LLOYD LUNA

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 Why Am I Working?

This book is presented to

____________________________

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 LLOYD LUNA

Also by Lloyd Luna

Is There A Job Waiting For You?

The Obvious Reasons for Success
(DVD) Do You Have A Life of Your Own?
(DVD) Break Me Up
The Best Advice I Ever Gave
The Internet Marketing Handbook
Nurse Your Future

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 Why Am I Working?

LLOYD LUNA

Why Am I Working?
Understanding the value of what you do so you’ll never
hate your job again!

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 LLOYD LUNA
Copyright © 2010 by Lloyd A. Luna. All rights reserved.
Published by LLOYDLUNA Corporation, Manila, Philippines.

Cover Design © 2010 by LLOYDLUNA with assistance from Ninja.ph

Photos by: Great Image Services Corporation

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning,
or otherwise, except as permitted, without either the prior written permission or
authorization by the publisher.

Requests to the publisher for permission should be addressed to The Business Evangelist,
LLOYDLUNA Corporation, 1745 Dian St., Makati City 1235 Philippines, Tel. (632)
505.5336, Fax (632) 846.1089.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their
best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with
respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically
disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other
commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or
other damages.

LLOYDLUNA also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that
appears in print may not be available in electronic books. For more information about
LLOYDLUNA products, visit our web site at www.lloydluna.com

ISBN: 978–971–93474–4–6
Printed in the Philippines.

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 Why Am I Working?

Dedication
To every working person who makes an effort to make this
world a better place.

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 LLOYD LUNA

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 Why Am I Working?

Table of Contents
Introduction

Chapter 1
Job or Work? ...…...…...………………………………………….../21

Chapter 2
The Workplace …..………………………………………………../39

Chapter 3
Emotions At Work …………………………………..……..…….../59

Chapter 4
Finding Your Self ………………………………..……….………./85

Chapter 5
To Quit or Not to Quit ………...…..………..…………………./105

Chapter 6
Is It a Cross or a Car? …………….…………..…….………..../113

Chapter 7
Your Own Game Plan ………………………….……………..../123

Chapter 8
Creating Your Own Opportunities ………….……………..../133

Afterword
Why Did You Read This Book? ...…………………….………./147

Acknowledgment

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Perhaps, it’s not about your job or your

work. Perhaps, it’s about you...

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 Why Am I Working?

Introduction
If there’s one question that could ver y well star t
this book, it would be this: Do you love your work?

Now, that question’s kind of heavy, isn’t it? It is

perhaps too big for an opening statement, so you
might think you didn’t get the question right. Let me
repeat it then:

“Do you love your work?”

Why do I ask? It’s because everything that you are

becoming every day, everything that you do every
moment of your working hours, and probably
everything that you think about most of the time, has
everything to do with your life as a whole.

Simply put, even if that question sounds seemingly

easy, it’s a powerful key to finally putting to rest every
agony, sorrow, and disappointment you have inside
you that probably makes you hate either your job or
your boss.

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When you get to answer that question with a “yes” or a

“no,” let me ask you this follow-up question: “Why are
you working?”

Seemingly, that’s an easy question, too. When I ran a

short survey on Facebook, in fact, there was no
question at all about the answers. It was all about
money, livelihood, satisfaction, the absence of choice,
fate, and many more. The sentiments were all the
same. In sum, we all work for either money or
fulfillment or for a combination of both.

But of course, one other fact has remained the same as

it was thousands of years ago: We all need to work.
Even company owners need to work. More often than
not, they even work three or four times harder than
their employees. Your bosses will need to work, too.
Students will need to study. Parents will need to parent
their children.

Everybody will need to move and do something for as

long as they live. Is it a punishment by God that when a
certain Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, we all
have ended up having to labor to live?

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 Why Am I Working?

Well, whether the story is true or not and whatever the

answer to that question, the fact is we are all working
and we will need to continue to do so to live.

This is why I wrote this book. If we don’t have any

option but to work for a living, how should we look at
our work? If there’s nothing else we can do but to work
for a living, how should we respond to this reality? If
we could never ever escape a “working” life, then how
should we position ourselves in the workplace?

Our goal here is to understand the real meaning of

what we do so we can liberate ourselves from anxiety,
from pain, and from frustration due to our poor
understanding of our job or of our work. Without
expanding our thinking on this very important matter,
our limited knowledge can do us more harm than
good.

This is why some people get sick. It’s not only because
of the polluted air or water. It’s also because of our
polluted working environment and polluted mindsets.
Imagine some people seeing the person they hate
every day and trying to figure out how that person
might be fired from the company or praying that soon
that person will quit his or her job. And what about
corporate politics; hasn’t it been there for centuries?
We can take the case, too, of an ugly working

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relationship between the boss and the employees or of

a turf war among company workers.

The thing is that the way we deal with every issue will
define the way we will live our lives at work and at
home. And whoever told you that you can separate
your work life from your personal life is totally
mistaken. It’s simply impossible to do so.

Everything must have a connection and a relation.

That’s why a bad-hair day that started from home can
become an entire bad-hair day at work and vice versa.

It’s not easy to find a work-life balance, if ever there’s

such a thing. Honestly, I believe that work is life itself.
That being the case, I don’t think we should even make
an effort to balance work and life. It just won’t make
any sense. Life, to my mind, can’t be taken away from
anything that we do. Life is embedded in every form of
labor that we do, every emotion that we feel, every
decision that we make.

Life is what happens.

Accepting several mysteries at work and at home will

make your life easier. That’s what this book is also
about. In the following pages, we’re going to find that
there’s only a thin line between job and work. We need

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to learn that difference between the two so we can

make informed decisions and sound judgment on what
we do.

Obviously, we shouldn’t ask this question: “Are you

jobbing?” It’s as misdirected as this question: “Are you
working occasionally at separate short jobs?” That’s
how Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines “jobbing,”
which is chiefly British usage.

So, is there a distinct difference between job and work?

You’ll find the answer in this book.

Every workplace has its own norms, culture, and

traditions. If you’re a newcomer particularly in a big
company, it would take time to realize that you’re
expected to move in a certain way under certain
circumstances. Obviously, there are structures and
rules that you’ll need to follow should you want to
keep your job. If you’ve been a longtime employee,
having worked for, say, 10 years or more since the
company’s founding, then it’s likely that you yourself
was part of the pioneering group that developed those
structures and rules.

How do you understand the corporate culture? Is it

even necessary for you to know and observe its norms?
How do you capitalize on them? Is it possible to benefit

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from the existing corporate culture? Who’s making up

the company’s “generally accepted standards”?

There are always some intractable issues in every

organization—gossip, backstabbing, jealousy,
mudslinging, blame games, and a thousand and one
others. No matter how often you attend or are sent to
seminars, conferences, conventions, or trainings, those
issues are almost impossible to resolve. But why is it
that we are unable to resolve these issues using the
principles we’ve learned from our values education in
primary and secondary school?

Companies spend a lot of time and money on training.

Is this the solution to those corporate issues or does
the spending only end up making employees even
more adept in engaging in these issues? As an
individual, is it that hard to do good than to do bad? Or
is this the very reason why, consciously or not, we do
bad things?

In this book, we will cover these issues and take up

some suggested solutions so you need not waste your
time and energy in trying to beat the system.
Afterwards, perhaps you can even draw your own
system and game plan to make the existing system
obsolete. When this happens, you’ll become the driver
of your own career.

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Finally, in the last chapter, I’ll invite you to move up

and raise your own bar. Being an employee doesn’t
mean being lowly. It doesn’t mean that someone else
owns you and that you’ll have to follow everything you
are told to do. If what you do is getting in the way of
your personal philosophy and judgment, you always
have a choice to pick another journey.

Being an employee doesn’t mean that you always have

to get a little and your bosses will have too much. It
doesn’t take away your right to be happy. Your being a
worker doesn’t restrict you from exercising your free
will or the freedom to choose and decide for yourself.
It is therefore wrong to say, “I have no choice.”

As an employee, you are duty-bound to follow certain

set procedures. But it shouldn’t restrain you from
growing. I think growth is a very important parcel of
happiness, too. If you’re no longer growing and the
environment you’re working in no longer provides you
room for development, it’s time to get out of your
post.

As a worker, though, you’ll get every opportunity to

make your life better every day. This is true for
everyone. But not everyone can recognize this
opportunity, and that recognition often spells the

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difference between success and failure. To succeed,

you should learn to either recognize an opportunity or
create one for yourself.

Lastly, I’ve always been a fan of personal development.

I believe that the only way to succeed is to beat every
opponent along your way. But by “opponent” here I
mean your thinking, your choices, and your actions.
Beating these opponents means challenging yourself to
continuously improve and do a little bit more—every
day.

One thing more: I’d like to confess that I’ve always

been an employee. And my love for my work and my
commitment to my God-given talent have always
employed and empowered me to work for yet another
day. But for how long? Oh, yes, for as long as I live.

Lloyd A. Luna
September 1, 2010
Makati City, Philippines

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LD
EXPLORING THE WORS I A Seoul, South Korea
ND A
SPEAKING AROU

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Manila, Philippines

Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei

Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

Bangkok, Thailand

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 LLOYD LUNA

A job makes you a living. Work gives

you meaning...

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 Why Am I Working?

CHAPTER 1

Job or Work?
My job as an author is to organize my thoughts
and write them down. My work as an author is to
inspire people, to motivate people, and to move
people through my books.

But is a job different from work?

The Thin Line

I’m not sure if many people know exactly what it

means to keep a job and what it means to work. More
often than not, people think a job and work are all the
same. Some even try to rationalize and attach different
meanings to them.

Are you paid for your job or for your work? Which one
is part of the other? Is your job smaller than your work,
or is it the other way around?

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Whatever the case, I don’t think people are clear about

the difference between a job and work, so I decided to
do two things: first, define each term based on the
dictionary, and second, define them based on my
personal observations and interpretation.

A “job,” according to Merriam-Webster’s, means “a

piece of work done for private gain.” “Work,” on the
other hand, means “activity in which one exerts
strength and faculty to do or perform something.”

It seems to me, though, that a job is only a part of

work. When people do a job they are paid, but not
necessarily when they work. Work is more tedious and
requires more energy than doing a job. With this
distinction, I made myself believe that a job is more
specific than work, and that people can have a job but
actually not work at all.

An interesting distinction, isn’t it?

To make the distinction clearer, I’ll come up with

several illustrations of the difference between a job
and work. Later, we’ll discuss why people in the
workplace need to realize that only a thin line
separates a job from work or connects the two.

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What’s the job of, say, a human resource practitioner? I

asked this basic question in one convention where I
was one of the speakers, and it’s interesting how
simply the question was answered—“A human resource
practitioner’s job is to scout, interview, recruit, and
fire.”

Whew!

At first, that seemed to me a very easy, simplistic

answer. Well, it was probably because human
resources isn’t my field and I’m actually a stranger to
the industry.

So I immediately threw in my second question: What is

the work of a human resource practitioner?

Suddenly there was silence. Most of the audience

seemed to be at a loss, trying desperately to retrieve
something from their store of knowledge and
experience. They were silently asking themselves,
“Yeah, what’s my work as an HR practitioner?”

The answer, though, wasn’t forthcoming.

And I’d say that this situation isn’t unique to that

particular audience. It’s also true to people in sales, in

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marketing, in operations, in customer service, in

maintenance, in fact in every sphere of human activity.

What is your work?

And so in that same convention, I gave them some

ideas based on how the dictionary puts it. I said, “As
HR practitioners, maybe your work is to make people
grow by placing them in appropriate positions.”

A company pays a human resource generalist or

specialist for a particular job, not for a particular work.
“Placing people properly and putting their talent at the
right place” is evidently work, but it isn’t something
you are paid to do. It’s only implied.

What about a taxi driver? What’s his job? What’s his

work? Can you guess?

Here’s what the taxi driver’s job is: Drive from Point A
to B. Here’s what his work is: Transport people so they
can come to work.

When you take a closer look, you’ll find out that there’s
a mission in work and that the key to that mission is
the job.

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Here’s another difference between a job and work: A

job requires a set of skills. Work requires an
understanding of the mission and the cause. A job
makes you a living. Work gives your job meaning. A job
makes you money. Work gives you fulfillment. A job
involves you and your employer within the office. Work
involves you and the people within a community. A job
is between you and the one who pays you. Work is
between you and the person you meet and touch base
with while you’re on the job.

Perhaps this is why we say “social work” instead of

“social job.” Social work is a clear mission.

But what about a student? What’s his job? What’s his

work?

Here’s what the student’s job is: Pass all the subjects
and complete all school requirements. Here’s what his
work is: Prepare for employment or entrepreneurship
after school.

Therefore, it doesn’t follow that when you do your job,

you automatically do your work. It doesn’t necessarily
follow that once you pass all the subjects and fulfill
every school requirement, you’d automatically get
employed. Doing the job isn’t automatically doing the
work.

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What about parents? What’s their job and what’s their

work?

In the case of my own parents, their job was primarily

to provide for our day-to-day needs—and by “needs”
here I mean everything from financial to moral to
spiritual needs and so on. My parents’ work was to
make their children responsible citizens. That means
working to instill in their children the proper attitudes
and values. They did this to me through storytelling—
the job—when I was still a toddler. It was how I learned
the value of being loved and being taken care of. Now,
that’s what I am paying forward.

I can cite many more examples but I think I’ve already

driven home the point and clearly established the
distinction between a job and work.

Now, why is it important to understand the difference

between a job and work?

