Former national swimming champions Joscelin Yeo and her brother Leonard of Singapore, sit down to discuss life after competition in one of The Couch episode at Mediacorp’s Channel 5.

I seldom watch TV, I prefer to read books or listen to audio books. When I came from work, I managed to watch a replay episode of The Couch and got the chance to record some portion using my phone, HTC Wildfire. I don’t have much knowledge about her but I’ve managed to watch how she dominated some of her competitions at SEA Games. I thought this must be a good time to learn some success habits and life skills.

Here are some good insights that we can apply whatever fields of endeavor that we have.

1. You have to enjoy the process and not to be so tunnel vision on the result that you lose yourself in the process. I think when you love what you’re doing then the pleasure of the process follows.

2. On fulfillment, for example she had a 2 and half minutes race long or even less but she spent 4 or more years of training just to get one shot of that game.

If she didn’t enjoy the process and didn’t get the results that she wanted in the end, it will be very dejecting for her. Along the way she managed to learn perseverance, determination, discipline, and learning more about herself that made the journey worthwhile.

So many people had asked but she can’t remember what her best time was for a particular event, how many medals she had won, or what was her record breaking time? Because at the end of the day these things does not matter to her, what matter most is the friendship that you formed, the relationship that you built, the life journeys that you’ve taken and learned from. She found that these things gave her so much value than just the results itself.

Please watch the video below.

Post from: Jerome Castañeda

Joscelin Yeo (The Couch Episode)–Inspirational Life Lessons after Competition

Jack Canfield is coming to Manila this Septemeber 27, 2010 at SMX  Convention Center. He is the co-author of the best selling Chicken Soup for the Soul series of books and one of the casts from the popular DVD movie, The Secret.

Please get the chance to meet our kababayan,  Jhet Torcelino-van Ruyven, a best selling author for The Tale of Juliet and a motivational speaker.

Please check how you will get the chance to  see Jack Canfield live in Manila.

What Will You Learn and Gain?

This program enables you to build resilience and develop competencies with a positive winning mindset that

ensures sustainable growth and organization success even in the most challenging and turbulent times.

Session 1

• Understanding the Secret Law of Attraction and

how it works universally

• Creating the habit of focusing, thinking, feeling and

taking action on what you want and getting more

of it

• The key to living the Law of Attraction for peak

performance and organizational success

• Building and eliciting 100% responsibility from

yourself and your team to determine the reaction

and outcome you want

• The building blocks of high self esteem and

maximum confidence

Session 2

• Getting past your limiting beliefs and releasing guilt,

anger and resentment

• Cleaning up your messes and incompleteness for

more focused thinking

• Using positive “self-talk” and a positive attitude of

gratitude to achieve more

• Transforming your inner critic into your inner

coach

• Dealing with negative people and situations

and surrounding yourself with positive and

successful people

Session 3

• How to stay motivated and keep your team

motivated for breakthrough results

• Fueling your success with passion and inspiration

for non-stop gains in every area

• Identifying and using your giftedness and focusing

on your strengths and core genius

• Creating a compelling purpose and vision for

yourself & your team to attract greater abundance

• Setting powerful goals and objectives and

unleashing the amazing power of visualization to

successfully meet any goal faster and easier

Session 4

• Using Affirmations to “Release the Brakes!” that

are keeping you and your organization stuck and

accelerate your results

• Establishing an effective action planning and

tracking system with clear strategies and tactics for

high performance

• The 4 new success habits that can change your life

the fastest

• Overcoming rejection and the fears that stop people

from taking action

• Taking action, asking and geting things done quickly

to achieve great results

Session 5

• Practicing “The Rule of 5” and creating

powerful achievements

• The single success discipline that can put you in

the top 1% of your field

• Asking for and responding to feedback to keep

learning and getting better

• Persevering in the face of any obstacles or

road block

• Practicing uncommon appreciation and having an

attitude of gratitude

• Reaping the rewards, acknowledging, affirming

and celebrating each achievement in your success

journey

Session 6

• Using “The Daily Disciplines of the Secret Law

of Attraction” for better results and organizational

growth

• Applying the 10-step Law of Attraction – success

action system and visual tool to move you

and your team to peak performance and

organizational success

• Life lessons in mastering the Secret Law of

Attraction and The Success Principles

Watch how other people have said about Jack Canfield. Please play the video below to the tune of U2′s “Beautiful Day”.

