My Thoughts

Alright, I’m actually making a blog twice this week! Hahaha And that’s really weird. =P

After going through the PALs seminar. I decided to read the Seven Habits book again. This is one of the few books you guys should read in your life. It really changes you. It’s really like PALs. Haha I like learning things by reading, so I actually learned more from this book than the seminar!

I realised that I didn’t complete Habit 2. I should make a Mission Statement. A mission statement is something that you live up to — especially through problems in life. Here’s how Sean Covey (the author) explains it:

    A personal mission statement is like a tree with deep roots. It is stable and it isn’t going anywhere, but it is also alive and continually growing.
    You need a tree with deep roots to help you survive all of the storms of life that beat you up. As you’ve probably noticed already, life is anything but stable. Think about it. People are fickle. Your boyfriend loves you one minute and then dumps you the next. You’re someone’s best friend one day, and they’re talking behind your back the next.
    Think about all of the events you can’t control. You have to move. you lose your job. The country is at war. Your parents are getting divorced.
    Fads come and go. Sweaters are popular one year and on their way out the next. Rap music is the thing. Rap music stinks.
    While everything about you changes, a personal mission statement can be your deep-rooted tree that never moves. You can deal with change if yo have an immovable trunk to hang on to.

I’m going to make a mission statement tonight, and here it is! (Well, it’s still a draft.):

• Be friendly
• Never back-bite
• Be confident, and make people feel the same way.
• Study Hard
• Make your goals, and stick to them
• "Never look down on anybody, unless your helping him up!"
• Be genuine
• Don’t let people’s negative comments ruin your day, ignore them.
• Find positive things about people
• Let them know about it
• Do not do things just because everybody else does
• Be honest

Et c’est voila! This is my mission statement so far. So if you see me do anything that doesn’t agree with any of these, go ahead and slap me. =P

I also have some goals this school-year:

• First Quarter: Get passing grades
• Second Quarter: Get good grades
• Third Quarter: Be in Director’s List
• Fourth Quarter: Be an honor student

These were my goals since the start of the school-year. But since a goal that isn’t written’s only a wish, I’d better write it down.

So far I’m on the write track. And I found out that I’m actually smart. =P I hardly study for physics and chemistry and still get good grades in them. I get higher grades in some subjects than most of the smart people in class. And what a rush it is!It’s not because my grades are higher then theirs, but because I realised that actually can have grades on par with the people who have good grades. Today, I’ve had the highest grade in Economics (99) while the class average was in the 80’s. Doing that test, I felt kinda’ stupid because the rest of the guys were finished with their test while I wasn’t. Seeing the results was such a boost of motivation, that I really needed to write it down!

After many nights of seemingly futile work, I finally get to taste the fruit of my labor . =)

Last week Monday the coolest seminar in the world was about to start. At that morning we just came from the beach fully relaxed. It was 12:15, and most of us weren’t ready; at 12:30, we all were (well mostly)…

Our seminar starts at 1 o’ clock. We were on our way there at 12:45, and my heart was kinda thumping out of excitement. What will I expect? What do I say? And those other things… My feelings were a subtle mixture of reluctancy and eagerness.

We finally arrived at the Marcelo Fernan Press Centre. This was where we had our seminar. To be honest, the place looked really cool. It was both simple and modern. It was 12:50, and the first floor was almost empty. We went upstairs, and the first thing I saw was a table and tita Marget. We signed the form then went to the room beside us.

Chuck, me, Abigail, and Hannah found our seats in the back to watch the seminar. Our charismatic speaker was none other than Joey Reyes! =P The firs thing we did was to introduce ourselves to five new people, and ask these:

1. Your name
2. Your school/work
3. Your greatest dreams & what you wanna’ learn in the seminar.

And it was pretty fun! It’s always nice to meet someone new. =) Haha

Our first activity was where we formed "micro-groups." We choose five people we don’t know and form a group. These guys are the best people you’ll ever meet! One is an aspiring fashion designer (you can already tell by the clothes she’s wearing, and khaki’s a pretty cool color!), another is an aspiring doctor who plans to study — and have a scholarship — in Johns Hopkins University. Not only that, she’s planning to be a brain or heart surgeon! Another person in our group is a nice "perdy" person taking ballet. She wants to start a  have five-star hotel. The last person, but not the least, is Miko! I already know him, but who cares? Haha He wants to start a ramen shop. ^^
Each of us in the micro-group had to find a positive aspect of another person’s. And here’s mine =D :

• lookin’ fine
• friendly
• sporty
• gentlemen
• intelligent
• sincere
• joyful
• very sweet
• caring
• awesome
• optimistic
• confident
• talented
• brave
• hot
• sexy
• and… "sexy mama!!!"

ROTFLMAO! I really cracked up at the last part. =P Not a bad set of words to be associated with, don’t you think? There are so many positive aspects of a person, but all we do is focus on their negative sides. Do you know what the average number negative comments we have to put up each day? It’s 2,000. Guess how many for the positive. It’s 20. We get 2,000 negative comments each day, and only 40 positive comments to make up for it. How do you think we’d feel? There’s a theory that, "People will keep up to the expectations you set." What I’ve learned is that we should change the ratio. =)

Can you guess what group of people who are:

• confident
• hardworking
• positive
• responsible
• imaginative
• determined
• honest
• patient
• trusting
• creative
• and smart?

The answer is… BABIES! Think about it. Many of us had these traits a child, but the rigors of life stole these from us. >=( This is our true self. But sometimes, we are programed to act otherwise. These programs shape our attitude towards life. And our attitude affects our behavior in life.

On the same evening, Joey told us to organize ourselves into four groups. Each of us had to classify ourselves into these groups:

1. Dominant, Formal
2. Dominant, Informal
3. Flow With, Formal
4. Flow With, Informal

The "dominant" person asserts himself. The "flow with" person goes with the flow and is very agreeable. The "formal" person is systematic and organized. The "informal" person isn’t systematic and unorganized. I classified myself int he "dominant, formal" group. All of us were given the choice to join any one of these groups. What’s surprising’s that all the groups were divided all into equal parts. The people in each group were asked to share their: Major likes, Major dislikes, Strengths, and Motivations. We were then asked whether we were "buyers" or "sellers." "Sellers" are people who propose ideas, and buyers are the opposite. Then we were asked whether we are "task" or "relationship" oriented. What’s surprising is that many of the people in the dominant-formal group had the same interests, motivations and other similarities with me! There really probably are four different general personalities in the world. And according to the speaker, it’s the leader who adjusts to these differences. =)

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