So thankful to God, my darling wife Lucy Cheng-Dy, and friends for making 2022 my most rewarding (and busiest) year ever.

How can I count the ways? Here are some highlights. Meantime, enjoy the jpegs!

  • Started the year as covid positive. Thankfully, I recovered without ill after-effects. Lucy met my every need, even putting the food tray at the doorstep of my isolation room!
  • Turned SIX-OH. Oh my goodness! Is this what being a senior citizen feels like? I am still in denial…
  • I am supposed to retire and thus leave my employer. But my employer retained me as a consultant at least until the end of 2023.
  • Got certified as a transformative coach, thanks to the amazing instructors at the Coach Masters Academy. But I’m not done yet. I’m pursuing advanced training so I can give the best service to my clients. (This explains the eyebags on my eyebags.)
  • Found great mentors this year. Due to strategic secrecy, I’m not telling. (But they know who they are!)
  • Thankful for the trust extended me by LJMB Training (the indefatigable Louie John M Banta), SEATSI (Dynamic Dina H. Loomis and Debonair Dino Hermosisima Santos) and PSTD (privileged to have worked with amazing trainer/coaches).
  • Would you believe that I gave my first-ever speech in Toastmasters way back on November 28, 2012? That means I have been with this fine organization for ten years! (And counting.)
  • Lucy and I were one year short of celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary. Can’t wait for next year!
  • Sadly, my mom passed away last May 16. But I cherished how much she loved and took care of me.
  • Two of my books were voted into two top ten lists in the recent Filipino Readers’ Choice Awards. (The two are Regret No More and Is This All There Is: Why Purpose is a Journey and Not a Destination, published by OMF Lit and Anvil, respectively.)
  • Speaking of books, the virtual launch of my 12th book, Broken Faith, was held last April 2. Thank you, OMF Lit family!

For those who believe in me, opened doors for me, shared their wisdom with me, thank you! To honor each of you by name would turn this into an even longer post. What I do aim for is to give you value just as you gave value to me.

Last but not least, I am filled with thanksgiving to the Lord. Yes, I was digging my well before I get thirsty. But He is the One filling the well with water! My cup overflows…

#grateful #yearinreview

0 Comments

Does time have value? Well, it depends.

It has value as a resource. In fact, since you cannot retrieve lost time, this makes time as an extremely precious resource.

But time has no value if it is wasted. You use the time for whatever you deem profitable, productive, or positive. Put differently, you decide what value to give to your time.

This brings us to reflect on our use of time. There are three basic ways:

Time can be squandered. You use the next hour doing something that brings you no benefit at all. For example, if you are disorganized, chances are you are wasting time trying to retrieve some information that would otherwise be handy.

Time can be spent. You use the next hour doing something that brings you immediate benefit. It is not bad, per se, but it is very short-term. For example, you can spend your evenings watching Netflix. You would be entertained today but you can’t translate that experience into something useful tomorrow. Unless you are a professional media critic.

Time can be invested. You use the next hour doing something that will bring you strategic benefit later on. For example, you are pursuing advance studies. It’s no fun now, but you are sharpening certain skills that will increase your marketability tomorrow.

Which brings us to two sobering questions:

1. How do you think you have used your time in 2022? More of squandering, more of spending, or more of investing?

2. How do you want to use your time in 2023? I doubt you will say “more of squandering.” The reflection becomes: Do you agree that it is better to invest time than to spend it? If yes, what will you do differently to invest that time next year?

If you really want to be scientific (and obsessive-compulsive) about it, create a spreadsheet where the columns are days of the week and the rows are 15- or 30-minute increments of the 24 hours of each day. Then as the week goes by, write down what you did in each increment. You will see a tangible record of how you used your time.

There is a lovely line that says:

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. (Ephesians 5:15-16)

Indeed, we live in an age where there is so much distraction and temptation. Thus, we have to be intentional of using time with a long-term horizon. I am not saying we squeeze every second to be “productive” to the point you can’t enjoy a sunset or take a vacation. But let us also be aware how we are flittering our moments.

As my mentor once told me:
If you are wasting your minutes, you are wasting your hours.
If you are wasting your hours, you are wasting your days.
If you are wasting your days, you are wasting your years.
If you are wasting your years, you are wasting your life!

Here’s to more wisdom on using time in 2023!

#careercoach #timemanagement #newyear #newyear2023

0 Comments

The Power of YET

December 26, 2022


What were the negative self-talk that held you back in 2022?

For example:

  • “I am not competent.”
  • “I am not disciplined.”
  • “I am not mentored.”

I can imagine how sick and tired you are from limiting yourself when all this time, you could have soared as the eagle.