Jack Canfield – Site Intro from Jack Canfield Live in Manila.

Post from: Jerome Castañeda

Jack Canfield live in Manila 2010-Achieving Breakthrough Results in Work and Life

‎”I Can Do All Things Through Christ Who Strengthens Me” – Philippians 4:13

I want to share a little bit of my story about how I managed to develop the power of self belief. When I started working here in Singapore as a CAD Engineer coming from my home country, the Philippines, I encountered lots of challenges at work. I was actually hired because of my excellent skills in using 3D mechanical modeling software even though I had no background in marine engineering or naval architecture field.

So one time I was task to do a 2D structural engineering layout that does not require me to use the 3D CAD (Computer Aided Drafting) tool. I used different drafting software that I have less experienced with. I had to do an offshore mechanical structural layout that I was not familiar with. And as expected, I received corrections after corrections about what I have done in creating my 2D engineering layout. You can imagine how colorful my A3 sized print outs due to corrections. Here’s the sad part, the senior colleague(s)  who reviewed my drawing doesn’t bother to teach me about the way to improve or speed up the process of learning the skills even when I asked them.  All they can tell is how slow I am and all the negative stuffs. At that point I had two choices, whether to equate them with harsh words so that I can bring my ego back or just simply go back to my table and do what I need to do. I chose the later since I was relatively new to the company and Singapore, so I don’t want to risk my job.

Here’s how I exactly responded that changed the way I looked at things and my attitude. Instead of bursting out the fire against them, I psyched myself up while performing my task. I kept on telling in my mind, “I am the best in what I am doing! I am the fastest in performing this task!” I repeat the phrase “I am the best!” with high emotions all over and over again while I was doing the corrections. I practiced these affirmations every time I worked on my projects. It was just a matter of time when I came for another review process when the senior colleague told me,” Whoa, you’re so fast huh!”  I gave him a smile and from then on, I managed to develop my skills and most especially my attitude. My self esteem went high.

By the way, I want to share with you a success story video presented to our company by our supplier, Innocom Technologies Pte. Ltd. Please check it out.

Here are some 6 rules that will help you build up your self confidence:

1. Create a mental picture of yourself succeeding. Hold on to this picture tenaciously. Never permit it to fade. Your mind always tries to complete whatever it pictures so, always picture success no matter how badly things seemed to be going at the moment. Whenever a negative thought concerning your personal powers come into mind, deliberately voice out a positive thought to cancel it out.
2. Do not build up obstacles in your imagination. Minimize them instead. Problems should be seen for what they are and never inflated by fearful thoughts. You are bigger than your problems.
3. Do not be awestruck by other people or try to copy them. Remember that most people despite a confident appearance are often as scared and as doubtful of themselves as you are.
4. Get a confident counselor to help you understand the origin of your inferiority or self doubt feelings. This often begins in childhood. Self knowledge leads to a cure.
5. Ten times each day practice the following affirmation. Repeating it out loud if possible. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” This magic statement is the most powerful antidote on earth to inferiority feelings.
6. Put yourself in God’s hands. To do this you simply say “I am in God’s hands” then believe that you are now receiving all the power you need. Affirm that the kingdom of God is within you in the form of adequate power to meet all of life’s demands. Remind yourself that God is with you and nothing can defeat Him.

I encouraged you to read the book, “The Power of Positive Thinking” by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale and “The Psychology of Achievement” by Brian Tracy. I took Brian Tracy’s advice to look in front of the mirror and tell out loud “I like myself” over and over again. It worked for me and I’m sure it will work for you as well. Try it and share with me your success.

PS

Please check out previous article on Persuasive Communication – The Art of Moving People Through To Action. I shared my experience on self belief  in front of an audience.

PS2

Please listen to Chapter 1 of The Power of Positive Thinking below.

Post from: Jerome Castañeda

The Power of Self Belief-6 Ways to Build Your Self Confidence

How to Coach Yourself to Success – 5 powerful questions to ask yourself

Coaching yourself to success is a very powerful tool that you can use to move yourself towards the direction where you want to be. Last night, was another awesome session with Personal Excellence and Growth meetup led by these successful couple of coaches Mr. Patrick Yc Lim and Ms. Jessica See.

