Wear your mask at all time, wash hands as often as possible, and observe distancing. We will survive this pandemic soon.

Economics is a social science. Any emotions and reactions towards an economic activity are being accounted and affect everybody. The extreme emotions and decision making are affecting the community that you are part of. The simple analysis of supply and demand would tell us that suppliers are willing to supply at a given quantity demanded or the other way around. Trade participants are communicating and agree for trade to happen. In trade we are helping our economy.  Spend money for trade. Spend money to help our economy heal. Buy local goods, eat at a local restaurant, buy in local vendors, hire people for services, and support local businesses for a faster economic recovery. The profit they will gain fuels money circulation thus reviving the economy.

Show compassion. It is very hard for a person to heal alone in his locked room. We are social being and we interact to survive. As we are struggling to live these days, show compassion to everybody. Ease this hardship by letting them feel they have you. If you caused them a bad situation, turn back to that person and say sorry.  No explanation but a sincere apology. It is free and will make them feel better. If the situation is the other way around, kill them with kindness. We can’t continue living hurting each other while we are being killed by our “society”. Let us practice not to be mindful much of how “society” failed us because from the very start, it never fails to fail us. We can’t anchor our hope to a hopeless situation.

Extend patience; more than its limit. It is very important to understand people around you. This is tough times for everybody. Being in a bad situation makes you a worse person to understand. But it is possible for you to take a step, and make a ripple for people to do the same; an act that makes you a hero. If a person extends his patience, he is making a sacrifice for humanity. He could shout out his lungs to his content and put another person in misery spilling bad words and bad memories. He could put a person in shame and add more damage to one. He could take advantage to the situation and be glorious to those who suffer. You are actually not helping at all. Understand and be patient. Don’t speak.

I miss those days that my mouth is not covered and get to hug people.

With the worsening situation that we have now, I stopped counting. Decided to move on and follow the three basic health standards that were given to us since day one. I decided to start my new normal and leave those worse things behind. I stopped being paranoid and accepted that this is really happening and I don’t put this situation at the hands of a hopeless “society”. I decided that we can make this happen all together and leave those bad situation and worse “society” in position.

That is so basic.

Big companies and organizations are facing big challenges everyday. They have a bigger market to please, many people to manage, a number of valuable relationships with suppliers, overwhelming cost management, and a work culture that must share the same values. These then are situations that may lead these big companies to a big fall.

Managers may always have a different perspective of the organization. This creates confusion as it may not be clear to subordinates. The plans must be communicated to everybody and secure understanding to be able to drive the organization on its correct path. This also gives subordinates a chance to suggest whenever they see problems that could lead to greater disadvantage. That way they may able to enlighten the manager in making decisions. It is important for these little ideas that in a micro level, they are able to spot possible organizational problem that could be mitigated. Often the view of managers is a macro perspective, and might also have a micro analysis before finalizing the plan.

Big companies usually have a routine work for everybody. These gives everybody specialized skills. A  worker that files documents for a number of years is guaranteed to have a mastery of how files are organized. A sewer would do perfect stitch that she had been doing for quite sometime. These specialized skills would make a better organization. However, these gives everybody an inertia towards “other” tasks. This gives them hesitation for change and when forced to do different tasks, they will not function very well. The routine of doing the job will not be as efficient as it was before since the organization have created a specialized job for every worker.

Relationships are valuable in every social organization. This might be the relationship of managers to subordinates, or the relationship of organization towards other organization. This determines the ability of organization to maintain contacts and transactions towards others. However, at a certain point, managers have to decide what relationship is worthy to keep. As it grows and innovate, we also have to decide who are the people that still have to be part of the organization and what external relationships we have to keep. We cannot be a friend to everybody and we cannot please all of them. Managers should be equipped of the correct knowledge and composure to choose the right people.

A challenge to manage a big company is to impart the values you wanted them to live. As social being, everybody is entitled to have opinions and beliefs of what are socially right. The personal definition of deviance has a tendency to have in conflict with others in the organization. Eventually, when people don’t believe in the values that you wanted to have them, they will find others that share the same values with them. Managers could sometimes disprove their “preaching” through their actions; more often of integrity, and eventually people would less believe them.