Basically, people do something. In order for people to

live, they need to do a particular piece of work in
exchange for something, mostly in the form of cash,
benefits, and compensation. But where does this take
us?

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Why People Produce Differently

Every job that we perform is a direct reflection of who

we are as a person. That explains a quality job and a
low-quality job. Even if the same company gives them
the exactly same resources, different people will
produce different results.

But why do people produce differently?

One answer is that they don’t all see themselves as a

valuable asset to an organization and don’t realize the
value of their contribution. Of course, the company’s
management can always organize a seminar and tell
you, “You are the most valuable asset of this
company,” or perhaps, “Without you, this success isn’t
possible.”

Well, I think the thinking of people about this matter

has evolved to a point that they now rationalize and
compare what the company is saying with what they
are getting from that company. Some geniuses out
there may even privately reply this way: “Oh, yeah?
We’re the most valuable asset? You tell us that we are
the reason for your success? But who’s getting the
money?”

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And the issue becomes yet another big deal that starts
a big, silent debate.

This big, silent debate goes on and on because many

companies leave it to their individual workers to figure
out whether what the company says is authentic or not.
People then judge the company’s sincerity simply by
feel. This is why some companies fail to communicate
the message properly to their employees. They wrongly
assume that the employees will listen for the simple
reason that they are in the company’s payroll.

Well, guess what: Most of the time, people don’t listen

to the company. I mean, yes, they may listen but, hey,
there’s no comprehension or retention at all.

Although a meeting or a training session may help at

some level, it takes much more than that to change a
person’s heart. What really delivers the message is the
company’s sincerity to help the people in the
workforce consistently.

Perceived Value

Every individual, whether leader or follower, has two

kinds of value: perceived value and real value.

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How often do we hear in the workplace remarks like

these?

“That person is a jerk. He’s only here because of his

connection. Without that connection, he shouldn’t have
been here working with me.”

“That person doesn’t deserve the promotion. I can’t

understand why he got it. I think I’m working twice as
effectively as he is.”

I can go on and on listing similar remarks but I’ll stop

here so I can emphasize my point. You see, every label
and value that you put on a person is called a
“perceived value.” That’s how you perceive him or her
as a person. Soon you will also find out that your
officemates are also saying things about you—whether
good and bad. If you know how to measure someone,
your fellow worker also knows how to measure you.
And trust me when I say that he has a meter stick
different from yours.

Most of the time, perceived values aren’t true. This is

because they are based simply on assumptions. Those
assumptions are based on how you speak, how you
interact, and how you act. When you fail in one easy
project, for instance, people will make it a basis for

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judging you as someone “not valuable.” Perhaps, in

one unguarded moment, you’ve raised an eyebrow,
and that act made people believe that you are “not a
good person.” You see, people always tend to
exaggerate even the most simple and most innocent
things.

These are what’s called perceived value. People attach

a label onto someone. Most people can’t live with such
labels, so they become arrogant and offensive in self-
defense. Some people even go out of their way to
prove other people wrong by directly confronting
them, sometimes in the presence of other people. Of
course, the aggrieved party often retaliates. Very soon,
a live war begins.

We’re all judgmental at different levels. I’m sure about

that. I think it’s human nature to judge one person
right off the bat. We talk to ourselves about what we
think of this person—silently, of course. This self-talk
invariably happens every time a newcomer is
introduced to us. And we keep that private
conversation with ourselves until the person can prove
us wrong.

Perceived value plays an important role in how we work

and in shaping our attitude towards what we do. And if
we’re unable to handle our perceived values properly,

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they can wreak havoc on our emotions and shake us to

the ground.

For example, when someone is accused of, say, being a

liar, not too many people know exactly how to
intelligently respond to that kind of accusation, so they
go for the easiest way, which is to prove that the
accused person is indeed a liar. And when someone is
accused of being useless, the easy way to respond is to
say, “Sure, I am. If you really think I’m of no good use,
just watch how useless I can be!”

This idea of perceived value is very powerful. It can

easily change or reverse a person’s attitude. Even if the
person is by nature good, a perceived value to the
contrary can instantly make him or her bad.

Wrong perceived values can produce small wars inside

the company, wars that when left unresolved can make
the workplace a veritable war zone.

Some people, though, are wise enough to avoid such

wars. They prove people wrong about their wrong
perceptions about them.

Even then, the perceived value attached to an

individual affects his job. We all know that there are
demoralized workers in every organization. These

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people don’t have the energy. They don’t feel good.

They feel so lowly. They are not in the mood. They will
not produce. They hardly see what they are capable of
doing.

I’ll bet you know at least a few persons of this type.

They give up the fight even before the fight gets
started and become losers right there and then. They
are paid to do their job but they no longer have the
motivation to do the work.

Real Value

But now let’s discuss your real value. Your real value is
your own conviction of your capacity and your belief
about who you are as a person. It’s your own
measurement of yourself using your own meter stick.
This time you’re in total control.

So my question is, “What do you think is your real

value?”

I know it isn’t easy to answer that question. In my own

personal life journey, I must admit that that was one
tough question I had to answer, too.

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It took me some time to finally convince myself that my

worth is way more than what many people think. It
took me some time before I finally convinced myself
that I’m not what my environment wants me to be—the
same environment that can’t even tell me what I can
and can’t do.

Before I became an entrepreneur, I had to go through

so many so-called organizational protocols. I worked
as technical assistant in the Office of the President of
the Philippines and held an office at Malacañang Palace
in Manila. Many people were skeptical of my capacity
to do the job. Many even judged me by my age.

At that time I was still pursuing my electronics and

communications engineering degree at the Polytechnic
University of the Philippines. I was a working student.
But the negative perceptions and doubts of people
about me didn’t compel me to become someone I
wasn’t and couldn’t be.

People around you can always say what they want and
label you in whatever good or bad way they choose.
They may deny you your own right to speak about who
you really are. Ultimately, however, you will have a
choice of only one of two things: live your life by your
own life design, or live it by someone else’s.

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But now I have a more important question: Is it

possible for your perceived value to become your real
value?

The straight answer is “Yes.” When you start to believe

what other people are saying about who you are, that
belief becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy—you become
what they believe you are. When some friends or
officemates of yours call you lazy and you allow that
label to stick in your mind, then you become the lazy
person they think you are. No further effort is needed
to validate that perception.

That’s one explanation why some people who have

been very hardworking and diligent in high school or
college end up the exact opposite when they start
working. They used to perform and really produce
results. They used to be highly competitive with
unparalleled commitment to do well in every subject or
project.

When they started working after graduation, however,

they realized that they are now in “the real world” with
no professor to give them grades for their
performance. They would start working diligently but
many of their peers in the workplace would advise
them to slow down because after all, they are being
paid only a little. You can imagine what happens to

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them after hearing the same piece of advice for the

next 30 days or so.

I also wonder what “the real world” really means to

some people. I can’t understand why people say they
are now in “the real world” when they are done with
school. After graduation, they say, “I’m now facing the
real world.” They say it as if schooling wasn’t real!

The thing is that most people make “the real world”

synonymous with an ugly circumstance—one that’s so
problematic, so complicated, and so confusing to
solve, if, in fact, they can be solved at all.

So what destroys the company isn’t really the problems

in sales or in operations or in marketing. It’s often the
people’s lack of awareness about their value—whether
perceived or real—and how they respond to it.

The True Measure of Your Own Real Value

People can assume and speculate about who

you are. Often, that assumption is wrong.

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People can say anything they want to say about

you but in the end, it’s not about what they say,
it’s about who you really are.

Your self-belief defines the quality of your

work.

You can be the best person in a poorly defined

“real world.”

Perceived value is nothing but an assumption of

other people about you.

Real value is nothing but your belief about who

you are and what you can achieve.

When you understand that you are working not only for
yourself but also for other people who need your
company’s product or service, it makes sense to value
your work.

When you realize that people depend on your

company, a place where you work and belong, it makes
sense to value your work. When you stop and think
about where all these things are taking you, it makes
sense to value your work.

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 Why Am I Working?

Yes—all of the above is true no matter how disgusting

your job is! It’s because work is about you and the
people who rely on what you do.

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 LLOYD LUNA

Some people will hate you for doing the

right thing. Still, do it.

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CHAPTER 2

The Workplace
Any workplace can be either heaven or hell. It
depends on how you define these two terms and
on the way you look at your work.

What’s your workplace like? Is it a place where you are

happy or a place that you feel like escaping from?

Looking Around

Before you started working in the company where you

are today, did you look around first? Did you ask
around? Did you feel anything positive?

Well, chances are that like so many others, you just

stumbled into that job, jumped in, and got hired. You
get a guaranteed salary every 15 days. That was the
only consideration.

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Now, I really have nothing against employment. If I say

otherwise, I’d be bad-mouthing my employees who are
supporting my businesses. On the contrary, I feel that
everyone is cut out for doing something, whether on
his or her own or doing it for someone.

And so I let people do their own stuff. I allow them to

exercise their own creativity and not get in the way of
their own thinking and decision-making process. I
think it’s one thing to put a person in a box and
another thing to make sure that that person
understands why he or she is put in that box.

It is therefore necessary to let people know what’s

inside that box. When I say box, of course, I mean a
certain process or set of rules created by the company
to ensure that some normal and integral processes are
in place. This is important because it enables the
management to trace the source of a problem should
one arise. So, honestly, I’m not against a company that
provides boxes of some sort. Again, let me say that it’s
important to have those boxes.

But I also believe that people should be given ample

space for exercising their own decision-making. That
means that when you are the boss yourself, you need
to allow people to be on their own; you need to stop
controlling them as if you own them. Paying a person

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to do the job is different from owning that person.

Besides, your payment is only good for the job—for
just a piece of work—and is good only as far as that
job is concerned.

We shouldn’t buy the person.

It is important for people to look around and pay

attention to the kind of space they have in the
company. The workplace isn’t only about what you see.
It’s also about what you hear, what you feel, what you
smell. Everything in the workplace will have an effect
on your performance.

While a lot of things affect one’s performance, it’s not

fair to blame our workplace for our failure to deliver
the results expected from us. Otherwise, the most
logical thing for us to do is to quit the job and find
another workplace.

When we accept a job, we not only accept

responsibility and accountability. We also accept every
workplace reality that goes with the job.

Now, workplace realities are mostly mysteries. This

means that you may not be able to figure them out
even after you have already retired from the company.

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That’s why they are mysteries. There’s no need to

solve them.

Often, though, these mysteries get in the way of

people when they do their jobs in the company. Since
they are mysteries, however, you need not solve them
yourself. You could try, sure. But it may take you
forever to figure out even just a part of one of those
mysteries. So, it’s better not to.

But since we need to talk about realities, I believe it’s

important for every employee to open his or her mind,
heart, and eyes on some of the things that happen at
work.

Besides, it’s useless to deny that those things are really

happening. I mean, everybody knows the drill.
Everybody knows how it works and sometimes even
shares the same disappointments and frustrations on
those issues. Those things happen and this is why
they’re called realities.

Can you complain about those workplace mysteries?

Well, you can. But I suggest you don’t. Besides, even
your boss may not be able to answer your question. He
or she has something important to work on so I
suggest you don’t bother him or her about it.

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Besides, come to think of it, a workplace mystery is

something not meant to be understood or is beyond
understanding.

But why is it important to at least have a second look

on these mysteries? The answer is simple: so you will
no longer need to try to solve them, so you will no
longer have to fight them, so you will no longer look at
them as a hindrance to achieving your own goals.

So, I think the key is to identify these mysteries and

work around them. Of course, that will only happen
when you take the trouble of looking around.

On Doing the Right Thing

People will hate you for doing the right thing. I don’t
know why. Probably because by doing good, you’re
making yourself a step closer to your promotion.
Probably because by doing good, you’re making a step
closer to your boss; it’s bound to make him like you
better and disregard someone else.

This looks like a mystery all right! For weren’t we

taught in primary school that we should praise people
for doing the right thing? So why are we doing

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otherwise now? Have we forgotten or, as the old joke

goes, were we absent in class when this was taught?

We may not be able to solve this mystery about “the

right thing,” but I’m convinced that we can work
around it. If we can’t move it from its place, then we
need to move up, down, left, right, or through it. So,
let’s do it!

Think about this: Coming to work earlier than

scheduled can raise the eyebrows of your peers
especially if you’re a newcomer. They will tell you not
to do it because it’s not customary in the company.
Apparently, everybody maximizes the “grace period.”
Nobody wants to go to work earlier than required.
Everybody should follow the manual. That’s it. Play by
the book.

And so the newcomer who doesn’t toe the line is

slowly made to believe that he’s not becoming part of
the group. Nobody wants to be out of place, of course.
Everybody wants to belong. So, slowly, the newcomer’s
mindset is changed until it becomes a part of his
reality to go to work either on time or within the grace
period—but definitely not earlier than required.

The box—the company’s manual or set of rules—tells

people exactly when to come to work. That’s why

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there’s a time card but again, there’s nothing wrong

with that. A time card has a specific use. It helps the
organization. But beyond the time card, there’s a thing
called “the right thing” and part of it is initiative. Now,
how does it work?

If you come to work just on time or within the grace

period, you wouldn’t be able to prepare for the day’s
work. Why? Because you’re obviously in a rush. You’ll
have to check your Facebook first and your e-mails,
perhaps also open your Yahoo! Messenger. You don’t
have enough time to breathe and go over your
schedule for the day.

