It's Time for Mid-Year Review

Look it's June 23!  Our last article was published before the end of 2012.  It took us almost six months to have this new post.

We just stopped-by to ask how you've been doing in the last six months of 2013. Have you started your semi-annual review already?

We all know that one year is too long to remember everything, to assess, re-plan and adjust.  School years are divided into semesters, normally two, sometimes three. Businesses do their performance reporting quarterly.  We, too, need to take some time off to review what we've done, where we are in our goals and what else needs to be done.

If you are employed, probably you are already familiar with a process called mid-year review.  Most people are threatened just by the thought of it.  But, you shouldn't be one of them.  Mid-year reviews should be something that you should look forward to.  Imagine, you have the opportunity to evaluate what you've done already and what needs to improve.  You should not be like most people who thinks that mid-year review is the time to point out where other people came short of what's expected of them.  It is not the time to point out what people missed, but a time to point out where improvements are necessary. It is one of those perfect moments to encourage people, including yourself, to keep doing the good things and to motivate them to push harder until their goals are reached.

We do mid-year reviews not just to know where we are, but to understand what else do we need to do to be where we want to be at the end of the year.

So, do yourself a favor.  Take a short break from your busy schedule.  Sit down, get a pen and a paper, or using your computer, write down your goals from the start of the year and have an honest assessment of where you are right now.

Whether you've been doing great or not, you should always make that honest evaluation of yourself.  You can lie to others, but you cannot lie to yourself.  So no cheating.

Do this so you can BE MORE and ACHIEVE MORE.

P.S. It will be wise if you will also ask opinions from people whom you trust and respect.  If they know that you value their opinions and that you are taking these steps to improve yourself and your life, they will be happy to help.

Goals on Track

Just a couple of days ago, I made something really funny and I am surprised until now of its effect.  But, before I tell what it is, or show rather you, I want you to take this step by step procedures for a short while.

Did you know that you can change your default homepage when you browse the internet?  It's like your corporate web address if you are using company computer or Yahoo! or Google or whatever is that first internet site that appears when you launch your internet browser.  Did you also know that with just a simple change in your browser's home page it could make a significant impact to your life, your career and in keeping your goals on track?  

If you're in the office or using NOT your own computer, I suggest NOT TO DO the following.  But if you are USING YOUR OWN computer (or your company allows you to personalize your web browser), follow me in this little experiment.  

Ready?  Here we go... 

What internet browser are you using right now?  Internet explorer?  Great!

Launch your Internet Explorer and find the upper most gear icon on the right hand side of your window.  It looks like this.  

Then, click on the "Internet Option" menu and a similar box like the one below would appear.  Now hold it for a second cause we're not done yet.  You see, the highlighted portion is the URL of your homepage.  That is what we want to change, which we will do later.  Ok?

Now, If you are using Mozilla Firefox, here's how you are going to do it.  

Launch Firefox.  On the upper left hand side of your window is the tab "Firefox." See it?  Click it and then the menus will appear.  Select the "Option" menu and then "Option" again, just like the second picture below.  Once you've clicked that, a box similar to the third one below will appear.  

Notice the highlighted portion again.   That's what we are going to change.  But don't proceed just yet.  Let's wait for the Chrome users.  

Chrome users, are you ready?  Here we go!  

Launch your Google Chrome and on the right hand side of your window you will see a "wrench" icon.  See that?  Yep, click on that and the menus will show up.   Select the "Options" menu and the second window below will appear. Are you there now?  Good.  See the "on start up" and "home page" items like the ones highlighted below?  Great! Hold it just right there.  

Now, IE, Firefox and Chrome users, are you ready to achieve your goals by simply changing your personal computer's home page?  Ready?  

Type this on the highlighted portions you've seen thus far:  

http://goalontrack.blogspot.com

You got it?  Amazing! It isn't that hard is it? Now save what you've just did. (Chrome users, there's no "save" option on that window, but it's OK, it will be saved automatically).  

Close your browser now and then re-launch it.  

There you go! 

I was quite surprise that for just three days after I made that site, it has been viewed by more than 30 unique visitors.  You could be one of those.  

Imagine what a simple reminder like this one can do to keep you on your goal.  I made this my browser's homepage and whenever I am tempted to surf the internet for unnecessary matters, I would just back-out and say, "Whoa! Do I really NEED to use the internet right now?"

There, I hope you've learned something new today and I hope that I have shared something to you to keep you on your goals of BEing MORE and LIVING THE GOOD LIFE!  

Over Qualified or Under Rated

If you are an employee, you would probably experienced being turned down from a job application even just for once.  If not, then congratulations.  But even so, this article is also for you, so read on.  

What's the usual feedback you get?  Generally it would be that you are "un" qualified for the job.  What else would the reason be?

So you asked yourself, unqualified because of what?  Either you are "over" or "under" but much the same "not" qualified. 

If you applied for a job and you were told that you under-qualified, good for you!  Why is that? Because it means you have the opportunity to improve some more. If your qualifications didn't match what they are looking for, it means you have to improve on those traits a little more.  Be More I say!

But if you overqualified, there goes your dilemma.  What would you do?  Apply to a higher posts or look for another opening.  Seems a pretty good idea.  But before you move in to that, let me ask you something.  Could it not be that you are overqualified because you "under rated" yourself?  You are applying for something lower than what is required of you.  In life, it is asking for something lesser than you deserve.

Let me repeat that.  Could it not be that you are overqualified because you UNDER RATED yourself - asking for something lesser than you really deserve?

