The Starting Point

The first and the most important in the achievement of your goal is to determine your starting point. One must know his purpose in order for him to see clearly his goals in life.

As John Maxwell pointed out in his very famous book The Success Journey, the first step  is to Know Your Purpose.

Why is this important? 

One funny anecdote tells a traveler on a train who was asked by the inspector of  his ticket. The man pulled our his bag and looked for it but never find it. He looked every corner but it was all futile. When the man was already very desperate of not being able to find his ticket, the inspector kindled him not to mind that ticket because He knew he had one.

However, the desperate man responded that the reason why he is so disturbed is that he really need to find the ticket for it is the only thing that can tell where he is going!

Such a very ridiculous story. That man didn't even know where he is going.

So, do you know where are you going?

What is your purpose of existence?

In the next post, we are going to discuss this very important point.

Failure, Is It Part of the Game?

Are you broke? Or are you broken?

While looking for opportunities on the web, I have found this question that has made a life-long impact to my life.

I remember when I first received my first salary. I felt I am the happiest man on earth. I boasted and felt overconfident for the money that I have earned. I bought the things that I wanted. Spend here, spend there in order to satisfy my needs and wants.

However as time went by, I've found myself wrapped in debts, loans and other liabilities. I borrowed money in order to pay my debts, and borrowed another to pay the new debts. It is just a kind of a cycle. I want to escape, I want to move on but I cannot. It seems that the there is a centripetal force that keeps me on track.

I experienced financial crises, failures and frustrations. There were times I questioned why this happened to me.

I reasoned that this is due to my big responsibility as a breadwinner for my family. My parents don't have a stable income and I am the one who provided their needs and sent my siblings to school.

However I learned that there is no other reason for what happened to me. As William Ernest Henley  said in his very popular poem Invictus, "I am the captain of my soul," there is no other to blame except me.

Though failures sometimes robbed our most important assets, it will surely leave something more important - learning. From my failures, I learned golden ideas - priceless learning that cannot be bought with money.

And though I am broke, but I am not broken.

Here I started to pick up the shattered pieces in me. As a wounded soldier, I stand again nursing up the wounds and putting  the fragments of the past together as I face the new challenges that lie ahead.