Of course, organizing your own personal schedule isn’t

the job of the company. You’re not paid to organize
yourself. It’s on you. It’s part of your work. You aren’t
paid to prepare for the day and check your personal e-
mails. I repeat, you are paid to do the job. But without
an organized schedule, you’ll probably miss a task or
two. That, of course, will result in your failing to do
your work. (This isn’t good. For remember what I
pointed out earlier? It’s your work that gives you life
while your job simply makes you a living!).

So why must people to come to work earlier by their

own choice? It’s for them to be able to prepare
everything for the day. It’s not about you trying to get

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your boss’ attention or trust or about getting a high

approval rating and becoming his or her favorite. It’s
simply because coming to work earlier than required is
the right thing to do.

My advice then to everyone who works is always this:

Work is an opportunity for you to be a better person
and a good contributor to society. Love that
opportunity and you’ll see a better society.

There are many more right-thing-to-do’s on my list

and I’m sure that as part of the workforce, you know
exactly what I mean by “the right thing.”

But before I leave this topic, I have a question for you:

If you’re one of those people who got used to this

just-come-on-time philosophy, is there a possibility
that you’ll have a change of heart and reverse your
present belief?

When you believe that your mind was programmed to

believe in something, you know that you can always
reprogram it. When you are made to believe in
something, all you need to do is to find a stronger
reason to believe otherwise.

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That’s precisely when you can be a “newcomer” again—

ready to do the right thing.

Perhaps this is why some companies prefer fresh

graduates these days. They say the value system of
fresh graduates isn’t polluted yet. You can still teach
them and they still can do the right thing. I suspect,
though, that these companies also know that sooner,
these fresh graduates will become part of the system
and share the same pollution in the workplace.

Get this: You surely can bring back the “newcomer”

attitude in you if you see yourself as someone of value
and character. When you realize that you are what you
really are no matter what other people feel and say
about you, all of what they feel and say about you
become irrelevant pieces of information.

So just start doing the right thing again. It may not be

in the company’s manual. It may not be in its set of
rules. It may not be in a specific instruction. It may not
come in the form of a memo. But you can choose to do
it because it’s the right thing to do.

As I said, it’s still a mystery when people hate those

who do the right thing. But it’s OK to be hated for
doing the right thing than to be praised for doing
what’s only routine or customary.

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So if you want to belong, make sure to belong to the

right group. You don’t want to be a part of a wrong
group by any chance, do you?

On Producing the Result

How many of us are sure that when we succeed in

doing something or when we produce amazing results,
people would be genuinely happy for us?

Not too many, I’m afraid. That’s because when we

achieve something, it only means we got one thing that
some people failed to get. Now, that’s not such a good
deal for a lot of people.

In the workplace, there’s what I call the “Hate the

Producers Mystery.” It has even become a rally sign in
some companies.

This mystery can also be called the “Crab Mentality,”

which, of course, is explained by the way crabs make it
to the top. They pull their fellow crabs down so they
can climb higher. We can also call this process the
“Survival of the Fittest.”

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This mystery has actually been there for a very, very

long time. Yet, most working people still don’t get it.
They still give in and often get angry at the crabs in
their workplace.

Here’s an interesting thing about this situation: You

don’t want to be a crab, do you? You want to be on top
but not through the way crabs do it. So why on earth
should you hate these crabs? The reason they pull
people down is that they are crabs. That’s it. When you
give in to the urge to do the same, that makes you a
crab yourself. And you surely don’t want that.

Getting back to those people—those people who hate

the performers and the producers—is a waste of time
and energy. It could even damage your professional
standing. Those people don’t deserve any of your
attention. But they surely need help. They truly do.

But I’m more concerned with the person holding this

book than the crabs, so let’s move on.

Think about this: You can’t stop yourself from

producing because many others have stopped
producing. It’s their life, not yours. If they don’t
produce, the more you’ll need to produce. It’s not OK
when you try to duplicate something that’s ugly. You

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can’t have the same attitude as the person you don’t

even want to be like.

But the fact is, you will have to find a sort of model or
inspiration for what you need to do. You can’t be lazy
about this. You can’t be satisfied with a little because
that would mean that you can only give a little
yourself. You’ll have to produce more so more people
can benefit from what you’ve produced.

You can’t make God responsible for your little

production. You can’t condition your mind to produce
a little and justify it by saying, “God said I’ll have to be
contented…” I think God would want to see you
producing more because what you produce isn’t only
for you and for your company. It’s also for His people.

Many people will envy you for your results, but you’re
doing the right thing, so never mind those people.
They may hate you for as long as they can but it’s not
your responsibility to defend your good deed.

On Getting Credit

You did all the work but before you know it, someone
has already gotten the credit.

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Will you retaliate? Will you complain? Will you resign?

Will you cry? What will you do?

This is true in most workplaces. Sad to admit, it

happens so frequently that we accept it as part of our
working life. But sometimes, acceptance isn’t really
acceptance. We let it become part of our reality but in
one region of our heart, we know there’s something
wrong. “After all,” we say, “it’s my work and I should
get the credit for it.”

Credit is not always given to whoever deserves it. This

has been proven in history. It often happens in many
offices. It happens in the government of almost any
nation. Somebody is doing something only for
someone to get the credit.

Still, it’s really sad when you look at that matter this
way. When credit becomes more important to you
rather than the sense of fulfillment that comes from
having done the job well, it becomes a real issue.

This is why I encourage people to find joy in what they

do. That’s basic. That joy is priceless. Credit and
acknowledgment can’t buy it. You do a particular thing
because you find joy in it, whether you’re encoding,
computing, researching, typing, doing the inventory,
selling, or marketing. Although it’s good to be credited

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for something, we don’t have to think about getting

credit all the time.

There are people who are cut out to do the back-office

tasks. That’s why we can’t see them. But sure enough,
they are responsible for something. Take this as an
example: We’re using Macintosh computers or
Microsoft software but we only know Steve Jobs and Bill
Gates. What about the people who work in the
laboratory of these computer pioneers?

Those people are not recognized at all but they sure

make a great deal of contribution to the success of the
two gentlemen I mentioned. But so as long as you
know by heart that you’re an integral part of an
undertaking, whatever the world says may no longer
mean that much to you. It’s one thing to be recognized
by someone, and another thing to feel a sense of
fulfillment for a job well done.

The products can’t lie. The finished product can tell

you if you’re part of it or not. You don’t have to take
the spotlight. God knows you’re part of it. Hopefully,
your boss would know about it, too. But whatever the
case, you are rewarded for your contribution. You
receive your salary and you’re able to provide for your
family.

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So never mind about who gets the credit. What’s more

important is your feeling about your own participation
and your own contribution to the effort. Not all people
will recognize it, for sure. But hey, it doesn’t make you
any less than what you’ve become in the process of
doing it. In fact, you know you’ve learned a thing or
two when you were working on what you’ve
accomplished, right? That’s another take-home for
you.

Now, answer this: Do you think you become a lesser

person when you don’t get the credit?

We all know the answer: You don’t.

So don’t let the credit define you as a person. True

credit is always given to the proper person, but people
don’t always get the privilege to speak about it.
Ultimately, though, it really doesn’t matter.

On Managing Resources

The blame game stops when you realize this mystery:

You may be provided less resources but always, more
will be expected from you.

I can hear you saying, “Boooo!”

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Alright, I’ll start with a question: If you’re not given

enough resources but your boss expects you to give
him results, what do you do?

Well, the easiest—and probably the most logical—

answer is this: “I will complain.” You can actually do
that in two ways: complain up front or complain when
the boss isn’t around.

So what’s the difference?

When you complain up front (or explain or negotiate or

discuss, whichever is appropriate in your case), you
give yourself a chance to solve the problem. But when
you complain behind your boss’ back, you give
yourself a reason to justify a future failure—one that
can save your neck later.

Many people call it “excuse.” And many people try to

blame their failure on something else. Of course, there
are some exceptions. But think about this for a second:
Isn’t it that most of the time, our problem isn’t really
the resources given to us but our resourcefulness?

I’d like you to notice the difference: resources and

resourcefulness. I think we should work based on what

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we have. I mean, who on earth can work on something

that he or she doesn’t have? Impossible!

But the thing is, you still got something, no matter how
small or insufficient it may be. Maybe it’s not enough,
but surely you can work with that something.

Now, that’s where resourcefulness comes in. Sure, we

aren’t paid to be resourceful. We are paid to do the
job. Being resourceful is a trait. It’s in our value
system. Isn’t it a wonder that some people can make it
even if they only have a little, while some people just
can’t make it even if they are provided with everything?
Isn’t that amazing?

This explains why two people who are given the same
amount of resources end up with different results. One
is more resourceful than the other. One is able to
produce and the other is unable to.

So where do we buy “resourcefulness?” Oh well, I don’t

know any place where it can be bought. But listen!
Even if you don’t have it at the moment, it’s possible
for you to possess it. But how?

What follows is very important so you’ll need to pay

extra attention to what you’re going to read. Alright, I
heard you saying, “Sure!”

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People become resourceful when they have a deeper

reason to be so. What do I mean by that?

Well, if you aren’t keen about what you do, if you

aren’t in love with it, or if you don’t feel like putting
your heart into one piece of work (we call it a “job”),
then by default, you don’t make an extra effort to
make things work. There’s no reason for you to find
unique ways to solve the problem. You don’t become
that resourceful person. You’ll just do the job and
won’t be mindful of the effects and consequences of
that job.

The stronger your reason to produce, the more

resourceful you become. The more resourceful you
become, the more problems you’ll be able to solve,
and the more successful you’ll become.

But why are you going to exert extra effort to make the
insufficient resources sufficient? It’s always easier to
say later, “Sir, you gave me insufficient resources so I
wasn’t able to produce the result you desired.”

When this happens, your boss will tell you something

like, “Why didn’t you tell me at the start?” The
discussion will go on and on until both of you start
hating each other; if you already hate each other to

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begin with, you’d hate each other even more. Then you
will finally realize that you and your boss no longer
have a healthy relationship, that you no longer want
that kind of working environment, and that the only
logical thing to do is to quit your job and look for
something else.

Even in your new job, though, you’ll likely be involved

in the same “lack of resources” case. What happened to
you in your previous job will inevitably happen again.
And it will happen again and again and again until you
learn something. That something is this: Be
resourceful.

Here’s another workplace mystery: You’ll be given less

but your boss will expect more from you.

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Whoever hates his job (or his boss) suffers.

If you don’t want to suffer, don’t hate
someone or something.

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CHAPTER 3

Emotions at work
How you feel towards your work defines how you
treat it. If you’re not mindful about it, you might be
putting a negative emotion but expecting a
positive result. It’s not going to happen.

When we were told that our teacher is our second

parent (and our school is our second home), we were
told the truth. But our parents didn’t warn us that after
school, our workplace would become our second home
and our boss would become our second parent. That’s
why many people struggle to make themselves feel at
home while at work.

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Being in a second home fills us with various emotions

—and these are emotions that shape our being at
working.

An Emotion Called Fear

One thing about newcomers: They seem to fear the

first step. One thing about some longtime employees:
They seem to fear the next step.

In the popular movie Star Wars, there’s one bit of

dialogue that I really love. It goes like this: “Fear is the
path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads
to hate, hate leads to suffering.”

Alright. I also have my own fair share of fear when

there’s something I intend to do. But I do it anyway.
Sometimes, I feel like I’m not going to make it. But I do
it anyway. There are times when I feel that people are
watching and just waiting for me to mess up so they
can pounce on me. But I do it anyway.

Maybe this is what separates successful employees

from the unsuccessful ones: They feel the fear but they
do it anyway.

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In your own life, how many times have you told

yourself that “Maybe I’m not going make it” and yet
you just stayed put anyway? If this had happened to
you several times, it’s no wonder why you haven’t
grown as much as you’d want. Something didn’t work
and it was because of your indecision—the fear to
decide on something that was bothering you. The
same fear that keeps you from doing something is the
same fear that’s keeping you from creating something.

But another interesting thing is that it’s not only failure

that most people are afraid of. They are also afraid of
success. It’s incredible when you realize this. When I
first discovered about this, in fact, I almost fell from
my chair.

“What??” you must be thinking now. “People are afraid

to succeed?? Are you kidding me??”

It’s true, however, and the only question is: Why is this
so?

Well, it’s largely because success requires a person to

raise the bar. When a person (or in this case an
employee) has reached something, all eyes are on how
this person will perform on the next level. For most
people, it’s cause for great discomfort to just do that.
When people raise their expectation of you, it becomes

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a challenge. But most people don’t like to be

challenged because it changes everything—like the
time they have to wake up in the morning, the number
of hours they should spend meeting potential buyers,
the number of times they can take a vacation from
work, and so on.

This is where the popular concept of one’s “comfort

zone” comes in. When you achieve, say, a monthly
quota of PhP2M in gross sales, it becomes your
comfort zone. The next month (perhaps because you
still have the drive and inspiration), you make, say,
PhP3M in gross sales. That becomes your new comfort
zone.

But time will come when you’ll realize that something

doesn’t feel right anymore. Eventually, you’ll feel so
pressured because people now have a much higher
expectation from you. Obviously, you feel a need to
match the growing expectations of your peers.

Now take this one: People actually can’t wait to see you
fail to meet their expectations.

This idea drives a lot of people crazy. When the

expectation of your peers is raised and you want to live
up to that expectation, you start focusing on your sales
performance rather than on your personal well-being.

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As a result, you no longer set aside quality time for

your family and your real friends, you no longer have
the time to read books, you no longer have the time to
go out, and you no longer have the time to relax and
take a break.

