Saturday, September 29, 2012

Sunday Sermon

written by Robin Sharma


21 Tips to Become the Most Productive Person You Know

I wanted to help you create explosive productivity so you get big things done (and make your life matter).
Here are 21 tips to get you to your best productivity.
#1. Check email in the afternoon so you protect the peak energy hours of your mornings for your best work.
#2. Stop waiting for perfect conditions to launch a great project. Immediate action fuels a positive feedback loop that drives even more action.
#3. Remember that big, brave goals release energy. So set them clearly and then revisit them every morning for 5 minutes.
#4. Mess creates stress (I learned this from tennis icon Andre Agassi who said he wouldn’t let anyone touch his tennis bag because if it got disorganized, he’d get distracted). So clean out the clutter in your office to get more done.
#5. Sell your TV. You’re just watching other people get successful versus doing the things that will get you to your dreams.
#6. Say goodbye to the energy vampires in your life (the negative souls who steal your enthusiasm).
#7. Run routines. When I studied the creative lives of massively productive people like Stephen King, John Grisham and Thomas Edison, I discovered they follow strict daily routines. (i.e., when they would get up, when they would start work, when they would exercise and when they would relax). Peak productivity’s not about luck. It’s about devotion.
#8. Get up at 5 am. Win the battle of the bed. Put mind over mattress. This habit alone will strengthen your willpower so it serves you more dutifully in the key areas of your life.
#9. Don’t do so many meetings. (I’ve trained the employees of our FORTUNE 500 clients on exactly how to do this – including having the few meetings they now do standing up – and it’s created breakthrough results for them).
#10. Don’t say yes to every request. Most of us have a deep need to be liked. That translates into us saying yes to everything – which is the end of your elite productivity.
#11. Outsource everything you can’t be BIW (Best in the World) at. Focus only on activities within what I call “Your Picasso Zone”.
#12. Stop multi-tasking. New research confirms that all the distractions invading our lives are rewiring the way our brains work (and drop our IQ by 5 points!). Be one of the rare-air few who develops the mental and physical discipline to have a mono-maniacal focus on one thing for many hours. (It’s all about practice).
#13. Get fit like Madonna. Getting to your absolute best physical condition will create explosive energy, renew your focus and multiply your creativity.
#14. Workout 2X a day. This is just one of the little-known productivity tactics that I’ll walk you through in my new online training program YOUR PRODUCTIVITY UNLEASHED (details at the end of this post) but here’s the key: exercise is one of the greatest productivity tools in the world. So do 20 minutes first thing in the morning and then another workout around 6 or 7 pm to set you up for wow in the evening.
#15. Drink more water. When you’re dehydrated, you’ll have far less energy. And get less done.
#16. Work in 90 minute blocks with 10 minute intervals to recover and refuel (another game-changing move I personally use to do my best work).
#17. Write a Stop Doing List. Every productive person obsessively sets To Do Lists. But those who play at world-class also record what they commit to stop doing. Steve Jobs said that what made Apple Apple was not so much what they chose to build but all the projects they chose to ignore.
#18. Use your commute time. If you’re commuting 30 minutes each way every day – get this: at the end of a year, you’ve spent 6 weeks of 8 hour days in your car. I encourage you to use that time to listen to fantastic books on audio + excellent podcasts and valuable learning programs. Remember, the fastest way to double your income is to triple your rate of learning.
#19. Be a contrarian. Why buy your groceries at the time the store is busiest? Why go to movies on the most popular nights? Why hit the gym when the gym’s completely full? Do things at off-peak hours and you’ll save so many of them.
#20. Get things right the first time. Most people are wildly distracted these days. And so they make mistakes. To unleash your productivity, become one of the special performers who have the mindset of doing what it takes to get it flawless first. This saves you days of having to fix problems.
#21. Get lost. Don’t be so available to everyone. I often spend hours at a time in the cafeteria of a university close to our headquarters. I turn off my devices and think, create, plan and write. Zero interruptions. Pure focus. Massive results.
I truly hope these 21 productivity tips have been valuable to you. And that I’ve been of service. Your productivity is your life made visible. Please protect it.
Stay productive.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Saturday


From Pepe Diokno’s article in The Philippine Star’s Supreme: we are the most image conscious, self-important batch of kids ever to walk the planet. Despite worldwide turmoil, we spend hours updating our Facebook profiles; hours putting our opinions and feelings into a blog – as if others care.


So I’ll write about how my day went in the pretense that somebody cares about knowing what has been up with me today.

