Nationalism and Patriotism – in my dreams

Our company evaluated projects in Mindanao area. At first I was really hesitant to go to the sites because of the security risks involved in the area. The developer however informed us that we are being accompanied by military and there is nothing to be scared of. Honestly I figured it will be riskier to walk with a soldier than to pretend to be a civilian in the area, however we continue to assess the site with them and leave it all to God.

The first site we went to was near Compostela Valley in Davao, we went to the military camp first to give courtesy to the soldiers and have small conversation with them. The general who met us was very courteous and nice, he explained the activities their group implemented and how the people in the community supports them. The security of the people is their top most priority and they are doing their best. For the first time I was in awe of our AFP and appreciate the fact that there are true heroes.

We headed towards the site to see the ongoing construction. As we arrived on the site we saw a group of 5 soldiers who just went down from their operations in the mountain. They told us that they spent 5 days in the forest and were forced to go back because they do not have food anymore. They let me carry their rifle guns and it was really heavy. I noticed that they have an antenna as tall as they are in their backpack , that must be their satellite phones. It sounds funny but it was tragic. These people are actually risking their lives for the security of people. They are tired and they spend weeks away from their family to roam in the woods with possible encounter with rebels that may kill them and yet they believe they are born to do it.

I looked funny carrying the guns and they managed to laugh at me. They are happy they are safe and before we leave they told me to continue loving the country and they will do their best to protect it. Going back I am fighting my tears to come out as I don’t want to look dramatic and look like I pity them. They earned my respect and my prayers of peace. I cannot imagine even in my wildest dream to risk my life for the people who corrupts my taxes and greedy people who tries to scam and harm others. I cannot give up my life walking around empty forests waiting for a bullet to strike me. These people was deprived of freedom we live, deprived of the basic equipment they need and deprived of the trust and respect they deserve.

I hope the country specially the government gives special attention to our soldiers because it is the hardest job in the world. I hope the citizens give the right kind of respect to them and help them the best way we can. I hope everyone unites and fight together the injustice and corrupt. I hope every Filipino unites and love the country as much as these people risking their life to it. Thank you Soldiers!

Immigration and the right to citizenship

I recently went to Canada where I met my friends who already live there. They looked so happy and fulfilled of the life they choose to live, the place they choose to live. I asked them if they regret their decision or if they still intend to return to the Philippines and I get a unified answer of “no”. At some point I stopped and look at how wonderful Canada was. It was peaceful, beautiful and inviting. The tax there was a little bit less than what we have in the Philippines but unlike here, in Canada they enjoy free health care, the infrastructure was good and the traffic was extremely lower. People who do not have a job can go to the government and ask for food, and they will have food to eat. They can go to the government and ask for a place to stay, so there are less homeless people. People in other provinces have job so there are less population in the urban area. All the convenience you can think of can be found on that country and the question stays on your mind. Why am I born in the Philippines? and why things that are implemented in other country cannot be done in our country? should I stay or choose a country and exercise my right to citizenship?

A friend of mine showed me a video on why he thinks immigration does not work. Roy Beck explained it using a gumball (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPjzfGChGlE). In the video he said that when countries like America accepts immigrants, they are actually killing the chance of those countries to prosper. It is somehow true because of the fact that not everyone can migrate into a country specially first world countries like America, Canada or Australia. So these people who can actually migrate are the educated people such as doctors, lawyers, bankers, engineers or other profession who are really good and have the chance to improve their countries. These talented people who move to other country to work as waiter, janitors, construction workers etc. because those countries do not acknowledge their strengths and capabilities. These create imbalance on the system.

The way we look into the world is a place where human race has the freedom to live. The division which is the countries are differentiated by how it will be run based on a common agreement of people who live in that area. Unfortunately power and corruption happens. The people who choose to leave that place in exchange of their talent cannot be blamed if they loathe the system. If the government and the people choose to improve the country it should be agreed upon as a whole. If the government cannot set aside their personal interest, what can the citizens do? The struggle and judgement of deciding where to live continues but the right of the people to choose the kind of life they want to live should be apprehended.