This is why people are afraid of success. This is why

many of them won’t even dare to take that single step
towards being successful.

For many people, in fact, it’s better to make things

simple, easy, “attainable”—and, yes, “realistic.” Here,
“attainable” means “the lowest of all standards that
even a child can achieve.” Yes, people may dream of
big things and may even pray for big blessings. Unless
they get the courage to succeed, however, all their
hopes and prayers are going to waste.

So, for newcomers, don’t be afraid to take the first step

because when you don’t, the more you’re going to get
left behind. When you’re afraid, you increase your
chance of failure.

I’ll give you one real-life example.

When I started my career as a professional speaker, I

had the same fear as any newcomer. This happens in
stages. I started speaking in front of students.

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Seemingly, it was easy. But it wasn’t. This is because as

seminar audiences, young people have a very, very
short attention span. They also often tend to sleep
rather than listen.

So, to make my seminar alive, I had to develop a new

set of skills. I realized that I had to learn to interact
and connect with the audience. I had to come up with
some gimmicks so I could finish my presentations with
a bang. I decided that I simply couldn’t disappoint my
audience. They expect nothing less than the best. “The
best” here is subjective, of course, but if you know
what I mean, “the best” really means being able to
keep the audience awake for the entire seminar and
not making them want to go home before it’s finished.

That’s as far as my initial fear of speaking before

students is concerned.

When I started doing speaking engagements abroad, I

experienced another kind of fear. First, when speaking
to foreign audiences, I needed to speak in English, and
I mean straight English for three hours or so.
Sometimes, in fact, I needed to do that for the entire
day. Second, I realized that I had to deal with an
entirely different culture when speaking to a foreign
audience. How would I know if my jokes would apply to
my audience or not? Third, I would be a stranger to my

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foreign audience. Why then would they listen to me?

Fourth, I would be way younger than my crowd. So why
would they believe what I’m saying? Fifth, I had this
feeling that I never looked like a public speaker to
begin with—really!

So did I fear speaking before my foreign seminar

audiences? Yes. Did I fear standing before them and
sharing my thoughts and ideas, which they may or may
not believe or accept? Yes. Did I fear falling short of
their expectations? Yes.

See? I feared almost everything at the start. But here’s

the thing: I did what I had to do anyway.

And so the result is more invitations to do speaking

engagements abroad, more business opportunities,
and more chances of doing my work in foreign lands.

Yes. Until now, even before my name is called on

stage, I still get sort of afraid. I could feel the fear. But
once I get hold of the microphone, everything becomes
easy. I get motivated by the thought that I’ll have to
match or exceed expectations. I will require myself to
perform and to give my very best.

So, for longtime employees, here’s my advice: Take a

few more steps. Don’t settle with what you have. Strive

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to reach for some more. After all, you won’t feel good
when you see some younger people performing better
than you do. You won’t feel good with yourself when
you see how you’re becoming an irrelevant part of the
workforce.

Get this: There’s no other way to feel good about

yourself than to see your contribution to the company
producing the desired results. If you don’t contribute,
someone else will. He may or may not get the credit for
that contribution but you’ll know exactly whose
contribution it is. And when it comes to the
scoreboard, you surely don’t want to be left behind.
After all, you have seniority over these new kids on the
block. The fact is, people are not happy when they
don’t produce. But here’s something even worse than
that: Somebody else was able to produce something
and that somebody isn’t you.

You can’t just rely on your authority and seniority in

the workplace to prove your worth to the organization.
The figures resulting from your performance can’t lie,
and they will speak for themselves. The facts would be
there for everybody to see. So, being more senior
wouldn’t guarantee your stay in a company. There
always comes a time when something or someone
becomes obsolete. Even if we don’t like the idea, we
will have to live by it. And if you don’t want to be

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become obsolete and irrelevant, you need to push

yourself to make a few more steps forward.

An Emotion Called Anger

“I hate you!” “I hate this!” “I hate my boss!” “I hate my

job!” “I hate my work!”

Nobody wants to say or hear any of these statements,

at least not if the person has a more positive outlook in
life. But the truth is that people say this very often, and
what’s worse, they really mean it! And when they mean
it, they mean it for a long time. Sometimes, in fact, it
takes a lifetime before a person can forgive. Some may
even die with hatred still in their heart.

What do you think would make you hate a person?

There are a number of reasons. One, the person may

have done you some grievous wrong. Two, the person
may have shown a certain “attitude” you don’t like.
Three, the person may have shown a characteristic or
personality that you’re not comfortable with. Four, the
person might have unintentionally done something
irritating on the job. Five, you may have just hated the
person from the very start but can’t explain why.

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Whatever the reason, the fact is that there’s hate. And

that feeling isn’t only a feeling. It’s a feeling that
defines the way you work.

Who among us can really produce positive results when

angry or irritated with someone? Most, if not all, won’t
be able to—unless, of course, they make their anger or
irritation a powerful motive to prove something. More
often than not, though, we’ll really mess up when we
get angry. That’s what anger does. They expose our
negative side. Anger brings out the worst in us, and it
can cost us everything we’ve worked so hard to build.

It can take only a moment of anger to destroy the

reputation you’ve built over the years. It can take only
one emotional outburst—just one—to burn every
bridge you have created and kill every possible
connection you could make in the workplace.

Controlling your “anger” in the workplace is very

important because you don’t work alone. There are
people watching and they are waiting for you to make
that one mistake—that one moment that can ruin
everything there is for you. They are patiently waiting
for you to explode. And when you do, they win. They’ll
only be very happy to celebrate your fall.

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Whoever hates his job—or his boss—suffers. So, if you

don’t want to suffer, don’t hate someone or
something. That’s the shortest way I can put it.

An Emotion Called Joy

Have you ever experienced getting up early in the

morning feeling excited for the new day?

When you find joy in your work, everything else

becomes easy and almost automatic. There’s no
struggle at all. So when you believe that you don’t have
any choice but to work, make an effort to put some joy
into it. After all, you don’t have any choice and you
might as well make the best of the situation.

Joy is a truly positive emotion. It can give you the

energy and a powerful sense of importance to what
you do. It decreases the possibility of failure.

But how many people do you think are really excited

about their work—let alone feel some joy while
performing a particular task? And what about you? Are
you excited to come to work?

Joy and excitement are important issues for me

because they can change outcomes for good. We know

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that most people struggle to wake up early in the

morning because they are either bored or angry with
their work. Perhaps they also don’t know or appreciate
the value of their work.

I’m speaking in broad terms, of course. I’m talking

about the people who come to work simply for the
sake of coming to work and getting their paycheck. I’m
talking about people who have nothing else in mind
but the numbers 15 and 30. I’m talking about people
who are excited to go home and leave their job
unfinished—people who prime themselves up to leave
the office as early as 4:30 P.M. or 5:30 P.M. no matter
what!

But my take on joy and excitement about work is really

simple. You need a certain positive emotional high to
get the job done right and you just can’t achieve that
high without a sense of happiness and enthusiasm.
And what can bring about this positive emotional high
is your answer to this ultimate question: “Why should I
be excited and feel happy?”

Obviously, people won’t get this feeling of excitement

when they don’t know exactly what they are doing and
what its effect on the company and on the community
is. Clearly, when there’s no reason to be excited about,

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people become lazy and unmindful. They simply don’t

care.

And why should they care? Why should they when the
company probably doesn’t care enough for their
people, or, if it does care, it’s not felt by the workforce
the way it should be?

Interestingly, on the matter of caring, here’s how most

of the people I’ve talked with think about the subject:

Is This How You Think of Your Job?

Why should I work harder? I get the same pay

for doing the same work.

The company doesn’t provide additional

training. Why should I attend seminars at my
own expense?

If they raise my salary, I’d work harder.

I hate my boss; therefore, I hate my work.

My fellow employees don’t work as hard as I do

but they are paid higher than I am.

Here we go again. This routine sucks.

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OK. Those are just some of many reasons why there’s

no joy or just a little of it in the workplace. And
everybody seems to share the same negative feelings
toward the issue. It’s a matter of perception really.

Before jumping to any conclusion, though, we need to

understand this idea very clearly first: Perception is so
powerful that everything else seems to follow its lead.

Indeed, when you have all those negative perceptions

towards work that I have enumerated above, then
that’s it. The quality of your work suffers. You can no
longer produce and create a miracle in the workplace.

For me, even if those reasons for being negative about

your work may seem logical, I really don’t think they
are proper. Here’s why:

Nobody can lobby for higher pay without first

demonstrating his or her skills for the job. So the
logical thing to do before asking for a raise is this:
Work harder and produce more. Then, if you still don’t
get what you feel is due you, that’s the time to leave
the company and go somewhere else.

By logic, when a sensible company sees your actual

value through your performance and track record, it

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will realize and acknowledge that you deserve of a

raise and negotiate with you to make you stay.

Next, you shouldn’t hate your work simply because

you hate your boss. Your work and your feelings with
your boss are two different, unrelated things.
Remember when I told you that your job is between
you and your boss and that in contrast, your work is
between you and the people you’re able to touch,
reach, and help? That exactly is my point.

Keep in mind that many people count on you. So don’t

let your boss get in the way and make you hate your
job. Be innovative. Find another, better way of relating
with your boss. I’m sure there’s a reason why you don’t
like him for what he is.

But really, people do get excited when they expect that

something good is going to happen. The challenge is
who defines what “something good” is. Is it the
company or the individual?

There are two schools of thought here. Of course, the

company can always come up with some package of
benefits for people in the workforce who achieve a
specific goal. But I think an even more powerful
motivation is to realize this: that you should be excited

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to come to work because not all people are given the

blessing and privilege of working.

Count the number of people who want to work but just

can’t because they don’t have the opportunity to do so
—probably because you beat them for the position that
you are now occupying. Have you ever thought that
someone out there may badly need the job that you are
holding, and that he or she probably would be more
diligent than you in doing that work had he or she
gotten your job? You’re not as indispensable as you
may think.

The truth is that you’re not the only person who can do
your job. Someone may be way better and greater than
you for that job. But the thing is, you are there and
have been given the opportunity to do the job and
contribute something. Isn’t that reason enough for you
to get excited when you wake up the next morning? I
think it’s healthy for people to tell themselves this:
“Someone else may deserve my job more but I think
that since I’m holding it, there must be a reason. I will
do it well.”

You may have worked somewhere else sometime. Not

in your current company. Not now. But think about the
timing and the environment you are in right now. Since

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you’re already there, isn’t there something you can do

to make your workplace a better place?

If you treat your work as something special for you,

and if you know that you’re working not only for the
money but also for the people who patronize your
company, then you’ll always be excited about your
work.

When you realize that your work goes beyond your

own personal gain, then you’ll be excited to wake up
every morning for it. When you feel like your work is a
mission rather than an imposition, you’ll never have to
struggle getting up early in the morning.

Besides, you know, somebody needs you for the day.

An Emotion Called Sadness

Some people keep things to themselves. They don’t

express anything but the fact that they are isolating
themselves is a sure sign of sadness.

For some people with a weaker personality, they make

use of sadness to replace anger. But there many other
reasons why people get sad. Those reasons are unique

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to every person so I won’t bother enumerating them

here.

But I do know that sadness is a sure way to failure.

Every time we call on this emotion, it kills every
enthusiasm, every initiative, every joy in its way.
Sadness makes you a person of almost zero worth—or
at least that’s how it feels. Apparently, if we want to
achieve something, we can’t move on with life while
burdened with this kind of emotion.

So the idea is not to be sad about anything. If you’re a

bit frustrated and disappointed, remember that there’s
no perfect system or a perfect boss. The problem is
not about your boss or the system. It’s always about
you. When you feel sad because you’re guilty of
something or guilty of not doing something, the most
logical thing to do is to forgive yourself rather than put
yourself in a corner.

First, I always encourage people to forgive themselves

for the things that they’ve done wrong and for the
things that they’ve failed to do, which are two different
things. Second, I encourage people to forgive the
people who did them wrong.

Why?

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Forgiveness is a powerful tool. Forgiveness creates new

life. It establishes a new direction. It opens up a new
opportunity to work again. It brings out new
possibilities. It’s so powerful that you can actually
begin a new story after forgiving someone for
something.

Many people feel sad when they fail to close a deal.

They feel sad when they are turned down by a client.
My question is: Why feel that way?

Well, the answer for many people is this: Because

sadness is the logical emotion to attach to those
adverse outcomes.

But that answer is wrong. Whoever told you that you

need to feel sad about something that you failed to
accomplish is dead wrong. To be sad about failure may
be customary, but it’s wrong. People say it’s normal,
but maybe they think so because they believe that
sadness is a universal emotion. But what does it make
of us when we feel sad? Does it allow us to make
progress?

Feel happy when you fail because, at least, you have

been given the opportunity to give it a shot. That
opportunity itself isn’t given to everyone. So celebrate

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even when you fail, and celebrate even more when you
succeed.

The opportunity you have to fail is the very same

opportunity you have to succeed. So the only question
you should ask yourself is this: “Where do I use that
opportunity?”

My firm advice to people is to find another way of

looking at failure or rejection. When someone turns
you down, don’t be sad. Be really amazed and silently
tell yourself, “Wow! Amazing! I was turned down.
Amazing! I was rejected again. Wow! Amazing! I failed
again.”

Create your own variations of saying these things to

yourself. The idea is to amaze yourself with your
failures. There’s a reason why you failed and why
people rejected you, so don’t take it so personally.