First we need to define what does success means to you? Many of us shared their own definition such as a balance of work and life, well spend time with the family, doing what you love to do (your passion) and so on. I just want to share a great quote from Henry David Thoreau he said, “One advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavours to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

There at least 5 steps of questions you need to ask yourself :

1. Where are you now? What exactly do you have? There was actually a story about a man who had nothing left except what he had inside the red bandana. Several years have passed, he became a very successful businessman. So someone asked what was inside the red bandana, then he told that it contained a large sum of money, stocks, and bonds. For some of us it may not necessarily be money but it can be your attitude, skills, talents, and your network of friends or contacts. This reminds me of a great quote by Socrates about knowing thyself. You need to know your strengths. So I ask Jessica, how can we know our strengths? She highly recommended to invest a book entitled, StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath. What made this book  so compelling was, you will be given a unique access code so that you can take an online test. The test will give you an idea about your strengths and how you can manage them.

2. Where do you want to be? You need to be very clear and specific on where you want to be. You just can’t say I want to have more money or I want to have a successful career. How much money exactly do you need and what exact date do you intend to have it? What exactly are you doing by that time? How do you see yourself in the morning? You need to have a clear picture along with your five senses. What is the color, the smell of the environment, the touch of that house? Be as detailed as possible. An example that was shared was about a vision board that a friend had made from a cutout of pictures. It was actually them same picture of a house where she currently lived. This reminds me of the movie “The Secret” about John Assaraf’s vision board of about a picture of a mansion house he made some years ago and later discovered after his son accidentally asked him about what was inside the box. At that time, he cried  upon seeing the vision board as he was already living on that dream.

Along with this there are eight areas of life that anyone can build around with:

1. Religion

2. Health

3. Character Building

4. Career

5. Relationship

6. Development of other talents. It can be your hobbies. Things that you enjoy doing or you like to do.

7. Money

8. Contribution to the world

Someone suggested that it is also important to include recreation and also a time with yourself such as to hang around with friends.

3. What can stop you? What are the possible detours? List down all the deterrents that you feel will hinder in your goals. It can be your relationship. One of the major challenges could be your loved ones. It could be your low self-esteem, or it could be your limiting beliefs that you were not good enough. You need to ask below the surface question. Don’t you think you need to hire a coach to guide you?

4. Who can help you? Who are in your circle of friends? Do you seek outside of your circle of friends by joining group meetups, a social community or spiritual community? Bear in mind that if you don’t ask, you will not get. A good tip is to create a leverage on each other strengths. You can ask help from an expert in exchange for your expertise or your main strengths or could be any resource that you can share. Remember the Holy Scripture,” So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Luke 11:9-10 NIV)

5. Who can you help? One of my favorite quotes came from Zig Ziglar is “You can have everything in life you want if you will just help other people get what they want”. You can offer your services for free even without asking any favor. Just get the habit of sharing ideas or giving away great value that can benefit other people.

It is always a great idea to chunk down your big goals into smaller activity goals. This will take time but being consistent and persistent will move you towards your direction.

Coach Yourself To Success session group

Coach Yourself to Success with Patrick Yc Lim

Jerome Castaneda sharing some of his ideas

Please check other past interesting session from Personal Excellence and Growth Meetup:

- Breaking Barriers to achieve your Dreams and Goals!

Post from: Jerome Castañeda

How to Coach Yourself to Success-5 powerful questions to ask yourself

How to Get Laser-Focused – 3 effective ways to achieve your goal

I must say that the ability to stay focused is a great force in what you want to achieve in life. If you can master this skill you are on your way to success. The best definition that I’ve seen about focus is the concentration of attention or energy on something. Another good one is the maximum clarity or distinctness of an image rendered by an optical system. Keywords here are concentration, attention and, clarity.

But how can you get focus in this chaotic world that we live in? In my work as a mechanical cad engineer in a marine engineering industry, it has been a stressful environment. Noise generated from colleagues (even boss) can create distraction from the work you want to accomplish. Life in the MRT can be stressful too specially jostling for a position on your way to the office and way back home.