The Corrector Gen

At this point in your life, do you ever think you can live without the technological breakthorughs? Do you think you can live without electricity, car, computer or even the internet? Do you think you can work without the machines? The answer is yes, you can but it will be very hard.

The past generations exerience it during their time. They did their researches and found out ways of making life easier. Through their innovations, they created machines and processes that was able to extract oil from thousand of meters under the ground, get trees from the top of the mountains, source metals underneath the ground and big machines for manuaturing businesses.

They were so happy about what they created and their lives getting easier and easier each invetion but they forgot one thing. They forgot the future. Most of their investions made people’s lives easier but harmful to the environment. After decades of continuous environmental harm, our generation is finally experiencing the side effects of their creations.

Many lives were killed because of tsunami, typhoons and earthquakes. All of these are because of climate change, and how can we prevent this? Let’s innovate, transform and educate!

Energy – the energy sector is the baseline of all technologies in the world. August 1859 was the year when George Bissell and Edwin L. Drake first successfully drill and extract oil from the ground. It was 157 years to be exact when it was invented, however in a span of those years, the world still encounters oil spills and the distraction of underwater and land resources continues.

Electricity –  There are a lot of electricity technologies such as coal, diesel, gas, nuclear and currently renewable energy was being pushed. This is because among all technologies, electricity generation was the major user of fuel. Everything will work with the use of electricity. The burning of fuel creates an end product in all forms of toxins (solid, liquid and gas) this  is one of the reason why China’s pollution reached to that level. It was also the reason why electricity generation is the first target of environmental correction.

The technology on treating this toxins are implemented in other countries, however due to expensive costs some companies do not implement the treatment. The government plays a big role on creating strict guidelines on environmental compliance of companies like these.

Manufacturing – Years back, laborers manually do manufacturing operations which post health threats and aside from that proper disposal of the wastes are not implemented. Years pass and there has been inventions on machine automation which helped laborers do their jobs and for some lose theirs. The companies are eager to implement such innovations however the same enthusiasm cannot be shown on proper waste disposal, water treatment and air treatment which causes the pollution on rivers and air that results losing fishes to eat, fresh water to drink and fresh air that local people used to enjoy. Many of the people who live nearby manufacturing companies are usually  born with respiratory diseases and later on develop digestive system problems.

Transportation – some countries like Japan already implemented the policy on usage of car but in emerging markets, these cars that was removed from first world countries are being sold at a lower cost. These cars have higher carbon emissions and developing countries does not have proper regulation on vehicle emissions that people continue to use and contribute to air pollution for at least 10 years to 20 years. Aside from car emissions, other mode of transportation such as plane, ship and boats contribute to pollution and so far there is no immediate plan on reducing these pollution.  

Illegal Logging, Mining and Pouching – Metals and wood are needed in building infrastructures, thus, extracting these minerals and wood plays a big role on distraction of forests that are home of wildlife creatures. It is trivial that companies who does illegal logging does not plant trees as their source of their businesses. Illegal mining not only ruins the environment but also exploits human rights.

Poaching on the other hand are taking advantage of uneducated people in the rural areas of the world. These people do not understand the damage they do to the ecosystem in return for a small amount of money. People buying and selling these items or endangered species are the only ones who benefit at the expense of the environment and people.

There are still a lot of things to be done in order for us to continue living with ease today and letting our future generations experience the same. We are the recipients of all the tragic equivalent of the prior generations handling of technology. What more can the next generations experience if we do not act now? The key is to be responsible and protect the environment where we get our resources from and that involves innovation, policy making, advocating and educating.

Balancing Time

I always have a problem with balancing my time. I am always late in my life until I started to work in a Japanese firm. It is always so hard to focus when you have to many things on your check list. I always end up doing nothing and feeling bad for myself.