Maybe the person who rejected you wasn’t in the mood

or maybe you came by on a really bad time or maybe
he had a bad headache or he just had a fight with his
wife or maybe his kids had problems in school. Who
knows what really was going on?

But you shouldn’t be sad. Well, maybe you can allow

yourself a little sadness for a while. Just make sure that

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“while” doesn’t last forever. Take extra note that

“while” shouldn’t be synonymous with “forever.”

When I finished my first book, I was only 23 years old. I

presented the manuscript to publishing companies
only to find that they didn’t like it, and so they turned
me down. I appealed to some friends to lend me some
cash so I could publish my book, but I suffered the
same fate of being rejected.

But I chose to attach a different emotion to the matter

of being rejected. I could have shelved my manuscript
for good or buried it somewhere and be really, really
sad about it. But I chose to fight for it. I chose to
amaze myself with the way people look at my work.

I believed in my work. I believed—and still do—that it

could help people more than it can help me as far as
profit is concerned. My attitude was simply different. I
viewed and took that experience of being rejected
differently.

I would remember telling these people silently, “You

don’t like this book? Come on. Are you kidding me?”
And then I smiled and thanked each of them for their
time. Because after my experience of being rejected by
them, I was able to publish six books on my own.

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So when people turn you down or reject your proposal

or whatever it is you are offering, the best question to
ask is, “Are you kidding me?”

But you can’t be sad about being rejected and expect

to succeed.

Play With Your Cards

I don’t intend to teach you to gamble but it seems to

me that whether you like it or not, you will have to play
with your cards. Those cards are your emotions. You
can always choose what to put on the table. With
proper training and consistent practice, you’ll get used
to those cards at least as far as playing them right is
concerned.

Think about this. Every day, we are all given an equal

chance to choose the emotion that we could attach to a
particular circumstance. We are all given an equal
opportunity to decide whether we’d like to be happy or
sad or angry about our job, our work, or our boss. This
equal opportunity is given to all—at zero cost. You
don’t need to fill up a requisition form to get it.

The moment we wake up, all the cards are already on

the table. Of course, the way they are arranged is

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something that we can’t foresee. Let’s leave that

matter to our Creator. But nonetheless, we all have the
same set of cards and our wisdom in playing with them
will make the difference.

Some people, though, don’t want to play at all, so they

don’t touch their cards and just go out and come to
work. Perhaps because they don’t have a sense of play
or the spirit of competition, some may even try to
forget that they are on the game.

For some people, in fact, life is just life. Whatever

comes to them, they just live by it. They become so
contented and fall in love with having only a little. That
little becomes “enough” because they convince
themselves that that’s the only thing they can have or
deserve to have.

I pity those people who look down on themselves. I

hate to hear someone who says that he or she is just a
very small person who doesn’t deserve big things and
big blessings.

Well, by logic, those who look down on themselves

don’t get much. It’s like walking down the road with
your face down and expecting to stumble on a bagful
of cash. When we look down on ourselves, in fact, we

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might finally stumble on something but that something

would likely be only a coin or a small bill. That’s all.

If you don’t have a sense of play, then you’re not a

player. You’re only a spectator paying for your ticket to
watch the game. If you’re not a player, you don’t have
any chance of winning—none at all. Of course you may
lose. I mean, to lose is part of the game. But it’s
entirely different when you don’t play the game at all.
Your favorite team may win—and why not if they are
truly prepared?—but it’s your favorite team or player
who’s winning and not you.

In the workplace, there are many people who don’t

realize that work itself is a sort of game. Sometimes,
even when they do realize it, they simply don’t want to
challenge the status quo. They don’t want to challenge
themselves to succeed. I believe that life is simply
about satisfying the minimum requirement: “Just do a
little more, one at a time, only a little improvement in
every chance you’ve got.”

You don’t have to win big time for people to realize

that you’ve just won. I mean, whether you win big or
win small, the idea of winning remains the same.

In your office, every time you step on the corridor, the

game starts. The politics starts. The mystery starts to

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show up. The problems start to overwhelm your day.

The naysayers are very much around. The gossips are
all over the place as usual. That’s your workplace. And
if you don’t know how to survive in that world, pick
another world. It’s very likely, though, that any of the
setups you’ll find elsewhere will be the same as this
one. So why leave in a hurry?

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People start to fail when they become

uncertain about who they are and what
they are made of...

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CHAPTER 4

Finding Your Self

In a crowded workplace with too many voices and
too many “stars” mingling and celebrating, can you
still hear your own voice? Can you still recognize
yourself and your unique contribution?

Have you ever thought that you may have a very

unique contribution to your company and that without
that contribution, that workplace wouldn’t be the
workplace that it is? Have you ever imagined what
could have happened in that workplace had you not
accepted the job? Without taking your take-home pay
into account, have you realized how important your
function is in your workplace?

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Now we’re talking. Of course, you may have heard this

from other people during a team-building activity in
your organization. This time, though, I’d like you to tell
me what the deal is really all about.

Is it OK to get lost? My answer is yes. But only when

you know that you are lost. Many people get lost along
the way and they don’t even realize that they are lost.
How could you find your way back if you don’t know
you’re lost or at least admit that you are, indeed, lost?

Where is… my self?

Now let’s try to figure out exactly where you are at this
stage of your life. It doesn’t matter what you do and
how much you are earning. There are more important
things to discover about yourself other than the simple
given realities about you. We have to know this
because should you be willing to create something
better for yourself, this is where we are going to start.

My first question is: How did you end up doing

whatever it is that you are doing today?

Please, don’t give me answers like, “I applied” (because

obviously you did and you were hired), “I was referred
by a friend,” or “My parents own the company.” I think

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there were events that brought you to this point and

I’m more interested to know about them.

There could be any number of negative reasons why

you are working where you are right now. First, your
job was probably the only vacancy when you were
applying for work. Second, maybe your company was
the only company that called you up. Third, your job is
perhaps the only thing you know you can do. Fourth,
you badly needed to earn so you took the first job that
came along. Fifth, your parents had probably asked
you to work where you are right now. Sixth, your
friends might have persuaded you to apply. Seventh,
your job was perhaps a logical choice based on what
you’ve finished in college. Eighth, the work where you
are is probably light but you get higher pay for it. And
the list goes on.

On the other hand, here are four positive reasons for

why you might have gotten your job: First, although
you didn’t even apply, the company called you up and
offered you the job. Second, the work you do in your
job is what you really love doing. Third, you find
fulfillment in doing the work in your job. And fourth,
you are really qualified for the job you are holding
now.

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Whatever the reason for having gotten your job, I think

it’s important to realize that you can’t blame anybody
for your misfortune if you feel bitter about your job.
You just have to accept the fact that something or
someone brought you where you are right now. And
while there, it’s really not always a good idea to simply
get out and look for another job. While holding your
current job, you can actually learn a thing or two about
yourself—things that you’ve never known before.

So the idea is not to let any day pass on the job

without you getting something from it.

To begin with, we need to make a short review of our

past to see more clearly where it can take us. In my
particular case, when I was younger, I was advised by
my mentor to review my past as a means for charting
my future. At first, the idea didn’t make any sense to
me. I mean, I have always believed that “the past is
past,” so why bother reviewing it? But as I went on in
my life, I discovered that my past could really give me
a lot of realizations and lessons for coming up with a
clearer plan for my future.

Of course, even the best plans might need to be

changed. That’s why my mentor also advised me to
review and adjust my plan periodically. He said plans
need to be refined every once in a while.

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But every event is, of course, only the outcome of

another. The event always leaves a trace behind it. This
is great help when we need to do some
troubleshooting for our plan. We can always find out
what went wrong in our plan and precisely when we
made the mistakes that threw our plan out of whack.

This book doesn’t propose to correct those mistakes. It

only aims to give people a good idea of how they can
be a better driver of their own life. So, to get started,
you need to learn a thing or two about your own past,
and a thing or two as well about our “shared” past.

Our Shared Past

When we were still children, we knew exactly what we

were capable of doing. In fact, we were so confident
about our own stuff that we’d do things without even
caring about the outcome. We just did what we wanted
to do. We assumed that failure or success is simply a
result and so isn’t such a big deal. When we were
asked to sing or participate in a singing contest, doing
so wasn’t about winning or losing. It was more about
performing. We were happy to just stand on stage and
sing the very best we could.

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In primary school, we also learned the value of a

passing grade and the consequences of failure. If you
scored below 75 in a test (that was the old yet higher
standard), you failed. It was such a big deal because
you’d have to go home and show your scores or report
card to your parents. This made you feel that you were
being provided your school allowance to pass your
school tests rather than to really learn your lessons.

We know this to be true because we actually could pass

a subject without learning anything. Remember the
“cheats” we had way back? Remember the sign
language for cheating that we used in college?
Remember the times when suddenly some of our
classmates would become giraffes to get the answers
on someone else’s test paper? Remember that trip to
the school toilet to retrieve the solutions to your Math
exam that your best friend had placed in the trash can?

Oh yes, those were the days! Failing then became more

of an issue than a result. All of us so suddenly became
afraid of failure. We became more interested in passing
than in learning.

But that wasn’t the only thing that happened in our

past. As we grew up, we began to forget our dreams
little by little. In time not only did we forget our
dreams; we also forgot about our talents and skills. We

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got into the habit of leaving everything to the hands of

strangers. We started to focus only on what we thought
was achievable. We no longer believed that we can
make it to the big time.

When we were still in the kindergarten we thought that

everything was possible; now we think that this isn’t
true anymore. Our minds have been reprogrammed by
what the education sector had fed them over the years
and by what the mass media had made us read or
listen to day in and day out. So, from our beginnings
as very confident children, we have become shy
individuals or professionals—unsure of what we are
going to say and how we are going to say it. We have
lost everything and we acquired unnecessary attitudes
in their place.

We started to doubt ourselves and, yes, we also started

to be pessimistic about things. We started to keep our
real feelings towards other people. We started to hate
and to be negative about the world. And at the back of
our minds, we started to think that it’s better to settle
down than to move any further. It’s safer here, we’d
say.

Indeed, people start to fail when they become

uncertain about who they are and what they are made
of. They start to fail when they bury their childlike

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attitude and characters deep within because the

mature world thinks they are undesirable traits. They
start to fail when they decide to just keep up, put up,
and be happy with whatever they have.

Picking Up the Pieces

Finding yourself is rediscovering your real self—the

one that you buried and forgot a long time ago. I think
it’s important to do that because our real self is
actually the strongest part of us.

But what does it mean to pick up the pieces? In its

simplest sense, it means we need to identify our
strongest points so we’d know exactly how and when
to make use of them.

Let me give you a concrete example:

I’ve always been a writer. I started writing when I was

in fifth grade. I continued writing for the high school
paper until my senior year.

But something happened between my working life and

my college life. In college, I took Electronics and
Communications Engineering. Why? One reason was
that it was the most popular course at the time.
Another was that to have a title like “Engr.” before your

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name was thought to be “cool,” so my eldest sister

convinced me to take that course.

I was already in my second year when I realized that I

could never be the best in engineering. I wasn’t
performing well in my math and, really, I was more
concerned with just getting passing grades.

It was at this point that I realized what really mattered

to me: writing. I had to be away for quite a while from
something I liked doing before I discovered its real
value.

That realization made me apply to be a staff member

of the college paper. One year later, I became its
editor. I was on my 5th and final year in college when
the Office of the President of the Philippines invited me
to work there as the President’s technical assistant for
youth affairs. After that stint, I worked in an events
company.

And then a year after that, I founded my own company.

What was the common denominator of all those

chapters of my life?

It was my talent and skills in writing. I would write

while I was working with the government. I would write

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when I was working with the events company. I’ve been

writing since then, I’m still writing, and I guess I’ll
always be writing for the rest of my life. Yes, at one
point in my past I did give up writing. Yes, I did forget
about it. Yes, I buried it but, hey, I decided to rekindle
that passion for writing!

The lesson here, I think, is that you can be in a

position to leverage or negotiate only when you know
exactly what your strong point is. You can’t just show
up and say, “Hey, give me a raise. I feel that what I get
is less than what I deserve.” Because the question is:
Why would anybody give in to your demand?

I was able to ask for a month salary of PhP25,000 when

an events company called me up because what I could
offer them was clear—not to mention that they were
the ones who called me up. I knew my value and I knew
what I was doing. I knew I can deliver and do the job.
And I knew I’d do whatever it takes to get the job done
right.

Did I have to go through the corporate politics thing?

Yes. Did I survive? Yes. How? I survived only because I
knew exactly where I stood. I knew my real value then
and I know my real value now. And, yes, I will always
stand by my principles because that’s everything that I
am.

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What is Your Talent?

This question isn’t really an easy question but it’s

important to answer it. So let me repeat it: “What’s
your talent?”

The Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines talent as “a

natural endowment of a person.” Endowment, of
course, means “natural capacity.” That means that
talent is innate in a person. We already have it ever
since we were born. It’s natural. It’s our signature. And
we always feel happy and fulfilled when we exercise it.

That talent, however, could be lost when some of our

family members or work associates tell us, “You don’t
have any talent.” And yes, you lose it when you believe
what they say. But real talent is there and will always
be there. The only question is, “Are you willing to find
it again?”

When you hear people say “He’s a natural talent!”, that

means he’s doing his stuff naturally. There lies the
difference between artificial talent and natural talent.
When you perform your work solely along technicalities
and learned abilities, you only have what’s called
artificial talent, which is otherwise known as “skill.” It’s

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not as impressive as it should be. That’s why when

you’re working on something and you really don’t feel
like working on it, you don’t get an amazing result. It’s
because you don’t give the work your “natural touch.”
You are just forced to do it out by force and out of
necessity.

