golden nugget was given to me by a 20-year veteran my first year. She told me that I should just wait and then wait some more until all students were quiet.

So I tried it; I fought the temptation to talk. Sometimes I'd wait much longer than I thought I could hold out for. Slowly but surely, the students would cue each other: "sshh, she's trying to tell us something," "come on, stop talking," and "hey guys, be quiet." (They did all the work for me!)
My patience paid off. Yours will too. And you'll get to keep your voice.

#3 Use hand signals and other non-verbal communication
Holding one hand in the air, and making eye contact with students is a great way to quiet the class and get their attention on you. It takes awhile for students to get used to this as a routine, but it works wonderfully. Have them raise their hand along with you until all are up. Then lower yours and talk.

Flicking the lights off and on once to get the attention is an oldie but goodie. It could also be something you do routinely to let them know they have three minutes to finish an assignment or clean up, etc.

With younger students, try clapping your hands three times and teaching the children to quickly clap back twice. This is a fun and active way to get their attention and all eyes on you.

#4 Address behavior issues quickly and wisely
Be sure to address an issue between you and a student or between two students as quickly as possible. Bad feelings -- on your part or the students -- can so quickly grow from molehills into mountains.
Now, for handling those conflicts wisely, you and the student should step away from the other students, just in the doorway of the classroom perhaps. Wait until after instruction if possible, avoiding interruption of the lesson. Ask naive questions such as, "How might I help you?" Don't accuse the child of anything. Act as if you do care, even if you have the opposite feeling at that moment. The student will usually become disarmed because she might be expecting you to be angry and confrontational.

And, if you must address bad behavior during your instruction, always take a positive approach. Say, "It looks like you have a question" rather than, "Why are you off task and talking?"
When students have conflicts with each other, arrange for the students to meet with you at lunch, after or before school. Use neutral language as you act as a mediator, helping them resolve the problem peacefully, or at least reach an agreeable truce.

#5 Always have a well-designed, engaging lesson
This tip is most important of all. Perhaps you've heard the saying, if you don't have a plan for them, they'll have one for you. Always overplan. It's better to run out of time than to run short on a lesson.
From my own first-hand experience and after many classrooms observations, something that I know for sure: Bored students equal trouble! If the lesson is poorly planned, there is often way too much talking and telling from the teacher and not enough hands-on learning and discovery by the students. 

We all know engaging lessons take both serious mind and time to plan. And they are certainly worth it -- for many reasons.

Share with us your classroom management experiences: What specific challenges are you having? What strategies have worked well for you and your students? Please share in the comment section below.