Getting back into school while working is the toughest and demanding phase of my life. I am having a middle manager role where I need to exert greater effort on exceeding expectation to achieve my career goals and I have to balance that with my MBA requirements. More to that I have personal matters which include getting engaged and preparing for a wedding. In the early years of my career I learned how prioritizing is critical and very important lesson but what should you do if everything is in priority?

I have listed below some techniques that helps me currently to get though a highly demanding job with extensive travel requirement and a demanding MBA schedule and deadlines.

1. Create a check list

This is very important because it will give you a gausge on how much time you need. Start listing all of your responsibilities and list under that the things you need to accomplish. Below is a snapshot of my to do list on both work and school.

Once you are done with listing the requirements, put the deadlines beside it and put everything in your calendar. This will prompt you whether you are done with the deadline or not. Putting it in your calendar will also give you a reminder if you are on track or not. It is very difficult to keep on pushing back your targets and ending up to have to do three hard tasks in a day. Once you are done, start ranking your deadlines based on date and put it in your priority list.

2. Productivity Applications

There are several applications in android or appstore that are meant to help you with productivity. The key is to focus and keep your eyes on your target. There are too many distractions around you, do not fall on the traps and feel sorry later. Its better to finish your deadlines first before you do unnecessary things.

3. Stick to your goal

Your biggest enemy is procrastination! Finish everything that you can while you can. The best thing that could happen is to have free time and stress free day or week or even months. This is only possible if you keep on focusing in your goal and keep on pushing yourself to finish your deadline and starting ahead of other requirements so you have plenty of time to finish it. Finishing ahead of time is always a good feeling and a great achievement to be proud of.

4. Stop complaining and just do it

Sometimes we complain first before we actually do something. I remember there was a time where I cried because I was too busy and I have a lot of things to do. I feel so pressured and helpless so I just cried. After crying I realized nothing happened so I ended up wasting my time complaining and feeling sorry for myself. No one can really help you but yourself. So man up and face all the consequences of your choices because at the end of the day, what you do can make you better. The challenges you face today will make you stronger tomorrow. The best thing to do is to pray for guidance and do your best until you are done.

5. Have a good support system

I am lucky because my fiance is very understanding and he is also very supportive so I am not having a hard time. It is very important to have a partner that will support you in everything that you do and will bring out the best in you. I talk to him to share my insights and issues and he gladly listens and sometime argues with me if I’m being emotional. He comforts me when I am so tired and he gives me all the things I need. If your partner does not understand you, you should start thinking.

At the end of it all, stay focus in your goal which is to succeed in life. Find the things that motivates you and if you feel losing on track always remember the moment you chose that path. Keep a journal of your life goals so you get back on you feet and start again.

Practice makes Perfect

I wanted to share my friend’s story and how his example inspired me to become a better me. During my first year in college, I have a classmate named JB who claims he used to live in  Payatas. Well he doesn’t look like he was but told us that he got a working scholarship to study in UST due to the help of an organization called Pathways in Ateneo. He invited us to be part of the UST expansion of the organization where I became a physics tutor to 4tth year public high school students.

I have small encounters with JB because we have different set of friends. I remembered everyone in the room laughs at him and talks behind his back because he talks in English all the time. Sometimes his grammars are incorrect and he tries to sound very elite or expert on the way he speaks which makes him look really funny. Even when he answers to the professor or casual conversations, he will talk in English.

During third year we parted ways because I got finance as my major and he went to get a major in marketing. In one of the organization activities in Business Administration department, I was asked to get a volunteer for debate team to compete with other departments such as Economics, PreCom and Entrepreneurship. Getting a volunteer is very hard because UST BA students doesn’t like to speak in English and are typically shy people. Since I am part of the organization, even if its against my will, I have to be part of the team and I remembered JB and though he would love to join the competition.

On the day of the competition, we were handed by our topic and decided on which role to take where I decided to be the deputy prime minister because I think I am the weakest link and it would be hard to construct an argument and definitely harder to close one. JB then took the role of whip because he is the most confident among us. When it was his turn to speak everyone in the room got amazed on how good he is. We won and was able to reach second place. People got so amazed with him he was offered to be part of the university team of debaters which he gladly accepts. I was so proud of him and I thought practice and determination will really make you improve and get where you want to be. I thought If I practiced along with him, I might have been as good as he was.