So here are the top three keys on how to master your focus and achieve the activities that you have set;

1. Write it Down– (Begin with the end in mind.) You must be able to have a clear picture about what you want to accomplish. The best way is to write down your goals. I know lots of ideas have been written about this topic. This may sound easy but in reality it will take some time and a good practice of self-discipline. I still have challenges about this but one thing for sure that this worked out great for me. I’m still in the process of mastering this skill. I am still very much working on a 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. job though it has been a culture of practice to spend more extra time at work. I’m telling you this since I’m practicing this skill mostly outside of my work. Even as I write this article, I am distracted by lots of other things like Facebook, (this is very addictive as tons of information are shared from each of your friends), email, twitter, digsby, IM, YM, and other social media platforms. The best way is to shut off every single form of tools that will not help you in accomplishing your current activity. Never multi task as this can hamper what you want to accomplish. I must admit that this had been a struggle for me but I am doing my very best to overcome this challenges.
2. Make it clear and compelling – (If you can’t then you must.) There is a need to create a compelling reason why you need to do the task. If you don’t do this, imagine what will happen to your dreams or your goal. Say, you want to build a school for the children, what will happen if you failed on this dream. Imagine the thousands of children that will be deprived of that education, there’s a possibility for them to do illegal ways of making ends meet. If you dream on spending more quality time with the family, imagine the pain of not being able to spend with your children the growing years of fun, play and education. If you will not do it then you will never be. Make it a habit to do it now. One of my worst enemies is procrastination or locally called as mañana habit (mamaya na – in Tagalog), means tomorrow or indefinite time in the future. A bad habit that most of the Filipinos have inherited from our Spanish conquistadores. Here’s a good advice from the famous Michael Jordan, “Just Do It”. No wonder, he is considered as one of the greatest basketball players of all time.
3. Persistence – (Money grows on the tree of persistence.) This is an act of continuing or a repeating behavior. It is almost synonymous with commitment and perseverance. Repetition is the mother of skill.  I’ve heard this from Tony Robbins a number of times even during his UPW seminar here in Singapore. This goes hand in hand with focus since you got to have persistence before you advance to another level of activity that is in alignment with what you want in life. Never give up on what you want to achieve whatever it takes. As long as you do it in an ethical way. Keep on practicing the skill; master it until you can consider yourself as a world-class player in your own right. Your ability to visualize yourself of achieving your dreams or goals is a key in your dogged pursuit and practicing your skills in a consistent basis.

Frankly speaking, I’ll tell you that this is not an easy task as I’ve told you that I still face this challenge even when I was writing this article. It has been always a battle for me and I will always fight it until it becomes a habit.

Here’s another tip that might help you. As I was writing this article, I am listening to a classical music. I think it helped me in my concentration and attention to this activity. Your environment plays an important role too so create any possible ways of convenience for you as you do your task.

It’s good to post some affirmations on your wall, or post it note. I made this habit of posting some form of powerful quotes or declarations even on my Facebook or twitter to motivate myself. It is a good form of autosuggestion. It’s a great feeling for me and even more when other friends like it too.

Here are some personal selection about focus affirmations and quotes from successful personalities.

The Holy Scripture says “Let your eyes look straight ahead. Keep looking right in front of you. Make level paths for your feet to walk on. Only go on ways that are firm. Don’t turn to the right or left. Keep your feet from the path of evil.” Proverbs 4:25-27 (New International Reader’s Version)

“What you focus on consistently, you tend to manifest in your life” -Tony Robbins

“Where attention goes, energy flows and results show” – T Harv Eker

“Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives”. – Tony Robbins

“My main focus is on my game.” – Tiger Woods

“The first rule of focus is this: “Wherever you are, be there.” – Unknown

“It’s not what’s happening to you now or what has happened in your past that determines who you become. Rather, it’s your decisions about what to focus on, what things mean to you, and what you’re going to do about them that will determine your ultimate destiny.” – Anthony Robbins

Post from: Jerome Castañeda

How to Get Laser-Focused–3 effective ways to achieve your goal

Yesterday, I had an awesome experience with my brothers in CFC Servants for Family and Life (SvFL).  This took place during our household meeting at Brother Franco Arollado’s place in Pasir Ris. CFC SvFL is one of the family ministries of Couples for Christ Foundation for Family and Life.  It is a vibrant community of men comprised of: bachelors (single men  40 years old and above); married men who are living apart from their wives and/or children because of work situations (ex. OFWs)  or whose wives are not interested in joining the CFC FFL community; widowers; and separated.In our case, our current membership is comprised of the second category, i.e. married men who are living apart from our family because of our work situation.  Call us “expatriates”, a distinct class of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

In CFC FFL, a household meeting has three basic elements:

(1)      Alive and vibrant worship (singing songs of praise and worship, sharing of inspirational words, prayer of thanksgiving and prayer of supplication).