My day started late. It’s a Saturday, anyway, and my only chance of respite from the daily grind is usually Saturdays. I was on a self-proclaimed house arrest because the rain has successfully conjured my laziness and the nearly negative cash flow until the next payday is an effective downer.

Hotdogs. I started the day with hotdogs. And then some gossip from an aunt who is in the city to keep her daughter company while taking the ACET (Ateneo entrance exams). I dislike gossips. Out of courtesy to the elderly however, I listened, feigned interest, shared some inputs then excused myself.

These days, my comfort zone is being with myself. I went up to my room, closed the door then finished reading Pugad Baboy 24 which I bought last night from the Manila Book Fair then read Smart Parenting. I am enjoying mommy magazines, nowadays, and mommy blogs too (try topazmommy.blogspot.com and glamomamas.com), not because I am preparing to become a mom (definitely at the bottom of my long list of plans) but the articles are interesting and practical. They make family life seem so easy, colorful, interesting and fulfilling. Maybe it is so. I like reading about supermoms, with impressive careers, perfectly blow-dried hair and still very hands on with their tots and hubbies. I am single, doubtful if there is anything impressive about my career, certain that my hair is in forever mess, and far from being hands on even with my personal affairs. This is not ranting, I am rather amused writing this realization.

My only physical activity today is braving the rain to buy birthday cake for my cousin Haggy. I love birthdays, they give us a reason to celebrate. We are just celebrating it at home with palabok, chocolate and leche flan cake from Red Ribbon, crispy pata and kinubang bibe from our thoughtful relatives in Cagayan Valley and the ubiquitous Coke from our friendly neighbors.

Just pictures to sprinkle some color in this blog entry.

Improvised Birthday Banner. With a recycled yellow balloon.

The Happy Birthday Handa from all over the world.
Tito Haggy, the birthday celebrant ,with the kiddos.
Theo’s light bulb moment.
Picture with the birthday celebrant.
Picture with me, my healthy legs and our teeny-weeny apartment TV.
This picture was taken two years ago. Same wall, same legs, 
same teeny-weeny apartment TV, different birthday celebrant.  


So that’s how my day went.
Written down and shared – as if anyone cares.

Continuation of Pepe Diokno’s article: But the ‘me-ness’ of today’s generation is at least evidence of a movement towards discovery. While past generations have looked outward- towards the seas, the moon, the space – in order to find meaning, this generation is looking inward for a change. Maybe the answers are inside us.

Thank you for taking the time to read.

Happy Saturday!

Sunday, September 9, 2012

All the Pretty Things

my list of favorite words is getting longer.
here's an add-on: WHIMSICAL

via poppy talk

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Dear Diary Post #2

A Beautiful Sunday Morning!

via Something Splendid

We start our Sunday morning with a pretty, no,beautiful picture by Something Splendid because it is a beautiful and Splendid Sunday morning. I woke up early (early as per my standard,meaning  8 am). Ate Bel has not cooked anything for breakfast yet. Weekends are her sort of license to wake up later than her usual weekday morning routine when everybody is in a hurry to go to work or in Tanya and Theo's case, to school. Weekends are take-your-time-days. Weekends are break-free-from-stress days. I love weekends.My usual Monday motivation is the thought that 5 more mornings mean the weekend again! 

I love mornings.

Like what I said, I woke up early, brushed my teeth, packed a borrowed laptop in my trusty and roomy erb and chet bag, hailed a taxi to Eton Centris.This is my go-to-place on a Sunday morning. I went directly to the Sidcor Market. I like better how it was once. Zoned and nearer the "commercial complexes". Now, they are moved towards the parking lot to give way for the construction of, surprise, surprise, a condominium. By the end of 2016, most of Metro Manila will be towered by these high-rise developments and there is no stopping until the last available raw land is dug and constructed on and then the taipans will move towards the ocean, reclaim and fulfill their visions of complexes and communities.

I can't find the stall where I usually buy churros and potato chips, passed by the stall which sells Chinese Lumpia; I loved it the first time I tasted it months ago, but my sexy belly can only take in so much at this time of day so I settled for a mini waffle dog. I bought my Sunday broadsheets (inquirer and philippine star) and made my way to Coffee Bean.