During my first year in the corporate world I realized how important it is to be able to speak in English fluently, most specially if you are working in a treasury department of a company and all your dealings with bankers are in English. It was so hard for me and I almost gave up, but I remembered JB and how he became successful in his journey. From then on, I strategized on how to learn to speak conversational English fluently which includes watching series , internal narrative and practicing.

Whenever I watch series, I tried to answer back and try to explain how I feel about the episode. My internal narrative involves describing everything around me in my head as I commute on my way to work. I keep on answering in English even though I know I sounded struggling.

Now, I have gained the confidence to speak in front of anyone and I still practice to sound more professional. JB is one of those inspiring people who are never ashamed of where he came from and he is truly deserving of how far he had accomplished in life because he worked hard for it. He is one of the reasons I keep believing that I can do anything as long as I put my best effort into it and keep on practicing to be better.

Benefits of Traveling Solo

I believe that once in your life you should travel alone. Its not about being selfish or trying to be outrageous or doing #YOLO stuff in your life. Its all about learning and being mature. When I traveled alone I was was forced to reflect on my life and realize things I never thought I would. My learning helped me become better personally and professionally.

“traveling alone forces you to think and reflect on your life journey”

You are stronger than you ever thought 

Yes you are and you will be. I was standing in the middle of the Tokyo train station trying to figure out how to go to the hotel with unfamiliar words and surrounded by Japanese people who cannot speak English. I cannot go back home for sure, I have to survive the 12 days left before my flight back to Manila. Do I just stay in the hotel and wait for that time or do I go outside the room and be strong? Other people can do it, why cant I? Once you have overcome the fear you start becoming confident and we all know that confidence is critical for you to succeed in life.

You learn to be prepared 

I was never prepared in my life I am completely dependent on Jake, my fiance, on preparing everything and I am always late. Travelling alone forced me to create a checklist on the things I need before leaving the house. I was forced to be ahead of the schedule so I have enough time to get lost and still make it because being late is really expensive. I learned to do my itinerary as detailed as possible and print it out so I do not get lost all the time. Planning is the key! You should understand that you have limitations on time and money so you should pick your best choice with the shortest distance and cheapest or easiest way. By doing the activity you slowly learn how to make the best decisions in your life because life and work are all about managing resources which includes money and time.

You discover new things

What is better than learning while having fun? None. From our history classes in elementary my view of Japanese people are heartless and scary because of world war stories a.k.a death march in the Philippines BUT when I was in Japan I learned that Japanese are actually the most polite people I have ever encountered in my life. They are very nice and accommodating which make me love Japan even more. In Singapore I was followed by a Pakistani that made me run and forced me to actually see the whole Chinese Japanese garden, not only I appreciate the surrounding, I realized that even though Singapore is a relatively safe place there are still sketchy people so you have to be alert all the time. You cannot be at awe and forget your surroundings because nothing beats being safe than sorry.

You need other people

The best story I can share on this learning is when I was so hungry in Tokyo and ate the best tempura ever! When I was already full and its time to pay, I realized that I left my purse in the house that I was staying. I booked my room through airbnb and good thing I have wifi so I was able to contact the owner and he delivered cash to me. It was one of the most embarrassing and equally hilarious moment in my life. I was so thankful that it happened in Japan where almost everyone are nice. I was very thankful that I didn’t end up in jail or wash dishes. When I was lost in Tokyo train station an old woman helped me and even brought me to the exact location I was looking for, she would go that far just to help me and it really melted my heart. In was in Hong Kong I was on my way to dragon’s back trail and I was asking the person beside me for direction, he definitely do not understand me but he tried his best end even tried google translate which is by the way not very helpful. He ended up not being able to help me but its really the thought that counts. I realize that all people have kindness embedded to their heart regardless of their culture or nationality. Everyone will try to help you and go beyond their way just so you can be where you want to be and because of that I learned to open my heart out of kindness to try to help other people as much as I can.