Want to know a three-letter word that would flip all those into possibility language?

It’s the word YET. What if you say:

  • “I am not competent yet.”
  • “I am not disciplined yet.”
  • “I am not mentored yet.”

Feel the difference?

The word YET plants a fresh vision of a better version of yourself.

It also puts you into a mind frame that it is possible. It just hasn’t happened…. yet.

Now the word YET is not some magic wand. Just wave it and you will be an overnight expert or millionaire.

You have to put in the elbow grease, the long hours, the furrowed brow. But the YET turbo-charges the motivation.

So if your mind is already deeply grooved with those negative self-talk, let it play those sad tunes, but then enforce the word YET at every end. In due time, it will heal your perspective and energize your spirit.

Remember: the best is YET to come. Make is so in 2023!

0 Comments

We don’t usually associate Christmas with sacrifice. Christmas is all about family, festivity, and feasting. Loss and pain are utterly alien to the season.

Or so we thought.

When we think of God sacrificing His Son, Jesus, for our sins, we think of Holy Week, a period shrouded in darkness and sorrow. But the sacrifice really began at the first Christmas, an event we celebrate with lights and cheer.

God did not send His Son as a full-grown man helplessly nailed on a cross, at the mercy of Roman soldiers. He sent Jesus as a newborn baby helplessly lying on a trough, at the mercy of human parents.

This was no small sacrifice. Imagine a raging war and a father who didn’t hold back his son from the army. That depth of loss, pain and yes, sacrifice, lies behind what one song called “the most wonderful time of the year”.

But I am not calling for somber introspection during Christmas. I would reserve that for Lent, when we would focus on Calvary. Today, we focus on Bethlehem.

It is a time of gratitude for God’s provision for our salvation. Think of it as a cosmic exchange gift. God gave us His Son. In return, we give Him our faith and allegiance.

In this new life, we enjoy abundant life and eternal life. Our enmity with God has ceased. And in a glorious future, there will be no more tears, no more pain, no more death. THAT would put a thousand Christmases pale by comparison.

All because of a Heavenly Father who didn’t hold back His Son from the world.

All the more: oh come let us adore Him!

#Christmas #sacrifice #Jesus #salvation #Gospel

0 Comments

Ten years ago, my boss was reorganizing his division and offered me a factory to run.

I hesitated.
I hemmed and hawed.
I told him I will think about it.

Deep inside, I wanted to beg off. See, I graduated college as a chemical engineer but my career was dominated by industrial sales and marketing. I lacked the confidence of leading fifty workers, hitting production KPIs, and managing a lean operation.

A few days later, my boss had waited long enough and challenged me, “Nelson, I can’t think of a better person to take over this factory. I need you there.”

How can I say no to that?

A decade later, as I sit on my office chair writing this post, I am grateful that I accepted the role. I was given a second factory to run and now I lead over 200 people.

And I wonder why I was so reluctant in the first place.

But that’s the thing: the upcoming new year may bring you new career opportunities. They may come upon you by surprise. The question is whether or not you will have the boldness to seize those opportunities.

Let me share two insights about being bold. Each insight comes with the wrong kind of boldness and the right kind.

First, don’t think vague boldness. Think intentional boldness.

Many will vow “I will take more chances in 2023.” But what does that even mean? It will just be another one of those new year’s resolutions that will fizzle out by February.

We need intentional boldness. We have to be specific on what we will be bold about.

Here’s an exercise. The cliché in motivational circles is to ask “what would you do if you weren’t scared?”

Let’s flip that. “What do you want to do, but are not doing it because you are scared?” Then do them.

Second, don’t think impulsive boldness. Think calculated boldness.

I came across several posts that “inspire” people to accept career opportunities they are underqualified for.  Say yes first, then figure out how to pull it off later.

Well, yes and no. I understand we should not play it safe. Yet, I can’t help but to think of the logical absurdity: if I am invited to perform brain surgery on someone – and I am an accountant – that doesn’t mean that I go it.

When an opportunity presents itself, think “calculated boldness.” Take a sober inventory of your skills, temperament, network and other resources.

Then gauge if you will have a good chance of succeeding. As Jesus once said, “”Suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?” (Luke 14:31).

So there you go.
Don’t harbor vague boldness; think intentional boldness.
Don’t be swayed by impulsive boldness; think calculated boldness.

When you do, you will increase your daring and open new vistas for yourself in 2023. May it be so and have an amazing year ahead!

#newyear #boldness #careeradvice

 

No alternative text description for this image

Activate to view larger image

0 Comments

I once had a staff whose job was to plan our raw material needs and trigger orders to our suppliers.