Well, it boils down to this.  If you have no clear understanding of yourself and your abilities, chances are, you'll end up in the wrong path.  Not only in your search for work but in life as well. In any way, you must match your strength and character with the choices you make. If what you want seems too high for you, then raise the bar, Be More and reach for it.  There is no use in looking small on yourself.  If there are far greater things you can do or attain, don't make humility an excuse.  False humility makes no sense at all.  I don't think that it appeals to God either.  

So next time that you are tempted to go lower than what is expected of you or give lesser than what you can, think twice whether you are fulfilling your purpose.  

And one last piece of advice, don't settle for less because if feels good, comfortable and that is where most people are.  Rather, strive and then thrive to BE MORE and Live the Good Life!

***

Well, I am just expressing my thoughts, if you have another point of view, please feel free to share.  I welcome comments and constructive criticisms.  

Stick with Your Story

A job application turned down.  A project that never worked.  A diet that was never started.  A business that went south. A sweet life turned bitter.  A love that became hate.

"Why such a sad opening?"

Because we live in the world where "duality" of things and events prevails.  Life isn't always good.  We can't always have a good life, can we?  Well, as we have said before, to everything there is a season.  Let us just say that I just had my share of it no so long ago.

We are all aware that nothing is permanent in this world, even our jobs that we thought were stable enough to survive the tests of time.  We have seen corporate mergers and takeovers.  It's a world of "dog-eats-dog"  the "survival of the fittest."  And normally, it is the people who are the first ones to go.  We have heard of top honchos being kicked out of their offices.  What more could save a rank and file? So I said to myself, before that thing happens to me, I gotta be few steps ahead of it.

But what if, you've applied for a new job and you've been turned down not just once but a lot more?  Well, I know it's frustrating.  The world isn't just unfair, it's ruthless.

Once in our lives we experience helplessness and desperation (and the author of Live the Good Life is no exception).  In one of those low moments of my life thinking how I could be more successful in my career and how to augment the money I've been earning, I have resorted to all the self-help books I could grab, financial magazines, leadership books and business ideas.  I did not spare internet just to have ideas on how to earn more.   I was too fascinated with success stories of other people - people who get rich quick and people who earn money with virtually doing and investing nothing.  I thought my blogs could help me.  I put on adds and joined affiliate selling.  But so far, I have yet to earn my first dollar.  Then I get depressed even more.  I applied for another affiliate site and I was turned down for the following reasons:

"The website does not have enough link popularity"
"The website is submitting too many posts in a day"
"The website is not posting unique content"


What do all these things supposed to mean?  


Was all the time I've spent on reading and researching getting me no where?  Well, it seems to be heading that way.

In my desperation, I just wanted to isolate my self from the world.  Sometimes I would just blankly stare at something somewhere.  I longed for the moments when my head would just be still and quite.

Then it hit me.

It was staring at me for the longest time.  I haven't found my biggest "why" yet.

Do I want to be wealthy?  Yes, of course!  I believe that there's nothing wrong with being wealthy.  More so, I believe that there are more good things that I can do when I become wealthy.

But why?  So I can buy freedom of time to do the things that I wanted to do.  But why?  Because I want to spend more time with the people who matter to me the most?  But why?  Because I want to show to them how much I love them and how much I longed for the moments to spend my life with them without having to worry about where, when and how to get the money to spend.  But why?   Because at the end of my life story I want to be remembered by the very people I loved that I've lived my life for them.  But why?  Because it is my way of repaying the Lord, in my own simple ways, to give back to others the blessings He has given me - love, talent, time and treasures.  These are my big WHYs.

At the end of this journey, it won't matter how much I've succeeded, nor how many times I've tried and failed.  It won't matter how many streets they would name after me, or holidays after me, or books they would write about me.  It won't matter how much money I've made, how much I gave or how much I've kept.  At the end of this journey, what would matter would be how much I've complied with what was expected of me - loving with all the love I can give.  Being rich is just one of the many vehicles I can ride.  (We want to be rich not for the sake of being rich but for what we are becoming along the way.  This is the philosophy of we have at one of our new blog Pinoy Millionaires Circle.)    

Ahh... what a relief.  Just a while ago, I was about to bang my head on the wall because of the gloominess I've felt.  Now, I feel much better.  Is this the hour of "sweet-lemoning?"  Nope!  I don't think so.  I think the darkest part of the night just passed, that part of the night when the dawn is about to come.

Do I still feel down because after all the money and time I've invested on books and researches and yet the only source of my income is STILL my monthly salary?  Do I still feel sad because my blogs "aren't popular" and "without unique contents?"  YES!  I won't deny it because I can't and there's no need to.  But I can say now that it doesn't matter to me that much.  As long as there are people who read my posts and learn from it, even that be only a single person, I won't stop sharing my thoughts.  Whether I earn or not from my blogs, it doesn't matter.  What matters to me is the life that I could change because of what I share.

Maybe earning from blogging isn't for me.  Maybe my "luck" is yet to come.  But that's no excuse for me to stop acting on my dreams.  I think I'll just have to squeeze out some more ideas.  If there's such thing as "luck", i think it would be "being the right person at the right time, at the right place and FOR THE RIGHT REASON."  

Life doesn't always give us milk and honey. Sometimes, it throws us lemons.  And when it does, let's be thankful we now have another flavor for our drinks.

I believe in a greater future.  I believe in miracles and I believe that I am one.  I believe in Living the Good Life!  How about you? 

Trials, success, failures, joys, sadness... It's a roller coaster ride.  But this is my life.  This is my story.  And as inspirational speaker Les Brown would say, "This is my story and I'm sticking with it."