The (Catholic) mass is ongoing, I felt guilty to not attend, so I did.I woke up this morning with my mother's usual Sunday text message: magsimba kayo. She'd be happy to know this. How long has it been since the last time I heard mass? New Year's Eve? Holy week? I forgot already. I stopped praying when on several occasions, my specific prayers were specifically answered with a firm "no" from God. I stopped praying because I felt scared that I will get a "no" again. But it felt good afterwards: to finally hear mass and be an obedient daughter. There's a part in the Eucharistic celebration wherein the priest leads everybody to remember and pray for our deceased loved ones: i prayed for my Lolo Angel, Lolo Iloy, Tita Agol and Secretary Robredo.

I think whoever has programmed "blogger" is Catholic - the program identifies that the word eucharist be capitalized - Eucharist. Or there might be some universal rule on grammar about this that I missed.

I bought a breakfast meal in Coffee Bean, it is really expensive and I could have pleased myself more in Jollibee or in McDonald's. But what I am after is the ambiance. I told ate barista a lie. She asked if I am a MBA student from UP because I was logging notebooks and a laptop and the others who are in the same cafe are also MBA students reviewing for their final exams. I said yes.

The sausage tasted funny, the coffee, bitter. But I had my spot where I can see the sunlight, people coming out of the market with paper and re-usable bags, they banned the use of plastic here in Quezon City - about time, Bistek! I read my newspapers starting with Celine Lopez's column in the Philippine Star.She wrote about mornings and how everything one does is much better with the sunshine. I can not agree more. I had a little trouble connecting to the wi-fi as I have mistaken number 2 for z in typing the password, but all is well now, obviously. There are two grandpa's with me inside the coffee shop - so if spending the morning reading newspapers and drinking coffee is a "lolo" thing then that makes me a "lola" - I really do not mind. I love this morning ritual.

My mother's number registered on my phone and I answered. She's so concerned about the company phone I lost I told her not to worry. We exchanged stories about my siblings, the little ones getting an award. It is so refreshing to hear my mother's voice, telling happy stories. Our family has been through a lot and I have been fighting it off by avoiding and not thinking about these issues which are wrenching my heart. My mother is a thousand times stronger than me. She is gracefully handling everything well, or at least trying to. I told her to text my brother Paul who at this time is taking his exit exam to qualify for his next term in Mapua. She said she'd call him next.

I love you nanay.

So I read. Write. Take down notes. Search the web. Think. Observe. I opened my notebook of to do's and was reminded to drop by the grocery later for my Town and Country magazine and to buy shampoo.

Coffee Bean is getting noisier and the sunlight is becoming unforgiving, it's nearly lunch time and the boys who set up the chairs and tables for the Sunday mass are already packing up. This is my cue.

Thank you Universe for my swabe morning - let's have more of this, pinky promise.=)
Good Morning!

Dear Diary Post

Just Narrations.

Today, Isabel and I watched PedXing by the the UP Repertory Company in Aldaba Recital Hall in UP Diliman. Isabel, my sister, is one-term away from becoming a pre-school education teacher. One of her professors advised their class to watch at least one play every month to tap in their creative geniuses and artistic flairs needed to win the attention of little boys and girls. I am and forever will be a willing companion. We're planning to watch BONA by PETA starring Eugene Domingo before the month ends. I wish to post pictures from my low-tech camera here but it is so low-tech I can not find a way to transfer them in this equally Jurassic laptop.

Today, I wish to post more entries about my happy lists. I will do so once I find a decent spot with a decent wi-fi where I can write a decent entry on a decent and no longer borrowed  laptop.

Today, I feel the desire to have a pen pal. A pen pal. Remember the 90s when Zuckerberg is in his puberty stage still and the only way to communicate is through land line and the trusty post man.I would love to have a pen pal. I know having one may not seem practical because almost all information are readily available in just one click and who has the time to wait? But a message written on a paper with gentle strokes of one's handwriting has a more personal and sentimental appeal. And I would love to have a personal and sentimental experience. Where do I find one?

Today, I think about tomorrow. The literal tomorrow -Sunday and how I will spend it. Wake up early. go to Eton Centris Sunday Market. Buy something to eat and park my gorgeous butt in Coffee Bean. Buy newspaper so I have something to read. Buy Town and Country -Daphne Osena-Paez is in the cover! Take down notes. Breathe. And just enjoy the morning. Then I think about the long-term tomorrow. Fret a little, be anxious a little - but I am really working hard on emptying my mind with worry and just letting things flow. I hope to be gentler with myself.

Today, I am grateful.

Good Night Universe and please direct us to our "right place and right time" spot.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Saturday Sermon

breathe.

via Pure Nourishment

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Tuesday Sermon

truly inspiring...
haha!=)
Guide to Philippine Holidays 2013

via Travel Magazine

Hustle

Found this video in cat juan's site.
Perfect music background while doing my chores in my cozy cottage in a beautiful Saturday Morning. Weird association, noh? =)
Dreamy.