(2)      A participative discussion / sharing.  The discussion topic could be a gospel reading.  The sharing is experiential and as such is life-giving.

(3) Fellowship – we are nourished not only in spirit but also from the food prepared by the household host. Bon appetit!

I believed that getting involved with this community is one of the best things that happened to me here while I am away from my family. Spiritual nourishment and development are part of  the essential keys to overcome homesickness. It is very tough and challenging when you are away from your loved ones.

Another very vital key to personal growth formation for me is openness. I felt the sense of connectedness when communicating with my fellow brothers (even sisters too to some occasions). There are no inhibitions most especially when we share our testimonies about life’s experience. This is so crucial as we learn how to deal with life from each one’s personal struggles and overcoming life’s challenges. I’ve heard about life threatening experiences, financial struggles, problems coping with children, or just mere overcoming of fear. There were so many kinds of close to tragic stories but there is only one denominator that every one of us had experienced during those trying times, and that is holding on to our commitment to trusting in God.

Can you see from our faces how happy we are?

from lower left:Claus Arriola, Jay Nodalo, Franco Arollado, Aldwin Santos top left: Oliver San Juan, Jerome Castaneda, Carlos Cammayo, Arnel Riovaldez and Hector Millet Coria

Please also check out related topic on Sharing God’s Love to Us!

Post from: Jerome Castañeda

CFC-SvFL Servants for Family and Life-What is more powerful than Trusting God?

Level 5 Hierarchy

I can’t help myself to get excited and talk about this great book by Jim Collins Good to Great (Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t). This is a follow up from my previous post on Hedgehog Concept. First, let me define what does a Level 5 Leader is. It refers to a five-level hierarchy of executive capabilities, with Level 5 at the top. Level 5 leaders embody a paradoxical mix of genuine personal humility and professional will. (A simple formula is Humility + Will = Level 5). They operated first and foremost with genuine humility – defined by a burning passionate obsessive ambition for the cause, for the work, for the company, not themselves. They had this utterly stoic will to make good on that ambition. They channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company. A good example of a Level 5 Leader is United States President Abraham Lincoln who never let his ego get in away of his primary ambition for the larger cause of an enduring country.

Here are some few characteristics of a level 5 leader.

Level 5 leaders are fanatically driven, infected with an incurable need to produce sustained results. They are resolved to do whatever it takes to make the company great, no matter how big or hard decisions.

Level 5 leaders look out the window to attribute success to factors other than themselves. When things go poorly, however, they look in the mirror and blame themselves, taking full responsibility. The comparison CEOs often did just the opposite – they looked in the mirror to take credit for success, but out the window to assign blame for disappointing results.

Can you learn to become a level 5 leader in your own field of work? Jim Collins hypothesis is that there are two categories of people: those who do not have the seed of Level 5 and those who do. The first category consists of people who could never in a million years bring themselves to subjugate their egoistic needs to the greater ambition of building something larger and more lasting than themselves. For these people, work will always be first and foremost about what they get – fame, fortune, adulation, power, whatever – not what they build, create, and contribute.

The second category of people consists of those who have the potential to evolve to Level 5; the capability resides within them, perhaps buried or ignored, but nonetheless. And under right circumstance – self reflection, conscious personal development, a mentor, a great teacher, loving parents, a significant life experience, a Level 5 boss, or any number of other factors – they begin to develop. Some of the level 5 CEOs like Darwin Smith of Kimberly Clark fully blossomed after his battle with cancer. Gillette’s Colman M. Mockler converted to evangelical Christianity while getting his MBA at Harvard, and later, according to the book Cutting Edge became the prime mover in a group of Boston business executives who met frequently over breakfast to discuss the carryover of religious values at corporate life.

There is a potential of Level 5 leaders that exist all around us, if we know what to look for, and that many people have the potential to evolve into Level 5. So how can one grow in level 5 direction? There are no specific steps to become one but an understanding about what you can become with your decisions is a great start. Imagine yourself walking in a path and a decision is needed. In the right hand path if you make that decision is about yourself, your ego, what you will get and on the left path is different decision that reflects more ambition for the cause, or the work. In some point you are confronted with that actual concrete decision and you are pulled to the right but you step to the left. This might be the start of what you can be in this process.

I suggest that you read the book so that you will understand what I am trying to share. Honestly, I wrote the key concepts about level 5 here so that I can just go back here and understand the process and besides I have to return the book to the library (haha! )

Please check out Jim Collins audio about can you be a level 5 leader?