Over time, I noticed he was having difficulty making decisions. Should he order this or not? If yes, how much should he order? I felt we were edging towards stocking out on critical raw materials.

So I asked him what’s going on. His replies went something like these:

“Sir, I can order X amount of raw materials based on sales forecast. But it is possible that our customers will buy less from us. Then I will be stuck with excess inventory. ”

“Sir, I don’t want to order too much because it is possible that the inventory will stay in our warehouse for so long that it would be expired when it’s time to use it.”

“Sir, this item is imported and it is possible it will be delayed due to port congestion. I’m having a local source develop an alternative but he is not yet ready with the samples.”

See the pattern? While it is commendable that he thinks of potential problems and contingencies, he was also paralyzed by so many what-ifs.

“Look,” I said, “Everything is possible, but the real question is: is it probable?”

We can’t really predict the future, but one thing I’ve learned is that we can’t live forever on what-ifs. We go by what is likely based on the best available information we have at the time.

That is why some PSDM tools (such as the potential problem analysis part of SAPADAPPA) invites the user to combine “how likely will the event happen?” with “how severe will be the impact if it happens?”

My staff eventually learned the skill of prioritizing his decisions based on what is probable and what is critical. He found the confidence of letting go of relatively far-fetched scenarios.

“Everything is possible. But is it probable?” has saved me from bouts of worry, perfectionism, and analysis paralysis. I do hope this principle will serve you well as it did for me.

#decisionmaking #analysisparalysis #operations #strategy #careercoach

0 Comments

The Beautiful Bow

December 12, 2022


Whoever boasts “I bow to no one” is missing a beautiful experience.

My mother-in-law passed away two weeks ago and in the memorial services, we observed the Chinese tradition of bowing from the waist as a sign of respect.

Normally, we would face the dearly departed and bow. But in one of the services, we faced the audience and bowed to them. Without any prompting, the Chinese folks at the row just in front of us rose to their feet and bowed to us in return. These were the mother-in-law’s churchmates who conducted that service: her pastor, an interpreter, some prayer warriors.

I wish you were there. You can feel the shared sense of loss, the grief mixed with gratitude, the palpable richness of Chinese tradition. It can very well be a poignant scene in a Mano Po movie.

Those steeped in Western culture may find this quaint at best, archaic at worst. But in bowing, we feel the surge of bittersweet emotions: affection, sadness, bonding, nostalgia, solemnity, regrets. The bow speaks what eulogies and condolence cards cannot.

This beautiful bow was an advance echo of the Bow we will all render someday.

On that day, everyone –  yes, including you and me, regardless of religious affiliation, spiritual inclination, or lack thereof – will bow to One who died for our sins, rose from the dead, ascended to Heaven, and now exalted with a name above all names. “[At] the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-11).

The question will be: at that Bow, what emotions will flood us?  I do hope and pray that we will be engulfed with joy and worship, not with terror and rebellion.

Then again, why not bow before the Lord starting now? Oh come let us adore Him!

#christmas #bow #chinese #reflection

0 Comments

You may have heard of this strategy: when you want to extract information from someone, play dumb. That will make the other person feel so superior to you that he will flaunt his superiority by telling you more than what he would otherwise do.

But here’s my concern. If you keep playing dumb, people may think you ARE dumb. And that will backfire on your personal branding.

Sure, I will concede there will be times when it will be wiser to act dumb. For example, the other person is “teaching” you something that you know is wrong. But you don’t want to correct him lest you may make him feel like a fool or you come across as a know-it-all.

That is why if you must play dumb, do it sparingly. You don’t want a boss to say “No, I won’t promote Nelson. I have to keep spoon-feeding him. He’s dumb.”

What’s more, what if you play dumb to people and they somehow realize it’s all an act? Then you will be seen as manipulative and therefore, untrustworthy.

So what can you do? It is to play the student. You don’t have to put on a goofy mask to say “I’m curious. What is the…?” I tried it on people and I have never been put down. In fact, most folks delight being a mentor or instructor for a while.

And if the other person DOES put you down (“Four years of engineering school and you don’t know?”), well, that’s their attitude problem. But when you get to know what they know, guess who will have the last laugh?

So in general, don’t play dumb. Play smart by being genuinely inquisitive. If you are groping to understand something (or someone), that does not necessarily mean a basement IQ. Rather, it speaks of a hungry intellect and a humble spirit.

And people will admire you for it… if they’re not dumb.

#playdumb #dumb #conversation #learning #careercoach #careerstrategy #intelligence

 

0 Comments

Looking for a specific
topic? Search below,

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors