My Goal For This Blog

…we all have the potential to create value for others in this world…

Call Card Chronicles started as a journal of my discoveries and experiences in my quest for personal improvement and self-development.  I am constantly on the lookout for better ways to work, to live and how to do things better.  My purpose is to feature a wide variety of resources through productivity tips, motivational messages, useful links and resources.  I believe that, by deliberately cultivating the ability to acquire knowledge and to apply it,  we all have the potential to create value for others in this world.

My eventual goal is for Call Card Chronicles to be an acknowledged resource for helping others on their quest towards realizing their full potential and improving their situation in life.

Achieving this goal will be extremely fulfilling for me.  The idea that an average person can reach out to others and bring a positive message, and with it improvement and change, is enough to inspire me and to make me want to help even more.  This is only the beginning.  Sustaining this hard-earned recognition shall be part of my future objectives.  At the same time, I must be open to the idea of reaching out and expanding my reach, to include other untapped segments of readers.

The Corporate Guy

When a Senior VP said “Jump,” The young Corporate Guy said “How high?,” when he jumped.

Steve Stone, a Business (re)Designer and noted speaker on the value of creativity and innovation within education and business, writes about The Corporate Guy.   A tale about an ambitious worker who climbs up the ladder but eventually realizes that there are more important matters beyond one’s career.   He then takes a close look at his life and finds 7 Secrets to Success and Happiness.   It’s a fitting parable for our times.

Steve’s next book is titled The Big City Girl.

The manifesto has been published on ChangeThis.  You can view the entire contents here or download it here.

The Leapfrog Theory

Decide that you will operate on a higher level than everyone else

The Leapfrog Theory by Robert Ringer (Winning Through Intimidation, Looking Out for No. 1) states that you can leapfrog over your competition to be ahead of the pack.  All you have to do is decide that you will operate on a higher level than everyone else.  You don’t have to wait for another person or organization to tell you that you have arrived.  If you haven’t been promoted yet, act as if you have already been elevated to the next level. Take it upon yourself to be the best.  Decide that, from now on, you will do things better than everybody else.  You will perform even the most common task with a flourish and passion that people receiving your service can’t help but notice.  You will motivate people with your enthusiasm and energy.  You will add value to all your interactions.

With the simple act of choosing this path, you have distinguished yourself from the rest by simply refusing to be bogged down in intrigues, backstabbing and other maneuverings.

Of course, this is easier said than done.   A gutsy stand such as this calls for changes – in your mindset, in your beliefs and in your routines.   Sustaining excellence can exert pressure and test the motivation of even the most determined individual.  You have two choices: You can enjoy the initial exhilaration that this declaration of freedom brings, then creep back to the comfort of your old ways.   Or you can fight on and continue the quest for improvement.

Which will it be?

Walking The Talk

I went on to finish what I had to say but now I felt slighted instead of feeling grateful

One of the highlights of our recent National Sales and Marketing Conference was an inspirational talk by one of the country’s top motivational speakers.

In one of the exercises he made us shake hands with a partner while we looked behind them, as if distracted by someone or something.  The takeaway from this exercise is to make us realize the value of focus.  Without focus, the speaker said, there’s no value and impact to what we are doing.

After the talk I went over to him to thank him for inspiring us and for sharing his valuable insight in inter-personal engagement with us.   The lessons have been clearly etched in my mind.   I shook his hand, and then realized that “Thank you” were my only words that he heard.   A colleague of mine had come up along side me and called him.   As he became distracted,  Mr. Motivator shifted his attention and started to talk with her – while shaking my hand.    I went on to finish what I had to say but now I felt slighted instead of feeling grateful.   The famous speaker had just contradicted himself after only a few minutes.   He did not practice what he preached.  He failed to walk the talk.

You’re No Loser!

Image:FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The year 2008 seems to have gone by quickly.  Some of us are still regretting missed targets and wasted opportunities, but now is the right time to get one thing straight:  You are not a loser.

You may be still far from your goals at this point but you may have just made some bad decisions.   At the time when you had to decide, you sincerely chose the best path and made the best effort to snare your objective.  You’re in trouble because you’re suffering the consequences of the past actions you’ve taken.

Need more encouragement?

• The successful people we read and hear about made monumental mistakes before being victorious, but were not afraid to try again.
• A loser is somebody who quits, so how can you lose if you don’t quit? Failure is part of the success process.   Avoid failure and you also avoid success.
• Focus on the lesson to be learned from failure.  We hear this all the time.  We ignore this all the time.

• It’s in the execution.  We may have excellent plans but we need to implement them well to claim victory.

Pick yourself up and start plugging away!  Now is the perfect time.

Welcome 2009!

Happy New Year from the Call Card Chronicles! Here’s to more success and blessings this year!

Operation Smile at Ospital Ng Makati

Operation Smile is a private, not-for-profit volunteer medical services organization and worldwide children’s medical charity headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia that provides reconstructive surgery and related health care to indigent children and young adults. Medical volunteers repair cleft lip, cleft palate and other childhood facial deformities while building public and private partnerships to provide training to health care professionals and improve local capacity in partner countries.

Last 10-12 November, Operation Smile Philippines conducted one of its medical missions at the Ospital Ng Makati.  Prospective patients have been screened the week before.  Volunteers from Citibank, and Johnson & Johnson Philippines were on hand to lend their time and energy to this worthy cause.

Like all the other missions, this one had a good turnout

In 1982, Dr. William P. Magee, Jr., a plastic surgeon, and his wife, Kathleen S. Magee, a registered nurse, both of Virginia, U.S.A. , participated in a medical mission with a group of medical volunteers to repair children’s cleft lips and cleft palates in Naga City, Philippines. That time the team could only treat 40 children.  They soon found out that the need was greater than they realized. Overwhelmed by what they saw, they made a promise to come back.  What began as an idea to help a few children has grown into a network of volunteers and evolved into a mission to continuously transform thousands of lives.

All kids are beautiful.

This particular mission is no different as this is part of a series of missions regularly performed worldwide in an effort to provide treatment and hope to those afflicted with cleft palates and cleft lips.
Some first-time volunteers were surprised at the huge turnout, with some patients coming from provinces as far as Romblon.

Click here to know more about Operation Smile.  To volunteer, click here.

A patient being screened.

Patients came from as far as Romblon.

Nonie Perez of Johnson & Johnson coordinating with the patients

In the zone

Photo by Pniti Marta - http://pmartike.deviantart.com/

Top athletes and high achievers talk about being “in the zone” whenever they’re performing.  The zone is a state where mind and body are in perfect harmony.  Getting in the zone is where you want to be as you work to reach your goal of the moment, whether drilling that penalty kick or delighting your audience during a presentation.

Being in the zone also means getting engaged and totally focused with your present activity.  In the zone, everything seems to just flow and every piece falls right into place.  The activity then becomes both enjoyable and beneficial.

How do you know if you’re in it?  Karlene Sugarman, in her article in turtletrader describes being in the zone when you’re:

• Relaxed – Quietly intense, not psyched up at all.  You are energized yet calm.
• Confident – You feel that, whatever happens, you will come out on top.
• Focused – You are concentrating only on the task at hand.  You are totally absorbed that nothing can affect you.
• Effortless – Everything seems to fall right into place.
• Automatic – You’re on autopilot.  No conscious effort.  No interference from your thoughts or emotions.
• Fun – You’re having the time of your life while achieving something
• In control – You feel you’re in command no matter what

Recognize these signs when you’re back in this magical place.  Be in the zone and stay in the zone.

The Red Queen Effect: Differentiate or Die

In 1973, evolutionary biologist, Leigh Van Valen of the University of Chicago, devised the Red Queen Principle (also called the Red Queen Effect or Red Queen Hypothesis). This is based on the reflection from one of Lewis Carroll’s characters in Through the Looking Glass that “in this place it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place!”, The Red Queen is the character who runs hard but never gets anywhere.

With the competition in medical devices heating up, we have to run just to keep in place. To be able maintain our edge, we have to do more than the usual things. If we only do the usual things, we will only get the usual results. This is why:

1. We are always thinking out of the box – trying to do things differently
2. We are always willing to do the things that the competition is unwilling to do.
3. We are constantly sharpening our skills and improving our knowledge about the specialties we are targeting

So, just after finishing a recertification last November, we headed off for yet another intensive course in Bali last month. The irony of the situation did not escape me. You fly thousands of kilometers to a popular resort destination, book into a hotel a few meters away from the beach. And then you are locked up in a conference room, given a difficult subject to learn, given two minute bio breaks and lunch (half) hours. Then they tell you – to focus.

For me, the discipline learned in trying to focus in spite of all the pleasures beckoning to you gets you on the road to differentiation. If you can get to focus on what really matters (in this case, the course!) then you have already embarked on a journey to continuously improving and eventually, differentiating yourself.

What We Can Learn From The Philippine Women’s Everest Team

Tagaytay City, January 2008.
It’s that time of the year again when companies hold their kick-off meetings and national sales conferences. Beyond drinking the kool-aid, however, these events are excellent opportunities to realign your goals with those of the company’s. We recently invited the Philippine Women’s Everest Team as motivational speakers in our national conference. The comparison between mountain-climbing and achieving one’s goals is nothing new but the points highlighted by the team have never been clearer to me until now.

1. Train hard. Prepare yourself – physically, mentally, spiritually. Pursuing an ambitious goal means that you’ll be dealing with unfamiliar conditions. The Women’s Team were the first all female team from the ASEAN region. They were all from the tropics and yet were able to conquer icy terrain.
2. Put up your basecamp. Having the right support group is winning half of the battle. Surround yourself with people who will support you and motivate you to success.
3. Acclimatize yourself. Ascending without proper acclimatization may result in pulmonary edema. Your lungs fill with fluid and you literally drown. In the pursuit of your goal, watch your pace and take care not to burn yourself out.
4. Listen to your guide. Get help from someone who knows the terrain more than you do. They know the pitfalls and the dangers that lurk behind each of the terrain’s feature. Seek the help of a mentor.

It’s not the mountain that we conquer but ourselves
- Sir Edmund Hillary

5. Check your progress. Periodically check where you are in relation to the goals you set for yourself. Look for the flaws in your execution and adjust accordingly.
6. It’s not over yet even if you reach the top. Going down, according to mountaineers, is even harder. This is where accidents can happen because of mental lapses and the natural tendency to relax after one reaches the top. Use your success to further toughen yourself mentally and to fuel yourself to even more achievements.
7. Find a deeper reason. According to Noelle Wenceslao, one of the team members, conquering Everest is just climbing on top of a big rock. What gave value to the journey was the outpouring of support, the bonds they formed, the love they experienced and the national pride it gave them when they finally succeeded.

Here’s to a successful 2008 everyone!