Post from: Jerome Castañeda

Level 5 Leadership Characteristics–an understanding of what you can be

In the famous essay by Isaiah Berlin “The Hedgehog and the Fox” the world is divided into two types. The fox knows many things. The fox is a very cunning creature, able to devise a myriad of complex strategies to sneak attack upon hedgehog. The hedgehog knows one big thing. That is rolling up into a perfect little ball thus becoming a sphere of sharp spikes, pointing outward in all directions. The hedgehog always wins despite the different tactics the fox used.

Just recently, I managed to read the book and also listened to the audio book  Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t by Jim Collins. This is a highly must read book even though it was about business companies but I found that individuals can learn especially the Hedgehog Concept of Chapter 5. I actually kept on listening the audio book a lot of times, it was like having Jim Collins as your coach by your side. That was priceless.

The Hedgehog Concept is a simple, crystalline concept that flows from the deep understanding about the intersection of the following circles:

1. What you can be the best in the world at (and, equally important what you cannot be the best in the world at). This basic understanding goes far beyond core competence. A core competency does not guarantee that you can be best in the world at it. Conversely, what you can be the best at might not even be something in which you are currently engaged.
2. What drives your economic engine? Most of the good-to-great companies discovered a single driving denominator as profit per x, which had the greatest impact on their economics. For social sector, instead of economic, resource engine – which is broken into three parts as time, money, and brand.
3. What you are deeply passionate about. The good-to-great companies focused on those activities that ignited their passion. The idea here is not to stimulate passion but to discover what makes you passionate.

To understand more simply about the 3 questions so that we can apply to our personal understanding, here are some guiding statements. First, you are doing work for which you have a genetic or God-given talent, and perhaps you could become one of the best in the world in applying that talent. (“I feel that I was just born to do this?”) Second, you are well paid for what you do. (“I get paid to do this? Am I dreaming?”) Third, you are doing work you are passionate about and absolutely love to do, enjoying the actual process for its own sake.(“I look forward to getting up and throwing myself into my daily work, and I really believe in what I’m doing.”)

A Hedgehog Concept is not a goal to be the best, a strategy to be the best, an intention to be the best, a plan to be the best. It is simply an understanding of what you can be the best at. This distinction is very crucial.

Here are some exercises that you can do to be able to find and understand your hedgehog concept. Get 3 sheets of paper. On the first sheet of paper, do an analysis of yourself. What I am truly passionate about? What do I love to do? List down as many things that you love to do even when you are a child. Start with, I love to… On the second sheet of paper, what am I genetically encoded for? I feel like I was kind of made to do this. What fits your capabilities? What fits your psychology? What fits me why I was put here on this earth to do? On third sheet of paper, what are all the various things that you can think of that will allow you to have an economic engine? What are the things that you can do that make you a living if you’re allowed to do that?

Give those sheets of papers to your trusted friends and ask them for the thoughts where do you see the intersection across these 3 sheets? What kind of direction do you think that this might help me see as the right direction for me?

Please play this audio advise by Jim Collins on How to Find Your Personal Hedgehog Concept?

Post from: Jerome Castañeda

Hedgehog Concept-an understanding what you can be best at

It’s been more than 3 years since I came here. Being a father working and leaving away from the family is tough emotionally. Last year was great since I was able to spend it with them and at the same time celebrate my son, Justin Daniel’s 7^th birthday last June 18. Oh, I want to greet my son a very happy birthday. I’m very proud of what you are and what you will become in the future. I love you Jed. I’m hoping and praying that I can bring them along here soon in Singapore. It’s been more than 2 years since my wife; Helen submitted her birth certificate to Manila City Hall for correction of her misspelled name as Hellen instead of just single L. We’ve been persistent to the point of not giving in to any form of extortion. I hope and pray that this culture of corruption will be minimized significantly, if not eradicated by the new administration of Philippines President-elect Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.

Since I can’t celebrate both Father’s Day and my son’s 8^th Birthday, I have to find some creative ways to celebrate. Bold and crazy as it may seem I decided to sing a special song from one of my favorite performers, “The King” Elvis Presley with the song Can’t Help Falling in Love. I shared this video just for my circle of friends in Facebook. Now, I’m sharing here in my blog.  I remember singing this song way back in college during my stay at University of the Philippines Narra Residence Hall. Bold and crazy at that time, yes we are, we used to serenade (in our term “harana”) the ladies’ dormitories at Kamia and Sampaguita Residence Hall.