Video: Tunng - “Hustle”Video:






Blogs I Read

You know how most writers start their composition with a description of their surroundings, of how they are feeling at that very moment they are writing their Palanca-worthy piece: "i sit still on my hammock, listening to the gentle rocking of the waves, welcoming of the sunlight's sweet caress. The heavens are radiant in blue and the wind sings to me a sweet lullaby- i close my eyes and allow this peace simmer in my once-troubled heart, at this very moment,i feel okay, i am okay. Tapos after three hours, kakain ako ng lechoonnnn!!! Slurp! Yum! Saraapp!!" That really does not work, does it? Haha! Wala lang. As I write this, I am at the verge of swatting a pesky mosquito, the tricycles are not really gentle when they roar, the rain just stopped so I stepped out of the Dunkin' Donuts Cafe and parked myself in one of their tables outside. The cafe is small and cramped and I can hear the old lady just across me talk about a two-million peso deal she closed with some real estate agent - a steal, she says. Okay, madam, rub it in my face that I am centuries far from your millions, so instead of feeling lousy about her in-your-face fortune, I stepped out. So here I am typing with the tricycles on my background, delivery men on my foreground and this pesky and insistent mosquito who I am developing at this moment a really intimate affair with.

So let me be the cool and pretentious feeling-legit blogger on a cafe, concentrating and inviting inspiration to come my way so I can come up with an entry that will rock the world. Haha!

Several months ago, I found an online application which is said to curate all the sites and web pages one visits regularly. It's like book marking in the old and traditional browser only cooler. The word "curates" makes it cooler. It is called Flipboard, so I hastily opened it and with heart pounding, I know the days of my disorganized go-to-blogs-and-web-pages are over, I am finally curating them - I am Tina the curator! But I must have missed the part that it is actually an application for iPad (and other forms of tablet) and I am working on a traditional typewriter,err, laptop pala, a borrowed one at that pa. But fortunately, I have the heart of a persistent and hardworking soldier, so with flipboard or not, I am, aherm, curating my go-to-blogs in this entry. I will try to constantly update this as I find more interesting sites and blogs to read... other than my own (pagbigyan!! haha):


One:  Daphne.ph























Daphne Osena-Paez is my life peg; doing something that she loves to do and in the process, excelling at it. I think it is everybody's birthright to define his role and place in this Universe. Click here to read my favorite entry of hers. Plus, she's into home design and interiors - I am a  super fan!

Two: A cluster of young empowered girls - because there's nothing more inspiring than reading and in the process getting to know people of your generation making their mark in their respective fields and in the entire milky way galaxy!!=) Ang galing kong magsulat ng description noh? haha! Plus, they're witty, pretty and guiltlessly celebrates life.

dapattylaurel.blogspot.com
life-after-breakfast.blogspot.com
wanderlustdrifted.blogspot.com
dharmadream.blogspot.com
twenteensomething.com
alas-dos.tumblr.com
vivatregina.tumblr.com

Three: brideandbreakfast.ph








I am "indexing" it for my future wedding reference. The site makes me want to get married even if I do not want yet to get married. Weddings are lovely and dreamy events and the site captures them oh-so beautifully.

Four: Pretty things. Sometimes, words are irrelevant and a picture is just all you need.

thefancy.com
etsy.com
poppytalk.blogspot.com

Five: Self-help-y. Contrary to item #4, words are powerful. Extremely so.







mindbodygreen.com
fengshuidana.com

Six: Cat Juan












Most of her entries warm up my heart. Click here for my favorite. She leads such a beautiful, interesting yet seemingly simple life.

Seven: Blogs of friends

Dear friends, I encourage you to blog because of purely selfish reasons: I like reading what your thoughts are, how you are, what you have been doing - it will be our secret chismis circle (haha!).

Lyra- darkershadegreen.wordpress.com
Di - diantheexplorer.blogspot.com
Mei - meillifluous.blogspot.com

Also, I am in the lookout for "academic" blogs (pretentious, haha!) where I can get trivia and hamsoowsmart quips I can boast in dinners and reunions with friends (i have an inner yabang- haha!) and blogs on money and investment (because I am a future millionaire) and more inspiring blogs, personal blogs not written to promote some product, but those blogs written to capture your anything-under-the-sun moments, because truly, each of the story we create is worth sharing and beautiful.