When that BIG fall happens…

The ultimate goal is wining every battle without getting into war. In every aspect of everybody’s life, enjoying peace and living with gratitude is more than being celebrated victorious. A continuous priceless happiness that can be shared with the organization you’re working, to the community, and to your family.

The book of Sun Tzu “Art of War” has been my inspiration in assuming leadership roles since I was in high school. Not of how making strategies and how creating effective tactics, but most often leading a group of people into less of a disadvantage situations. Positioning the team that could give them confidence of winning and giving them assurance that I am making a trustworthy decisions. These “pre war” preparations put my team in an advantage but not necessarily making others oppressed.

The book shares a handful of philosophies and strategies. But the best of all I could not forget is to seek victory before war. The goal is to be called winner even before engaging into war. My mere existence should make any opponent feel defeat. The way I talk and present ideas should impress them and make them feel inferior. In this situation, the war is over and won.

Confidence sometimes will not work. Situations sometimes is different. The book taught me to appear weak when I am strong, and appear strong when I am weak. This gives the opponent false information and will mishandle the situation. The surprise of once capability or incapability could give you an advantage to proceed in defeating them. And of all times, you must be prepared. Victory is not about the attacks you draw and drive, but most often the readiness of the soldiers to combat. Be it a big or small battle, you have to be ready.

At all cost you have to full thrust your energy and effort to end the battle and win. During this time, you must also need to spend your energy wisely. At work, its not always first come first done. Lay it down and list it down. Assign priorities and rank them. Spend more energy to the things that would give the highest benefit. This would give you the highest gain at the end of the day. This appreciation leads to the philosophy of knowing to choose your battle. This is only possible when you know yourself and understand your capabilities. Not knowing yourself nor the enemy is a sure defeat. Be knowledgeable and manage the fight. Set the phase and dictate the battle field.

This inspired me and made me prepared to loose sometimes. The books is a strategy book but also teaches us to prepare ourselves to loose. Prepared warriors to loose is easy to recover than those disappointed once. Preparing to loose is preparing to win more wars. The ability that you are thinking is smaller than your capabilities. The warrior is stronger than he think he is. It’s a boundary less arena and be awesome and win.

To continue winning in life, practice to appreciate, enjoy, and nurture peace. It is the ultimate goal why we are sent into battles. The confidence of being supreme and being just is attained. The book is not to create and promote war. It teaches us how to win wars even without fighting.

Inspiration since 2000 : Sun Tzu Art of War

Rain starts to pour now. Weather starts to change. Yes, I will understand that there is no summer for me this year.

The pandemic scared the whole world . It stopped almost everything and locked up people at home. People covering faces and all have a small sheet of paper (health proof/pass) and a small bottle of alcohol everywhere they go. But even everywhere is limited as most shops and eat hubs are close. In my car I have disinfectant and a big alcohol dispenser that I have to use even before I start my engine on.

They call it “New Normal”.

Beaches are cleared and not open for everybody. But I want to sneak out and wet my hair with salty splashes. I want to dive in and get pictures of life again. I want to ride waves and catch the sun. I want to booze up and laugh hard with friends. Long drives and stop overs. I want to feel sad when we all have to part ways and go home. A commencement actually of  a memorable happiness.

Summer.

Just have to look from afar and smell your heavy salted breath. Ahh, Summer.

Long drives at work and not to catch a boat ride nor to get fly high seat reservation. I just have to feel the heat I guess. Ohh, I almost forgot summer!

Boozing up at home alone while watching TV than sitting on the sand watching stars with friends. Yeah, don’t forget summer.

I guess I just have to tune up my social definition of summer and adapt to the new trend. Yes I guess or Ill die of Covid. Lets get this on and will keep updates on how I still manage to live.

Lets just not forget Summer!

I went out to make changes for myself. To learn especially.

