Succeeding While You Fail

We talk a lot about success. Sometimes, it seemed as if it's the only thing that matters. That it's the only acceptable outcome. We look for answers and ways on how to achieve it. A lot of books are written telling you ways to ensure or at least take a bigger chance getting it. But in reality, we fail just as much as we win. Or sometimes even more. 

In reality, there is no blueprint to winning. Good preparation and hard work never assure success. But they will always give you peace of mind and sense of fulfillment knowing that you did your best and leaving out room for doubts had you not try harder in case of failure. 

By giving your all and being aware of what you're doing, both the good and the bad, it always produces a better you in any outcome.

Stop Waiting for the "Right Time"

“I don't look to jump over 7-foot bars: I look around for 1-foot bars that I can step over. “ – Warren Buffett

I’m impatient. I usually can’t wait for the results of what I’m doing. I just need to get to the end of it and know whether it’s a success or a bust. But hey, I think I’m improving on this department bit by bit. I get a little patient on a lot of things now. Well I hope so. I can’t wait to see myself….oops!

We all want to reach the plateau. THINK BIG! That’s what we usually hear and read on topics about success. True enough that if a person can’t visualize a big dream, what more to reach it? But most of the time, people are stuck in there. People spend their time day dreaming about the experience they may have once they get there. Just like when we’re out with our buddies talking over a bottle or two, we usually hear people talking like this: “You know what, I really wanted to start up this thing. I am very interested about it since I was a kid. I love to begin doing that, probably one of these days. Blah blah blah….”. Then the other guy replies with his own sets of “interests and plans”. Yet, after the drinking session, the next day comes like they had never talked about anything. Then on their next meeting, they discuss the same things all over again. Sounds familiar? Almost all of us wish to be doing something rather than the situation we are in today. But only a few act on it. And here’s the reason why.

We are so obsessed with results. Who doesn’t love winners anyway? The stigma of losing in our society seems unbearable as this is the era where kicking someone who’s down and out becomes a norm. We idolize those people on top and forgetting that on their way up, they had failed many times. We forget that these people began from the bottom just like most of us. But rather making it as an inspiration, a lot of us make excuses by saying that their situation was different than ours and that they had the odds mostly on their side. I agree that each scenario is different but success was never an assurance to anyone.

Thomas Edison never made the bulb in one try. Only a few cares about Warren Buffett’s investments in his first decades in the business scene. Henry Sy’s family went to the Philippines with almost nothing that they couldn’t even buy him a pair of shoes. Albert Einstein failed his entrance exam to a school in Switzerland making him an equivalent to a high school dropout. Manny Pangilinan was turned down on his first job application. But like what we usually say, then the rest was history.

We all want to take shortcuts. We're all looking for the “right time” to start on something. Then we are impatient of results. We all want success NOW. But looking at some of these successful peoples’ lives, they were “failures” at one point in time. But the common denominator for them is that, it didn’t stop them at what they were doing. They braved through the first small steps, those first awkward steps that most of us would not dare to try. We all wanted to take the “big leap” after “thinking big”. But that’s not the way it usually goes. We need to have patience and courage to make that first move.  Keep in mind that success is not just about being able to think big, but also the willingness to take small steps at the beginning of the journey.

If you want to write a novel someday, start writing now. If you want to own a food business someday, start cooking and learn more about it now. If you want to get promoted, improve your quality of work now. If you want to invest, start researching about it now. If you want to start a hobby, go for it now. The only thing that you need to stop now is “talking” about it. No more excuses.  Just start doing it NOW.

Better is not always the better

It’s 3 and a half months already since I started this site. This is my 50^th post. Currently, I got more than 6500 views, 241 comments, 115 Facebook likers, 18 Twitter followers and 15 Google followers for this page.

So what’s with all these numbers? No, I’m not bragging about them. It’s not even worth bragging as it is a below average growth compared to most in the blogosphere. But then, I’m very thankful to those who take their time dropping by here to read a piece of my mind and in return, share their own in the comments section.

So why am I posting all these statistics?

This morning, my curiosity brought me into searching for the most viewed YouTube videos of all time. There was a top 10 list that I found. All of them have at least 340 million views. All of them are music videos except for one. It’s a short amateur shot family film clip showing two very young kids having fun. Here it is:

Charlie bit my finger - again !

The first question I had after watching it was how come such video reached almost half a billion views? I believe that the uploader didn’t even think that it would reach a thousand at first. He might still be in disbelief up to now that this video reached 465 million views and counting. Compared to other videos in the list and also those which aren’t in there which were produced using a lot of money, time and effort, it’s very surprising how it surpassed all of them.

But then, if we look at the most successful, most known, must bought stuffs in the world, they are not necessarily the best things there is compared to their competitors. For example, probably you can think of 2 or 3 other fast food chains which offer better burgers than McDonald’s. I bet you can also name a couple of coffee chains that brews coffee which taste greater than Starbucks. And lastly, I know you can give a long list of brands of smartphones or gadgets that proves to be better than what the Apple has to offer.

This case is not limited to bigger brands only. Even within your neighborhood, there are people who are more popular than the other guys in town when it comes to the service or product that they provide, and yet there are arguably a lot of better options in the competition that the people are aware of. But still, these guys continuously grab the larger share of the market.

The truth is there are no specific recipes for such kind of success. It could be honesty, hard work, timing, right branding, proper networking, luck or any combination of these things. Therefore, it’s probably a mistake if we only focus on getting better at what we are doing and forgetting totally about the people whom we would like to share our products or services with.  This is reality and no one should be discouraged about it. Just keep in mind that no matter how perfect our products or services are, in the end, the public is still the one to judge. We might think that we have the better one, but still they may think otherwise.

Just 10 of Life's Lessons to My Life's First 30 Years

**This is a repost from my FB note on my 30th birthday.

Just sharing some fine few lessons that I learned and realized in the past 30 years of my life. I tried to make them short and simple and hope that they do make sense to you as well. Hope to add more in the next coming years, God willing.

1.  Successes are necessary for our growth, while failures help speed it up.

2.  True friends aren’t chosen. They just happen. Same with enemies.

3.  If we aim to prosper on more important matters rather than being materialistic, we’ll achieve more in life which comes free with the material things that we need.

4.  Open-mindedness is when you are able to consider the other side, then your side, then the other side again, then your side again…and this is where true wisdom begins.

5.  Forgiving isn’t easy while forgetting is almost near to impossible. Time is our most effective weapon to handle both, use it wisely.

6.  One of the few things that tick off the most mature person is having high expectations on an unexpectedly immature person. Refrain from expecting too much.

7.  Scrutinize all “truths” that are being thrown around no matter where they come from.

8.  Brains are meant to think, and mouths are meant to be fed and to swallow. One reason why the society is going into chaos is because many people do the opposite; they are contented that their minds are being fed with information and swallow them without having any second thoughts, while quickly reacting to issues like they are thinking directly with their mouths.

9.  Accountability is a valuable gem for those who want to achieve and retain power, leadership, integrity and respect.

10.  We gain more purpose in our lives by giving purpose to other people’s lives.