What blogs do you read? I wish to know.

Happy reading and writing universe!

Monday, September 3, 2012

September-ness

September 1, 2012

It was 30 minutes to midnight but I am not on my bed but rather in a cheap neighborhood spa with icky rubber slippers, sticky bath robe, hot and cold shower which water is either the hottest or the coldest (may konsepto ng lukewarm, ano ba??). I was guided in what seemed like a secret room where any judgmental mind will define as "where short time happens", and dear, I was in the "for male only section" of that friendly neighborhood spa which in their desperate attempt to cut back expenses, there was no security guard on sight. Oh boy!! I am semi-naked (eeepppp!!! protect the hotness!) and no security??? This is preposterous!!  Caramba!!! Charott!!! C-uh-razzyyy!!

I was in the male section for a reason: my brother, Paul, Ate Ay and I availed of a "family room" for our spa treatment and this was the only room available. I was in an icky-sticky but friendly neighborhood spa 30 minutes to midnight on the first day of the first -BER month of 2012 for a reason: a) i'm cheap, and an icky-sticky spa is all i can afford; b) i had a crazy day, lost my phone, agreed to meet whoever is in captive of my phone but the phone-terrorist never showed up, stood me up and made me lose my hope that there is good in every person!! Hay! Okay, that's a little exaggerated, I still believe in the goodness of every creation of the Universe...it's just that... hay (again)!!!

Buti na lang, magaling si ate therapist from the icky-sticky friendly neighborhood spa thus my renewed hope that everything will fall into the right place at their most-est perfect-est time. Before I get all Oprah and Mahatma Gandhi on my profound experience of loss (my phone remember? haha!), here are the things I look forward to in September.

Hanep sa segue!!=)

The Manila Book Fair

via suelas





Plays Galore!!
will watch Bona of  PETA for sure and Ped Xing of UP Repertory Company

via spot.ph

Belly Fest 2012

via peak performance

The chance to chant,"matatapang, matatalino, walang takot, kahit kanino...."
UAAP Cheerdance Competition
can't find a poster, so seat plan nalang!!=)

via uaap facebook page

Have a lovely, hopeful and sige na nga, icky-sticky September, Universe!!

Tuesday Sermon

Dear Tina,

via suelas

Love,
Tina

Yes, I am self-absorbed. Guilty.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Ronac


1) Museums. National Museum and Museo Pambata.
2) LRI in Reposo, Makati
3) The Mind Museum
4) Manila Ocean Park
5) Intramuros
6) Cubao X
7) Sunday Markets and Night Markets (Salcedo, Sidcor, Mercato, Mezza Norte)
8) Ronac Art Center

I may have declared sometime ago that I am Mani-llergic but such affliction is more of work-related stress and congestion and pollution and dirty old buildings (haha, parang dirty old man lang) and the absence/lack of urban planning in Metro Manila but the city has its saving grace. There are a lot of interesting establishments and institutions to visit, and I am not talking about malls which the city has a looottt of. I am Mall-ergic, definitely Mall-ergic!! I hope we have more open parks and spaces, safe ones at that - pag ako naging presidente ng Pilipinas, this will be my number one agenda. Pag ako naging first lady, this will still be my number one agenda. I'll be the the next Imelda Marcos -only non-corrupt, simpler, non-epal (sorry for the term but the Robredo effect is still rippling through my inspired Filipina veins...) and syempre, sizzling hot!!!

On the last long weekend of August, I finally got to visit the Ronac Art Center in Greenhills.The place did not disappoint. There were plenty of space where artist and visionaries can play around with. I did not know that there was an on-going bazaar sponsored by ETC on the day of our visit -- promise!! It's a wonderful bonus and surprise. haha!=)

Pictures! They tell better stories than I do. =)

via toycon.ph


the tenants

their iconic staircase

every artist's happy place: Secret Fresh.
Premium Mattress Gallery: My heaven! This super deserves a
different post!

coffee bean: i read from somewhere that this is only coffee bean branch
in the world that was allowed to not use the brand logo to adapt and fit
in to the requirements of the structure


and then here are pictures from the ETC fashion flea market (I wonder why it's called flea market, wala namang fleas- corny, haha!)

with di and alan
tents and tents of fab finds!
1) save the date! feb 7-10, 2013 for art fair Philippines
2) classy erb and chet business card
1) I found my perfect roomy bag!! gia bag from erb and chet
2) checkered b&w: how it looks inside, with my pretty note books!

Happy Sunday Universe!