You must have heard of people who are perfectionists

Most of them have a natural talent. They put their
heart into everything they do, and the process is so
natural that it produces a naturally wonderful result.

Remember the legendary Michael Jackson when he was

doing final rehearsals for his “This Is It” concert tour?
He was so diligent and mindful about every detail. His
concert troupe had to do rehearsals over and over
again. Michael had to listen to every note of the songs
over and over again. He had to check the tempo over
and over again. That’s what natural talents are all
about. They can’t rest until they get it right.

Most people won’t do that, though. Why experience the

pain of going back and forth when you can do the job
just one time and get away with the money? This is
how most people see their job.

But sure, we do hate perfectionists. They make our

lives more difficult by forcing us to catch up and shape

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up. But they are the same people who make this world
a better place.

When your boss is a perfectionist, you tend to work

due to pressure rather than motivation. Your natural
talent doesn’t show up under such circumstances.
However, a beautiful result is a product of motivation.
So it’s not really about your boss. It’s about your
motivation.

We hate working with perfectionists because they really

take a lot of our time and patience. But natural talents
do that as a matter of practice. That’s why they are
able to create their own miracles in the workplace.
They produce more and they produce more of high
quality. They come up with amazing strategies and
ideas, then execute them with gusto and unmatched
enthusiasm.

Yes, I know many of us hate this kind of people. But it

makes sense when you realize that it’s because of
them that we’re living in a better world today. Without
them, what kind of life do you think we would be living
today? So why not look for and develop your talent and
join the club?

There are no perfect perfectionists. That’s why they are

called perfectionists. They strive to be perfect in what

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they do even if they know for sure that perfection can’t

and won’t happen.

What are Your Skills?

How easy would it be for your company to kick you out

of your job and replace you with a machine?

Easy.

In today’s highly competitive business environment,

every business wants to cut its overhead costs, which,
of course, includes your monthly salary and benefits.
That’s why if you’re working for the tollway company
as the person in charge of giving the tickets, you’ll
need to rethink your job sometime soon. That job can’t
be forever. Soon it will be electronic.

Go to Kuala Lumpur to see what I’m talking about.

Their expressway toll gates are operated entirely by
machines. When the driver of a vehicle shows the
ticket, the gate opens automatically.

But every skill is learnable. Anybody can learn almost

anything. Skill is different from talent and that skill
isn’t inborn. Nobody was born with built-in knowledge
in accounting or website designing, don’t you agree?
But your enthusiasm—and probably your curiosity and

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willingness to use your extra time to learn a new set of

skills—will make you even more relevant and useful in
the workplace.

In today’s push-button society, “multi-skills” is the

name of the game. Companies want to keep a person
with a diverse set of skills. That’s why it’s important to
develop more skills.

I think life asks for reasonable progress within a

reasonable timeline. This is why at work, we aren’t
using the same chair we used when we were in fifth
grade.

So understand this: We are all given an equal chance to

develop every skill necessary to perform our jobs.

Now, don’t tell me that your company isn’t providing

you that opportunity. I see it more of an excuse rather
than a logical reason. You can always tell the world
that your company is crap. But be careful, because
what you’re really telling them is this, “I’m part of this
crappy company!”

My advice to people is really plain and simple: Work to

acquire more skills not for anything else but for your
own good.

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Here’s the idea: Companies love people with multiple

skills. It’s easy to recognize people with multiple skills.
No one can contest this or argue about it because it’s
there and everybody sees it. The human resource guys
can see it. The clients see it. It’s just there.

Regardless of how long you’ve been working in your

company, there’s no guarantee that you’ll stay there till
your retirement. Face it. I know several businesses that
have been successful in the past but which had to lay
off more than 300 people during the recent recession.
But I noticed that they retained the people with
multiple skills. That means paying almost the same
overhead cost while getting almost the same result.

I’m not saying, though, that you might be kicked out of

your job soon. All I’m saying is that having multiple
skills can at least guarantee you with job security, if
there’s still such a thing these days.

Combining Your Talent and Skills

This is where the real fun begins. How do you combine

your talent and your skills?

Being an international speaker isn’t a natural talent,

and I must admit that I’m more of an author than a

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speaker. But in the course of my work as an author, I

saw the need to develop one more skill to make sure
that my book sales is always up. I had to learn the art
of public speaking.

When people say that they wish they had heard me

speak five years ago, they don’t realize how clumsy I
was at the time. I mean, modesty aside, I wasn’t as
good a public speaker as I am now. I had to go through
a painful process of self-improvement. When I first
started, I think I was one illogical and inexperienced
speaker. Well, I really was. So I had to do it again and
again. I had to read books. I had to watch fantastic
speakers. I had to learn their tricks. I had to learn to
crack a joke at a perfect moment. I had to learn some
effective styles of delivering my message. I had to
develop my speaking skill because my talent required
me to speak about my books.

When you learn how to blend you talent and skills, you
will not only reinforce your talent but also multiply
your value—and your take-home pay as well!

Alright. I write books. I get paid for that. Now that I’ve
developed speaking skills, people now pay me to
speak. See? That’s two ways to earn from a
combination of talent and skills.

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In your particular case, what are you doing to reinforce

your talent? Do you find ways to boost your talent by
acquiring more skills? Or do you just let the day pass
without doing something about it?

Sure, any company can say, “We don’t have a budget

for your training.” But there are other ways to learn.
With the Internet at your fingertips, you can actually
explore a lot of things on your own.

Let’s take for example the popular video site YouTube

(www.youtube.com), where you can watch various
tutorials on different topics and subjects. Whether you
are in sales or in operations, you can learn a thing or
two about your job from YouTube. Speakers from all
over the world upload their sample videos on the web,
and you can easily access them and learn from them.
Also, you can buy a coaching program in the Internet
using your credit card or the Paypal payment facility.

You can ask a friend to teach you something he knows.

You can also get a mentor somewhere in your
immediate community.

I’m sure you can find many ways to develop your skills.
Don’t underestimate this idea, for it could make you a
more valuable part of your organization. And
remember: It’s only half-true that we’re living in a

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knowledge-based economy. Because any knowledge,

when not applied, is useless. Applying that knowledge
requires a set of skills. That’s the other half of the
truth about our living in a knowledge-based economy.

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So when you quit, you don’t really quit.

You start something.

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CHAPTER 5

To Quit or Not to Quit

Thinking of resigning from your work because you
feel like it’s not for you? Well, don’t be too fast!
There are things that you need to learn first.

While many may think that quitting their job is the

solution to their problem in the workplace, I think
otherwise. Leaving your job because you’re
uncomfortable with it doesn’t make you anything. In
fact, quitting doesn’t mean anything at all.

Well, perhaps you’ll be able to get away from hell (for a

while) and be comfortable in your new job (for a while).

But remember what your college professor used to tell

you: “History repeats itself.” It’s true. But it’s true only

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when lessons aren’t learned. Or maybe, things seem to

always repeat themselves because people aren’t so
keen on learning anything. One cycle can therefore
repeat itself for as long as it can.

So why do I say that resigning isn’t a solution (at least

not at the moment)? Well, the other reason can be
because people depend on you and you can’t leave just
like that.

You’re part of a system that might not function well

without you doing your part. Of course you are paid to
function in a certain way. But that function, when
mixed with other functions (those of your officemates),
is what makes the mission accomplished.

Resignation has its own time. It has its own season.

Before you can make a move, you will have to
recognize that that season has come. The company has
the right to know about your personal calendar, too.
You don’t want to surprise these people because
frankly, it’s not the kind of surprise that they love.

But I’m Living in Hell

So you think you’re living in hell in your current job?

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Fine. But think about it for a second. You’ve been living

that kind of challenging life ever since. I mean, perhaps
nothing has changed much. We all have our own share
of living in hell every once in a while—when you broke
up with someone (or should it be the other way?), when
someone spread something bad about you (which is
untrue and unacceptable), when someone got the
credit for your work, or when somebody blamed you
for a mistake you didn’t commit.

All these things are hard feelings. Everyone knows that.

But to experience any, if not all, of these feelings is
normal for a human being. It enables us to recognize
one feeling from another. It allows us to compare how
it is to feel otherwise.

Has it ever occurred to you—or have you even thought

of it—to totally change your life because you’ve gotten
really sick and tired of everything that’s going on?

We all have expressed that wish one time or the other,

including myself. It’s when things get so bad that we
tell ourselves: “Enough is enough! I’ve had enough of
this!”

But you can only say that if you’re really in hell, if you
know what I mean. When you are feeling heavenly, you
don’t say, “Stop. I no longer want to do this!” You

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wouldn’t want to end anything that feels so good. I

think we can all agree on that.

But sometimes, it’s important to be in hell so you can

imagine how it’s like to live in another part of the
world. So, if you ask me, go ahead and experience the
worst. Maybe when it’s over, you can come back and
tell the world this: “Nothing can hurt me anymore
because I’ve already experienced the worst of
everything.”

Quitting

Have you heard the saying “Winners never quit and

quitters never win”? Oh, I’m sure you have. In my case,
I can trace that saying way back to my primary school,
when we were taught to fight and never quit and never
give up. This saying is so powerful that it really sinks
in for life. We always recall it when we are in trouble or
when we are in the brink of something.

Quite simply, we are taught to hold on and not to

surrender during a fight.

But I think that that saying isn’t true anymore, or at

least I can cite some exceptions to that rule. For me,
it’s OK to believe in something that was taught to you

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because it makes sense. However, when you start

believing in something simply because it has a good
rhyme or because everyone says it, then it can really be
harmful to you.

Every rule has its exceptions.

Why do I say that it’s sometimes necessary to quit?

Simple. Because sometimes the fight isn’t really for
you. Because sometimes you may be fighting a wrong
fight. Because sometimes you just want to prove
something.

If that’s where you’re going to apply the idea of not

quitting, then you’re terribly mistaken.

Let me give you a clearer picture of what I’m trying to

say. Let’s say that the legendary boxer Manny Pacquiao
plays chess—I really don’t know if he does. But if so,
he then can apply that philosophy of not quitting
because you know he’s a winner—and winners never
quit, remember?—and by all means he can go on
playing the game forever. But I doubt if Manny can
make a name in chess as big as he has made his name
in boxing. Why? It’s simply because chess is not his
game.

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I can give many more examples but I won’t because I

know that you already got the message.

It’s simply that not all fights are worth fighting for.

But don’t confuse resignation from quitting. You can

resign from your work but you still carry with you the
attitude and perception that led to your resignation. So
there should be wisdom in your quitting. That wisdom
is something personal. It’s that the act of quitting isn’t
giving up but giving way for a new fight.

You can stay with your job and find your meaning in
your department or division, but just make sure to quit
from every negative idea that seems to punish you
every day of your working life. Quit from spreading
rumors. Quit from telling a lie. Quit from greed. Quit
from sarcasm. Keep away from these things.

But don’t quit from your work. Keep it.

Life After Quitting

When you quit and you are still alive, then you can pick
another fight some other time. You can’t just stay put.
I’m sure that when you resign from a job, you won’t
have a choice but to pick another journey. That journey

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can be another employment opportunity or maybe a

business of your own. But the thing is you’ll have to do
something again.

So when you quit, you don’t really quit. You simply

start something else.

How does it feel like starting again from scratch? If

you’re not so attached to your past, starting afresh is
one of the most promising and most challenging jobs
in the world. It’s like you are given a blank canvas and
you have the liberty to draw whatever it is that you like
to draw. It’s like you are given a brand-new
opportunity to correct the mistakes you’ve created in
your previous painting. You can be a child again going
to his first day in school.

Starting again isn’t new to us. All our life we have been
closing some doors only to open many others. We have
been closing chapters only to begin anew. We are all
used to this. So to start again is nothing but a new
chance for us to be better.

So when you quit, don’t feel like you lost something.

Just think that you’ve been given a new canvas again.
And what an exciting masterpiece you’re going to paint
this time!

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Ten years from now, you’re going to

ask one thing and one thing only:
What happened?

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CHAPTER 6

Is it a cross or a car?
If you feel like your work is a form of punishment,
then ever y moment of your working life would be
about pain, suffering, and sacrifice. If you see your
work as a cross, then you would carr y it like a
heavy cross. But you won’t feel this way if your
work is like a car.

In my case, I don’t see work as a punishment at all. At

least that’s how I see it. Many people, though, see it
the other way. Maybe that’s why they don’t want to get
up early in the morning. Maybe that’s why they always
feel tired when they get home from work. Maybe that’s
why they hate to plan and strategize. Maybe that’s why
they just want to end every working day even before it
gets started.

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But I can only assume, right? These may be true or not.

Interestingly, though, I may have a case. And all I have
to do now is to establish that case strong enough so it
can move you. So let’s start.

Is it a cross or a vehicle?

People normally get punished for doing something

wrong. In contrast, they normally get rewarded for
doing something right. So my question is, “If your work
or job allows you to do the right thing for other
people, how come that you can look at it as a form of
punishment?” Isn’t it that you should get rewarded for
working?

The thing is that most of the time, we see work as a

burden, curse, or punishment because it doesn’t really
make our life easier. It seems like work constantly gets
in the way of fun and comfort. When we can no longer
find time for our family, it’s often because of our work.
When we can no longer go out with our friends and if
we no longer have a social life, it’s because of our
work. When we fail to attend church services to feed
our spirituality, it’s because of our work.