This week I learn that…

1. Change is for the betterment and should serve once purpose. Knowing your purpose makes you exceptional since it is challenging to define ones worth. The factors that might be considered today maybe irrelevant tomorrow.
2. Consumers loyalty are not reliable. Just like falling in love, you can always change preferences.
3. Friends are precious. Especially when they are at work. You gain good company while earning.
4. The world needs good population. Just be sure your resources are good enough to feed them.
5. Young and old, perception of others might be important more than just introspection. The way you see yourself is just limited to a mirror reflection. Just don’t get over affected because it might hurt.
6. Economic bullies are bullies to each other as well. When they fight, we need to cover. We might get wounded.
7. The world needs good decision makers and leaders to start change to happen. Not just you, but all your neighbors too.
8. You need to be good in telling your story. The way you start it and end it matters. Nobody would look at it when it is just like any other stories.
9. Doing things right makes you not only a better person but also a better company.
10. You are only up to a very limited amount of knowledge. You need to go out and learn some more. Flesh and human as we are, it is our responsibility to learn and make judgement.

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Its vague. Just like the title, I can’t even be so sure.

Everything I state here are just my views that might extend your spectrum on how you see things of building dreams.

While driving one night, I thought of my dreams (what I wanted to have and to be) and compare it with my parents dreams for me. (Given my description and understanding are correct)

As our young children getting their years of life experiences, are we going to lead them to the dream life we want them to live, or we will help them live their dream life? The reality that we can’t take away is that, both of our dreams often are not in sync nor even just parallel from the beginning.

We have this aspirations of giving our children the best life that we want. The “best” is in accordance with our own perspective and the way we label and gauge things up. The subjectivity of it might sometimes be under valued by our children; Our “best” is “worse” to them.

Isn’t it that we sometimes grip them so hard and pull them in pieces just to stay in what life we wanted? How would you feel if you will know that you are the reason why he failed? Will you be able to regain his willingness to pick it up again and build it in his way? Or will you still insist what you want their castle would be?

The world would less in chaos (I guess) when we just let them create for themselves. We tried it before and we also learn from our failures. Of so knowing a lot, we sometimes forget that they too should need to experience hardships to make it even better. In restricting them to let their hands work and minds think, we suppress them to innovate. And when they fail, we blame them and exclude ourselves even it is obvious that we are the once making them.

In a world full of negativity, we need to make them feel that we support them in getting what they wanted. As a family, we should be their first group of supporters and fans. We may say a little hopes to them and guide their decisions but never pollute their clouds that they could not see anymore. Let them speak and drop negative vibes to their language but never let them speak like you do. Teach them love and not fear. Smile to them and appreciate as they go on fulfilling their lives. Let them Dream!

Worry less on children you have made in society. The confidence comes on how great you guide them through years. The positive vibes you shared to them will surely help them make good decisions in life.

Let them make their own dreams not yours. You have your own time to make it!

Culture and promises… every 3 years!

We get a chance again to choose our government leaders. This has been part of Pilipino culture that excites everybody like a football match, an NBA finals or Miss Universe. This is where politicians are like movie stars and to some like religious icons that neighbors get to fist fight for their faith (fate).

They are all the same. Scraps. Recyclable.

I stopped complaining about this because I am hopeless for change. Hugged myself and understand these people. I only get to see them every after 3 years.

My cause now is the plastics they use to print their faces. Trash from the beginning, they added much to the pollution that plastics are bringing in our environment. As humans cannot dissolved these faces, our Earth cannot destroy them too.

Probable solution:

Make a law that will require and restrict these people on their usage of non biodegradable materials as campaign peripherals. Violation would mean disqualification from getting into public service. And a limit on the number to be printed will be imposed like total number of voting population will be the total prints to be produced. As many people are “green” advocates, these “leaders” are adding more plastics to our society.

Now the time has come… cast your vote and make a change. This is how we are every 3 years. Don’t miss it.

You are working for something that satisfies you and gives you comfort. Never forget to take a break. You are flesh, you have emotions. You need to be human.

The sun so up and so hot. It’s summer.