So to all fellow fathers (even mothers) who are away from home, never give up. There are countless of ways to keep you moving. It is ok once in a while to spend most of your time at work, but no too much, as stress can be fatal in your health in the long term. There are great things that you can’t find within the four corners of your office. Depending on your preference, you can join your school’s alumni organization, a sports club, or photography enthusiasts, or a religious or spiritual community, personal development group, and thousands of groups. In my part, I would like to thank my circle of friends from (CFC-SvFL) Servants for Family and Life (also CFC FFLers lah), from my Personal Excellence and Growth Meetup group, from internet marketing circle of Fabian Lim’s friends, fellow UPAAS (University of the Philippines Alumni Association Singapore), fellow PEN friends (Pinoy Entrepreneurs Night), and of course my fellow social media friends in Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Linkedin.

Post from: Jerome Castañeda

Happy Father’s Day–a special song to you Dad!

Lately, I’ve been exposed to financial education about how we can better manage our financial resources. First, I got the chance to learn from my Christian community, CFC-FFL Singapore on one our Covenant Recollection on Financial Stewardship with Carlos Cammayo as the speaker. I want to start sharing these very powerful passage from the bible (mine is New International Version) Luke 21: 1-4 The Widow’s Offering (more popularly known as The Story of Widow’s Mite) 1 As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts in the temple treasury. 2 He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. (Greek two lepta) 3 “I tell you the truth,” he said,” this poor widow has put in more that all the others. 4 All these people give their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”  The lesson is about the enduring value of faith. Her modest gift of two mites represented all that she had compared to the pretentious contributions of the wealthy. I must admit that for me this is a hard act to follow or perhaps my faith is that small compared to her.

There are 3 basic ways we can make use of our finances in the Lord:

1. Almsgiving – giving money or goods to the needy and poor both in and out of one’s community. Such is an outright grant.  Proverbs 19:17 – He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward him for what he has done.

2. Resource sharing – means sharing our material resources to meet the specific needs of our brothers and sisters. An example given was a brother who voluntarily share his car for fetching a guest or a couple who make use of their home for teaching and gathering purposes.

3. Tithing -giving ten percent (10%) of an individual’s income after taxes from whatever legal source, i.e. wages, rents, bonus, commissions, business, retirement pay, etc.

• It is a priority over everything else we need to spend on.
• It is given to the immediate body of Christ of which one is a part, and where one draws support for one’s Christian life. For us, this is our community (CFC FFL) and our parish.

a) Scriptural basis: Malachi 3:7-10 ⁷ Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD Almighty.  ”But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’ ⁸ “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. ”But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ ”In tithes and offerings. ⁹ You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. ¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”

So we are robbing God if we do not tithe yet everything is own by God. We owe God whatever we presently have and what we will have in the future. Psalms 24:1 says¹ the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.

b.)  Tithing is an essential part of our life as a growing Christian.  How we respond to tithing can be a measure of our spiritual growth, i.e. a measure of our conversion to being self-less.  It conditions our heart and mind to be generous, to think in the mindset of abundance and not on the scarcity mentality. Be a happy giver or a go-giver.

c.) The proper perspective – tithing is God’s way of giving us the privilege of being His co-workers. We give tithe to support God’s work to develop/train leaders, the resource to create a new heaven for new disciples. Focus not so much on the 10% we give, but on the 90% we keep for ourselves.

Lastly, within those times I had an opportunity to connect with another set of friends to play Robert Kiyosaki’s Cashflow 101 board game. The first objective is to be able to get out of the rat race by exceeding your total expenses with your passive income (cashflow you get from your investments in real estate, stocks/dividends, and other business).  There was a time where I landed on the charity spot whereby you have an option to give 10% of your total income in exchange for the use of 2 dices instead of one. You will have this option on each of your next 3 turns. I managed to roll a higher total of number and this prompted me to get 2 pay checks in just a single turn. So my point is that even with just a game, the rewards of giving in this case 10% charity enabled me to get my pay check two times. I was actually the first one to get out of the rat race because of the other strategies that I had done with my investments.

For our reflection, 1. Do you understand that everything belongs to God and you are just a steward? 2. How do you see yourself in terms of the measures of spiritual growth?

Post from: Jerome Castañeda

Financial Education Planning – Our Way or God’s Way?