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So many people in so many instances in so many times

blame their work for their inability to give time to other
aspects of their lives.

If work is a human being, I don’t know how he or she

is going to respond to people who are like that.

But really, do you think you work is a heavy cross

instead of a vehicle to get you somewhere? Now, notice
the difference between the two: When you look at your
job or work as a cross, the next thing you would do is
to carry it. However, when you look at it as a vehicle,
your job or your work carries you.

Which do you prefer?

The truth is that whether we choose the cross or the

car, we’ll still arrive at some place, right? And I’ll tell
you now what I always tell my audiences during my
seminars and lectures. Listen closely.

Ten years from now, if you aren’t dead yet, you’d be

alive. Ten years from now, you’re going to ask one
thing and one thing only: “What happened?”

At first, that statement didn’t mean anything to me. I

thought it was just another boring philosophical
statement. But now I realize the meaning of it. I think

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that regardless of what we do, how we do it, and where

we do it, we’re moving toward some place.

Therefore, my question now is this: “Where is your

work taking you?”

I can only hope you know the answer.

There’s another obvious difference between a cross

and a vehicle. When you carry a cross, the road seems
endless and it feels as if it’s taking you forever to
arrive. But when you ride a vehicle, the road may seem
long but you know you’re getting to your destination
faster. You might not know exactly when you are going
to arrive but you know you’ll arrive.

If your job is a boring job, it becomes a cross. You can

make it otherwise by making it become a vehicle.

Driving Your Own Vehicle

We are all busy. It’s true. But are we busy doing the
right activities? Are we able to give time to activities
that create life? Or are we just giving time to activities
that create a living?

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Everybody can control his or her own life. That’s my

personal belief. Bosses can take liberty from their
business. Employees can take liberty from their work.
Good bosses act like bosses only on official time. Good
bosses don’t steal time from their employees. Good
bosses don’t hold their employees beyond the
established working hours unless absolutely necessary.

But all these are the prerogative of your bosses. You

have some options, though, to prevent them from
intruding on your personal time. One way is to turn off
your cellular phone after office hours and to turn it on
only during working hours. You can get another
number for personal use. But you must let your office
know about this. It should be clear that you also have
your own time—a time that’s so precious that they
can’t disturb you unless it’s for something really
important.

That was my problem, too, when I was still working for

the government. I no longer knew what the official
working time was and what my personal time was.
Bosses would keep me as long as they wanted and they
would require me to work overtime beyond reason.

That’s the downside of modern communications

technology, of course. People can easily steal your time
and attention. People can now make your time shorter.

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Anyone can interrupt you any place anytime. Privacy is

no longer something that many people can enjoy.

When I talk about technology, I’m not just talking

about mobile or cellular technology. I’m also talking
about Internet technology.

Can you imagine your life without these technological

wonders around you? You may not be able to, but I
think I can.

I was born during that very exciting part of world

history when one era was closing and the other one
was opening. When I was in high school, I never had a
chance to own a cellular phone or a laptop. We didn’t
even a telephone line at home.

Way back then, life seemed to have been more

disciplined than today. When I had to meet my friends,
we would have a sort of gentlemen’s agreement. When
our group agreed to meet up between 9:00 and 9:30
A.M., for instance, we would make it a point to be
there on time. Latecomers would be left behind. In
other words, in those days, you can lose an
opportunity by not showing up on time.

Today, because almost everybody has a cellular phone,

only a few people are obligated to keep their time

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commitment. Anyway, they can always send the person

waiting for them this text message, “Sorry. Traffic.”

I never had a chance to write my own e-mail until I was

17, and that was when I was already in college. There
was no Facebook yet during that time. And really, I
didn’t care about social networks at all.

Today, you can’t ignore the Internet. It has become the

new way of life. Clearly, it has become a necessity for
many people and for practically all businesses. Some
people even make millions of money through the
Internet. There are people who started their brand
using the Internet. It truly has created an equal playing
field for the haves and have-nots.

But what does it make of us? If we’re in pain and in

deep trouble, we turn on our laptop and log on to our
Facebook account and tell the world how we feel and
what’s happening to us at this very moment. Even a
little announcement of going to sleep can be broadcast
to the world. The technology has become more like a
family member, or even an adopted family member,
than a tool for official and really productive
communication.

No wonder why some companies try to block these

social networks in the Internet. They can be

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distractions in the workplace. People are tempted to

use and abuse the technology using company time.

Sometimes, I’d like to think that the company that

blocks these social sites is being unfair. But on the
other hand, I think it’s only trying to protect the
business so the company can sustain itself—and, of
course, make money so its people can get paid on the
15th and 30th day of the month.

In the office, though, the use of technology has

become more of an enemy than a friend. At home, of
course, it’s a different story.

But the thing is that the amount of time we give to

these technologies is the same amount of time that we
take away from our personal life. Life becomes faster.
Life becomes virtual. Life becomes shorter. We feel the
rush. We feel the complexity. We feel the adrenalin. We
suffer the problems they create. No wonder people
sadly say, “I no longer have time for that…” It’s
because something else has stolen their time and
liberty.

But you can always put yourself back to the driver’s

seat. Come on. It’s your car anyway. Don’t let Facebook
and your company or your boss sit behind your
steering wheel. Be there yourself and start driving. It

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has been a very, very long time, I think, when you last
drove your car. Admit it. It’s tiring to see someone or
something driving you around and all you see is the
same old scenery.

Take the driver’s seat. And drive. Work is not a

punishment or a cross you need to carry. It’s a vehicle
you can use to get to your chosen destiny.

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The person who sees where he’s heading

and has an idea on how to get there
makes it.

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CHAPTER 7

Your Own Game Plan

When you tr y to play the game of other people,
chances are you’ll lose. So it’s time to create your
own game.

This piece of wisdom is usually applied in business. But

I guess this can apply and should also apply in real life
and specifically to people’s careers.

Many people still have faith in the virtue of

competition. They believe that you’ll have to beat
somebody else to become a winner. Well, by theory
yes, you’ll have to beat someone to win. But I think
competition should also be waged within. We should
compete against ourselves—always.

In most companies, benefits and rewards are a typical

measure for motivating teams to produce or sell more.
Especially in sales, there’s just so much at stake. When

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you reach a certain quota, you get a corresponding

reward and there you go.

Competing With Whom?

But I don’t really believe in competing to win. I’m not

even convinced that money should have anything to do
with real motivation. I think money should always
come as a bonus rather than as the main motivation.

But really, most companies still believe that

competition is the way to do it. Give people a sort of
quota and let them compete. In the end, however, it
seems like it’s only the company and the person with
the most sales who win. Everybody else ends up a
loser!

Can you imagine a workplace where 98% of the people

are in the losing end but are expected to perform
better in the next quarter?

It’s not a good feeling to be in such a workplace. This

very situation actually starts the demoralization
process. Not too many people can survive it, so they
quit and find refuge somewhere else. Not too many
people can live with this kind of scenario, much less
that kind of bad feeling. How do you think a person

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would feel if in all of his five years in the company, he

has never won anything at anytime?

Demoralized, of course!

Indeed, competition is good only when people realize

that it’s not about beating somebody else (or all the
rest). It’s when they realize that the competition is
really against one’s self. It’s when they realize that the
only way they can produce more is when they can
create more opportunities for themselves and keep on
pursuing as many chances of success as possible.

In my work as a business evangelist, I’ve seen several

workplaces in action and, yes, definitely also in real
life. I’ve heard people complaining about one thing or
two. I’ve heard people airing their grievances. I’ve seen
the owners trying their very best to communicate a
certain message—a message that most people can’t
understand because of the language barrier. I’ve seen
managers and supervisors being paid three times
higher than standard but resigning and leaving the
company anyway.

But I’ve also heard some people praising their

management and giving credit where credit is due. I’ve
seen them falling in love with that they do even if they
only get a little for working long hours. I’ve seen

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people quietly working and expecting nothing less

from themselves.

To me, diversity is so amazing. The way people think

and run their own personal programs amuses me.
Every company seems to be so unique that you can’t
see a common pattern. You wouldn’t get any clue
whatsoever until you immerse yourself in that company
for a while and get to see everything for yourself.

I’ve had the opportunity to experience this. I must say

it was such a unique opportunity to have worked with
some of the country’s best companies, most of which
started as a backyard enterprise.

In those years when I studied the psychology of

working people, I thought that all of them have a
chance to create their own game plan. They can create
their own career path and they can always talk to their
employers. While most people think that they owe
something from the company, I believe that every
company owes something from its people, too.

In fact, everybody owes something from somebody.

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Writing It Down

Creating a game plan or a career path is something

that you shouldn’t expect to be done for you. It’s
should be your individual design that’s done in your
own personal time. You’re lucky if you’re working for a
company that gives you a perfect career path. But still,
working for the end-goal is a different story. You may
have the best-laid plan but there’s always an
implementation part—something that’s even harder to
do than planning.

Your own game plan should have something to do with

your short-term as well as long-term goals. You
should make yourself very well-versed in living-short-
term-thinking-long-term. This simply means that you
can’t be so mindful about the future at the expense of
the moment.

My suggestion is for you to write down everything.

This is to make you see the real deal. It’s so difficult to
draw everything in your mind and expect yourself to
remember everything. That’s why it’s very important to
write down your thoughts and ideas and plans.

The difference between the person who’s writing a plan

and the person who’s not writing anything is often
seen in the result. The person who sees where he’s

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heading and has an idea on how to get there invariably

makes it. The other person soon gets stuck
somewhere.

It’s no-brainer, they say. I mean, obviously, if you

don’t know where you are, and don’t know where
you’re going, or even if you know where you’re going
but don’t know how to get there, it will be a struggle
for you.

That’s why you need to write down your plans.

Oh yes, sure, writing is a painful process. But I think

you will have to go through the process especially
when you believe that it’s a necessary pain to
experience. Of course it can be fun, too, particularly if
you’re really on into something big in the future.

And because things change, you need to review and

refine your plan from time to time. Sometimes, there
are unnecessary things that you should delete from the
plan. You need to review your plan because it sets your
direction or the need to change that direction. And you
need to be keenly aware of changes in your
environment so you’d know exactly what to change in
your plan and how to make the change.

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The Story of the Seed

It’s not easy to plant something. Putting some seeds

on the ground may be easy but when you come to
think why not all seeds grow and survive, you’ll realize
that the seeds also have their own individual fates.

Remember the centuries-old story of the seed? Some

seeds fell on the rocks. Oh, that’s not a good place to
be. Some seeds got eaten by the birds. Oh, poor seeds!
Some seeds fell on soil with too many weeds. Oh,
that’s not a good place either!

But some seeds fell on the right soil with direct

sunlight, with enough water, without too many weeds.
They survived and they started growing.

But this parable tells only part of the story. In real life,
the celebration is still one season away. The seeds we
sow take one season before they can become a crop
that can be harvested. We need to give them the time
they need to do that. And different seeds or plants
require different periods to grow. That’s why we don’t
harvest everything all at the same time.

Most people, though, are able to plant but couldn’t

wait for the harvest season. At the middle of the
process, they quit and they leave their farm for

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whatever reason. And guess what: They try to go

somewhere else only to plant again. But since they
bring with them the same attitude, the same
upbringing, and the same mindset, they leave again
before the harvest. The cycle continues and repeats
itself again and again and again.

Is there a better fate than to repeatedly plant and quit

before the harvest?

Of course there is! Stay for one year or maybe two or

three or four. Stay for as long as it takes. Stick around.
You don’t want to miss the fun when finally the harvest
is there. But do plant and stay. Then trust the seasons.
They will tell you exactly where you are at any given
moment.

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If you’re a brand and it’s all in your power to

shape it, then you can choose how you’d like
to be known.

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CHAPTER 8

Creating Your Own Opportunities

I hate it when people say, “I’m not successful
because the government is corrupt and the
economy isn’t doing well.” I hate it when they say,
“There’s no oppor tunity.” Because the truth is,
there’s always an oppor tunity.

We know the truth. We know when we cover up

something. We know when we lie. We know when we
only mean to give an excuse or when we really mean to
tell the truth. So let’s be straightforward with this. We
all know that every time we say, “There is no
opportunity,” it only means that we are not ready for it.

When we don’t see an opportunity around us, it

doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Why? Because we also

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know that pretty soon, somebody else will see that

opportunity and seize it.

I decided to treat this topic as a separate chapter

because the issue involved here has been raised
hundreds of times in the course of my professional
training and speaking engagements. And I always get
the impression that most people still believe in
something that they know doesn’t make any sense.

Even worse, they try to make other people also believe

that people fail because there’s no opportunity for
them. And the worst? It’s when these other people
become so convinced by the idea that they pass it on
idea until the whole world—or at least majority of it—
accepts it as truth rather than a mere excuse for
failure. And if there’s anything worse than the worst,
that same excuse is being passed from one generation
to another as an unchanging truth.

I don’t think that opportunity is something you can

find outside your zone of strength. Remember that
people from the other side of the world, believing that
opportunity can be found somewhere else, would
always want to go to the other side to explore a
greener pasture? I don’t think this is right. It’s perhaps
only half-true at best. Come to think of it, opportunity

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is always there and the only question is, “Are you

qualified?”

Are you qualified?

When people are asked, “Are you qualified?”, most

people say, “Maybe.” Now, that’s an answer that
doesn’t count. One thing that makes a person
successful is resolve and certainty when answering that
direct question. But when that person says “Maybe,” it
becomes obvious that he or she isn’t even sure of what
he or she can offer and is capable of doing.