Natures Eye Resort is in Brgy Tando, Nueva Valencia Guimaras (you can look them up in Facebook). They offer the break that most urban workers would want. Anyone will enjoy soulful environment and cool breeze from an open sea.

We get to have fun in the workplace but going in places you’ve never been makes you learned person and expands your horizon. Travelling is a great teacher. So pack your bags now and get some adventure.

We are group of friends (#xennials, fun, outgoing, adventurous) that really love summer vacations. Of all outings and parties that we are looking forward, (to see each other and get sober together) summer vacation is the most anticipated. Though some of our friends are already abroad and some do have priorities in life (mostly procreation and libido).

We stayed in three different Villas (insisted privacy due to maturity) unlike before that we always go on vacation and squeeze ourselves in one car, sleep in one room, and crave for more beer than water.

Vacation breaks should have budget (that you have saved; never loaned) and you have to spend only that. We cant afford to enjoy now then suffer the day after the vacation. Have enough budget though because you cannot just go on vacation and limit the things you wanted and limit the moments you want to experience. The whole adventure should give you maximum satisfaction.

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The place share the Natures’ calmness and serenity. It is a good venue to celebrate life (and love for some) with class and romance. This seems to be memories for me. I can say that I really had enough.

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Fun in the water is the most exciting of all. Quenching ourselves with clean, clear, and salty water of Guimaras. Tasty!

All these amplifies that everyone needs to take a break from the busy life at work. This then should be given priorities of any management or organizations to keep their people moving and alive as it demands us to be human. I would say then that team mates should appreciate your efforts of taking time to recharge and get ready for more action at work.

Spare some time to relax. All work and no play makes Ron Wayne a dull boy.

I hope it is as simple as saying “if you can’t afford it, don’t have it”.

In any way you see and discuss this matter, piracy is a crime and piracy should stop. Their efforts of creating a software has a price and it is not for free. The price matters on different attributes like that of demand, production cost, opportunity cost, and its price and demand elasticity. And no one could argue anyone about how they strategically price their good. Price is a rationing device that exclude others of having it.

On the other side of the story, how can then we continue to develop our economy if we cannot afford to buy these technology? How can somebody buy a software to his loaned desktop and start online jobs for a living?

There should then be a strategic pricing mechanics in order to meet both parties halfway. The higher the price for this technology means higher chance of people buying or installing pirated versions. In contrast, if the technology is price low, people will buy at a marginal level and thus will make your profit negative as these goods are not a commodity good. Then the proposal is to know the price that both parties be better off.

Government intervention is necessary since they must serve as middle person in making this possible. They can control prices and impose regulatory measures in order to make this possible.

Consumers just wanted to have an ease in working, but cannot afford to pay for it. Given other options, they will weigh its benefits and make a decision. To take the pricey authentic software, or just go with the hand over pirated versions.

It is nice to hear that you are helping your team with the knowledge that you have to meet organizational goals. But what if that knowledge is hard earned and gives you career competitive advantage of others?

Knowledge management is important in every organization as it saves everyone’s time, resources, and efforts for any process in a team. This is to ensure that best practices that are detailed and defined for the purpose that maybe useful for the rest of the members in time. Not only tacit knowledge should be defined well but also those other information that has been gathered overtime. These information is important for other users and it will greatly saves time.

My organization started compiling information that might be very well needed in the future. Information like contact numbers, names, short description of the managers attitude (likes and dislikes), and office hours are gathered and compiled.

The challenge is more on how the members would participate and cooperate in giving correct information. People are less motivated to share what they know when they think that the information they have will be used to their advantage. It is professional selfishness that you have to leave something for yourself to prove your worthiness.

Knowledge is power that is why we struggle to acquire as much as we can, as many as we can. Whenever you have the information, it gives you the authority to decide, and to choose. You are becoming the savior and hero of all that when they don’t know the answer they come to you and beg for it. It gives you power to exclude others and choose the people you want to include in your circle. But whenever you share these power to a greater number, it empowers them to strive more and work harder. It gives them motivation to do their best as they know they are entrusted with the power that was once held by one person. It gives them ease at work and can concentrate more on what is their real function in a team.