You can truly love

When you experience the wonders of the world you realize that while its great to be alone its always better to share the experience with the one you love. At first it made me feel sad because I miss Jake all the time but then life is not all about being dependent on other people. You are faced with the beauty of nature and human work and all you think about is the things you left at home. You are not living, you are trapped and you wanted to escape. Travelling alone should make you feel happy and thankful over the things that surrounds you. When you do not rely you happiness on others, that is when you can truly become happy. When you are truly happy you can love with all of your heart. A successful solo traveler is someone who appreciates both the beauty of the world and the lacking joy being with the one you love.

The effect or life lessons may differ from each person, you may have your own realizations too that you wanted to share. 🙂

The One Principle of Learning

 

I never dreamed to be where I am today, I guess that’s why I always end up in the worst and best situations. I became who I am because I follow this one principle in learning which I am about to share.

Since I was young I always dreamed to be a doctor which is probably a dream of 80% of children in the world. I was so sure I will be a doctor because I wanted heal people and cure sickness. Like really invent new medicine for most sickness. Until I was in send year in high school when my parents told me that my younger brother should be getting medicine because he is more intelligent. It felt like there was a wrecking ball that hit my dream and shattered it into pieces. I was lost at an early age, I really do not know what to do. I do not know what I want and what to be anymore.

I went into college still not knowing  what to be, I just thought that I still have 4 years to think about it. I thought maybe getting rich would be a good dream so I enrolled in accountancy. I did not know that it would be very hard for me because in science everything should be defined and explained, even gravity has an explanation and now no one can explain to me why profit is on the credit side? The only way I understood and managed to pass it is when a fourth year student who spent his whole day trying to help me understand that all I have to do is to remove what I know and just follow the rules. Of course I find it unreasonable but when I reflected on what he said I realized that he was right. I really should leave what I know so I can allow myself to learn something new.

Since then I never let my knowledge or my existing understanding stop me from creating new knowledge. It is important to open yourself to the many wonders of the world. I started to keep an open mind to anyone who shared their views whether it is right or wrong. I even left my religion so I can remove all the prejudice in my mind.

“Never let your existing knowledge stop you from learning or creating new knowledge”

In career I was able to accomplish things and climb the corporate ladder by doing the same principle. When I graduated my goal was very clear: I wanted to be a Forex trader in bank. It was very hard to get into a bank treasury department if you did not graduated with flying colors so I landed my first job in Citibank as junior compliance analyst which is too far from my initial plan. So when I got the opportunity to get a treasury job in Phinma I grabbed it right away. There was a caveat though, I need to start at the bottom because I did not have the experience yet. I accepted the challenge to learn the long process, be an operations person and eventually learn the trading and cash management aspect of the work. My eagerness made me do my job during weekends and learn doing the treasury job on weekdays.

When I transferred to another company they offered me the treasury position but I will also handle syndicated loans. I never backed out on a challenge so I took it and study loan management on the job. I did pretty well so they let me handle project financing in which at that point my skill set was cash management, investment, loan management and project financing.

Again, I transferred to another company where they offered me a financial modelling and business development position which I have zero knowledge. It was a big risk for me because at that moment my career duration is reaching five years and at that point I should be harnessing my skill set for managerial position. It was a scary option since I have to let go of what I have learned and again open myself to something new. So I took the chance knowing that the opportunity was laid in front of me by circumstances, by the universe, by God.

After two years of learning how to do financial models I got a managerial position for business development and currently other companies are still trying to get my skill set because it is a great advantage on making the right decisions and on creating strategic plans. Now I just have to build tenure and my career has been amazing only because I follow one principle in life and learning.

It is very easy to say “I already know that” to someone and disregard the chance to learn something new. For all you know he was about to share with you a trivia or secret you never heard before. You lose a potential learning by shrugging off or mentally zoning out someone’s idea. Be a blank slate in Latin – tabula rasa.