Qualification, for me, is a big deal because it’s what

makes an opportunity visible to a person. When we are
not qualified to do a job required by a particular
position, we’ll likely say that it’s not an opportunity at
all. The only time we can see an opportunity for what it
is, is when we are prepared to accept the responsibility
for taking it.

When speaking at conventions and conferences in

various Asian countries, I make it a point to ask at least
three people about their desire. More specifically, I ask
them what position they want, what benefits they want,
what kind of working environment they want. I even
ask them, “What career do you really, really aspire for?”

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Most of the time, though, I get this answer: “Anything.”

Now, this answer is such a big deal for me because it

makes no sense. How do you expect to get something
specific and concrete when you don’t even know
exactly what you want? How do you expect people to
give you that something? If you’re vague and imprecise
about what you want, how do you think you’ll get it?

It’s really no wonder that most of the time, people

don’t get what they want. Instead, they get just
anything. That “anything” is sometimes the very thing
they hate and don’t like. And once they get what they
hate and don’t like, they start looking around for the
perfect person or place or situation to blame. They
start to blabber, complain, and feel so bad about the
world and make it look as if someone or something
else is responsible for their misfortune.

Your qualification is such a big deal that it obviously

requires bold actions, too. You just can’t sit down and
pray for qualification. You can’t go to your parents and
ask for qualification because they can’t give it to you.
You can’t go to a Wal-Mart or to an SM Supermall to
buy qualification because it’s not for sale. It’s not
available just anywhere.

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Here’s the thing: Your qualification is something you

earn as you learn, grow, and experience one thing after
another.

Another thing is that qualification is a sort of package

that basically contains the following: ability, skills,
talents, wisdom, connections, credibility, creativity,
philosophy, education, exposure, likeability, and
influence—among so many other things.

If you can get a good mix of these basics, then you are
ready to take an opportunity.

How Prepared are You?

Let’s be clear about your “value proposition.” How

much do you think you are worth, really?

Because most people are not sure about their value,

they can’t come up with a precise pricing of
themselves. I always tell people that they will need to
be sure about their value so they can name the right
price for themselves. If you don’t come up with the
right price tag for yourself, you’d just make yourself
carry an additional heavy burden.

One question I usually ask my convention audiences is

this: “How much is your asking salary now?” By “asking

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salary,” of course, I mean your value converted to cash

and not necessarily your current salary.

Interestingly, I get such a wide variety of answers. Even

more interesting is that when I ask them what basis
they have for coming up with the figure, they’d tell me
they are not sure what to say.

So really now, where do you think these figures are

coming from?

My bet is that it comes from the so-called “industry

standard,” or what they think the company is willing to
give them. Here, I’d like to give emphasis to the phrase
“the company is willing to give…” Why? Because I don’t
think this issue is about what the company is willing to
give. Rather, it’s what a person can offer to the
company. It’s the other way around.

But since we live in a very competitive job market, what

happens is that job hunters ruthlessly put jobseekers
at the losing end of the bargain. In fact, it seems to me
that the pre-employment process has been turned into
a bidding process. This makes many jobseekers believe
that if they make their asking salary lower, they will get
a bigger chance of getting the job.

That, however, isn’t true at all!

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Companies will be able to afford whatever is absolutely

necessary for them to operate. If they need a particular
person with a particular set of qualifications, they will
be willing to pay what he or she is worth—name your
price. I think this is the shortest way I can put it.

Why will they do this? Well, maybe because if you ask

for only PhP10,000 instead of PhP20,000 for a
particular job, you have given the company a reason to
doubt your ability. Don’t you think so?

Just to make sure that we understand each other

perfectly, let’s do some comparing. Say, for example,
you need to buy some toy in a department store. There
are two choices. The first one is of low quality and the
other is the “original” high-quality item. The price of
the first item is lower than the original. Of course, the
first one isn’t as reliable as the second. Which do you
think is the intelligent choice?

I have no doubt that you’ll choose the second one.

Don’t you think that companies might be thinking the

same way, too? You must have heard about a
consultant being paid PhP100,000 a month for his
services. It’s true. How about that highly valued
executive who gets stock options from the company?

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It’s also true. And how about that manager who gets
21st month pay every December? That’s true, too!

As an entrepreneur myself, I will pay people their

asking price for as long as I know the value of what
they bring to my company. I can afford anyone who
can help my business. And why not? It’s my business,
after all.

So think about it: If your price is too low, that will be

reason to doubt you. If your price is too high, on the
other hand, that price will cast doubt on you. If your
sincerity doesn’t show in what you are asking for, the
more the company will think twice about hiring you or
increasing your salary.

So the key to getting what you are really worth is to be

precise and confident with your own value. Say it with
confidence—then make sure you deliver the value that
you promised.

So are you now prepared to talk about your value?

Delivering the value

If you’re aware of how known commercial brands

promise and deliver value, then you must already know

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that almost the same thing applies to people. By

default, each one of us has to promise something.
Whether that promise is small or big is beside the
point. Quite simply, you promise something to
someone by simply showing up.

What do I mean by that?

I personally believe that everybody is a brand.

Everybody has a selling proposition. Everybody has a
value. Everybody can be a solution to a problem.
Everybody has his or her own market. Therefore, by
default, we are like a brand of product. The only
difference is that it’s in our power to shape the brand.
In contrast, commercial brands need lots of people to
shape the brand.

If you’re a brand and it’s all in your power to shape the

brand, then your choice is to work on it or forget about
it.

Just like brands, we promise to deliver something to

someone—to our boss, to our office mates, to our
family, to our friends, to the world. We give them
something to expect from us—like your boss expecting
you to behave properly during office hours, your office
mates expecting you to treat them with utmost
respect, your family expecting you to be a good

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provider, your friends expecting you to remember

them on special occasions.

When we fail to deliver one of those promises, it’s not

only the people around us who get disappointed. You
also disappoint yourself. So this isn’t a good
proposition at all.

So how do you make sure that your value is delivered?

The simple answer is, “Don’t be like most politicians.”
It’s always better to underpromise but overdeliver than
to overpromise but underdeliver. Please take special
note of this thought.

To deliver your promise, which is what brands usually

make sure of doing, is to fulfill expectations. This
means just being true to your words. It means just
following your conversation and sticking with the
discussion. You don’t have to overdo things. Deliver
just enough and it’s OK.

(A Very) Short Course for Finding Opportunities

I will now give you some specific tips for creating an

opportunities for yourself. Of course, you can share
these tips with your friends, associates, and family
members. These tips are not requirements, by the way.

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They are merely suggestions for creating

opportunities.

First, read books and read more books. Start with

motivational and inspirational titles like The Alchemist
by Paulo Coelho. You don’t want to read too many
novels and fiction books because they are meant more
for entertainment rather than personal improvement.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t read novels and
other works of fiction. Sure, you can, but only if you
have the extra time. Instead, read more books that can
shape your own life. Read books that are related to
your career development. Just read and never mind
people who make fun of people who read. Just read
books. It’s important.

Second, attend seminars and trainings. Yes, even at

your own expense. You can’t remain the same person
you were five years ago. You can’t stay the same.
People either grow or die. If you’re not growing, then
you’re dying. Seminars are important because they can
make you learn a thing or two that you can’t get
anywhere within the four corners of your workplace.
And when you attend a seminar, don’t be lazy. Take
down notes and understand what the speaker is
saying. Sometimes, the speaker may be boring, but
don’t make that a reason for you not to learn. Attend

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more trainings and seminars for no other reason than

for your own good.

Third, engage yourself in conversations. You can’t have

the same number of friends five years ago. You should
find time to meet new friends and establish new
relationships. Join organizations and engage yourself
in conversations. Be interested with what other people
do and how they do it. Listen to their stories. They can
tell you something that can make your life easier. Talk
to people. You don’t have to be the subject. Ask them
something, then listen attentively. One conversation,
just one, can bring you closer to your goal. This was
the case with a conversation I had with Gil Garcia, a
writer from Entrepreneur Magazine. The next thing I
knew, SM Supermarket was calling me. Gil referred me
to SM. Then SM invited me to be one of the SM
Supermarket Brand Ambassadors. I said yes.

Fourth, find a mentor. Find someone who can invest

time on you. That mentor can be an outsider or an
insider. He or she doesn’t have to come from your
workplace. But you need to have one. It’s like having a
tour guide. Your mentor will tell you stories and
principles and nuggets of wisdom. Share with you
everything he or she knows about life. Warn you
against doing certain things. Encourage you. Inspire
you. Connect you to other people. Often, your mentor

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will not stop until you’re good to go on your own. Your

mentor will be faithful to this goal: To make you more
successful than he or she is. That was the promise
given to me by my mentor, John Ayudtud, and I think
he delivered on that promise. You need to find your
own mentor to make life easier for you.

Fifth, disconnect from the world every now and then

and have a date with yourself. When your mind isn’t
occupied with too many distractions and conflicting
priorities, you can think better and you can remember
and identify with clarity some goals that you might
have forgotten. Life at work is demanding. It is
consuming. Having a date with yourself will help you
figure things out. When you do, don’t bring your
cellular phone or laptop. Just yourself, some sheets of
yellow pad, and a pen. But do go out and give yourself
a treat.

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 Why Am I Working?

Afterword

Why did you read this book?

Why did you read this book? From hundreds of
reasons that come to mind, I guess you did
because you’re one of my diehard fans. Probably.

Oh, I’m sorry! I’m just kidding. But who knows that
after you’ve read this book, you’ll “Like” my Facebook
page.

Seriously, you probably were asking that very question

when you decided to grab a copy of this book. In any
case, it doesn’t matter now. You’ve read the book—and
hopefully you were inspired and motivated by it. So
what else do I have?

Well, just a few things more—just 10 more thoughts,

to be exact, to recapitulate what we’ve taken up in this
book.

The first is, you need to develop the mindset of a

winner rather than that of a loser. A winner
understands deeply how the game is played, a loser

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just tries to play. This means that to be a winner, you

need to really understand what’s happening and clearly
figure out why it’s happening. You can’t just jump in,
stay put, and hope to stay alive. Staying alive isn’t
easy. So why not make some more effort to really
succeed? Who knows that your boss might just be
waiting for you to do so?

The second is, oh yes, to realize that it’s really a jungle

out there. But of course, the idea of “jungle” isn’t
always negative. If you’re a tourist, for instance, you’re
afraid to go it alone in a strange, new place so you hire
a tour guide. The tour guide makes money from you,
but he gives you value for it—a sense of security. So
don’t be afraid to do the right thing. It’s the right thing
anyway. Don’t mind what some people might say
because that’s all that they can do really—say
something, anything, anytime for no good reason at
all.

The third is to know that your value is only as high as

your measure of it. If you think you have a low value
and you like it that way, then don’t worry. Nobody will
raise that value for you. They’re too busy raising their
own.

Fourth is you need to take responsibility. Many people

don’t accept responsibility for fear of failure. But don’t

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be afraid to fail. After all, you wouldn’t find out if you’d

fail until you actually fail. This, of course, is self-
explanatory.

Fifth, you should welcome taking some more

responsibility. Don’t be afraid to succeed because you
wouldn’t know if you’d succeed until you actually
succeed. This, too, is self-explanatory.

Sixth, you should banish this slogan from your mind:

“Winners never quit. Quitters never win.” Wise people
know when to quit. Not all fights are worth fighting for.

Seventh, you need to see work not as a form of

punishment. It’s not a cross you need to carry. It’s a
car you use to get to your chosen destiny.

Eighth, you must take the driver’s seat. Sit behind the
steering wheel of your own car. Drive. And drive safely.

Ninth, clearly understand that you owe nobody for

being you except, of course, The One who created you.
It’s your choice. Just Repay Him by being the best that
you can ever be.

And tenth—the last—understand fully the value of what

you do. Once this happens, you can be sure of never
hating your job—or your boss—ever again!

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No one makes it alone. So, I thank you for

taking the journey with me.

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Acknowledgment

Super thank you!

I used to think that I was working alone. But
looking back now, I never really was.

Why is it that when I’m writing a book, I’d think I’m

doing it alone? When I’m done writing the book,
though, I’d realize that there are actually many people I
should be thankful to.

God, oh Dear Lord, thank You so much for this life and
for the talent and skills you have given me! I fumble
trying to find the right words to thank You, but You
know how appreciative I am for everything that You’ve
been doing for me. Without You, Lord, how would I
know my value and how could I possibly know the
value of what I do? So once again, thank You very
much!

My heartfelt thanks to my parents, Victorino Luna and

Carmelita Abria, who are always silently praying for my
good health and success. (Here, I made sure to put my
mother’s maiden surname so she doesn’t complain

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again. She always finds it such a big deal on my

plaques and certificates!)

Thanks, too, to you my sisters, who are my number

one critics. When would I hear at least a little praise
from you for my work? Your silence has always kept
me challenged!

To Mr. Joe Carillo, author of English Plain and Simple,

my favorite editor, thanks for your another outstanding
work!

To my business partners and long-time friends, Ian

Barcelona of AIB Training Events Communications and
Pocholo Gonzales of CreatiVoices, thanks to you, guys!
We’re the dynamic trio, always.

Thanks, too, to my followers in the Philippines,

Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, South Korea, and Thailand.
It was my great pleasure to have shared my ideas with
you during my seminars in your country.

And finally, thanks to my fellow members of the

Kandila Choir. I’ll always treasure our singing together
every Sunday to sing for God’s glory.

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