The law of acceleration

by admin | Dec 17, 2017 | Public Speaking

Just a quick survey. Who likes competition? I mean: to compete with others. I guess the majority don’t like it. But why is it, we have the best speaker, best in table topics, best evaluator? And, competition is everywhere, at home, in school, in a workplace and even on Facebook. Why it exists even if we don’t like it? Charles Darwin, the one who formulated the “Theory of Evolution”, explained that it is our basic nature as a living organism to compete in order to survive. Thus, whether we like it or not, we need to admit that life is a race. It is either we lead or we follow.

Madam Toastmaster, fellow Toastmasters, and guests, good afternoon!

According to Newton’s Law of Acceleration, how fast the object moves depends on two factors: the force applied to the object and the mass of the object.

Likewise, if you want your career or your life to get going, there are two things you need to do:

First, enhance your strength

With a little push, the car moves. Do you think that the same force can move the table? It can’t because the force applied could not compensate for the weight of the table.

And so, if your goal is to become a leader and you believe so difficult to achieve, then, improve your skills, learn more techniques and acquire additional knowledge. These are the ways to enhance your strength and make you stronger. In such a way, you can push your goal with power. Remember, leaders are not born, they are made.

Second, lighten your load.

When I was a kid, it was my daily routine to fetch water from a public faucet into our home. I had 4 containers filled with water. With a purpose of carrying all 4 at one time, I had two on each hand. Since I could not hold the two containers for a long time, I need to stop and relax my hands many times before reaching home. I get used to it until one time my mother saw me, struggling in carrying those containers. She commented, “Ohh no! That’s not the right way of doing it, my boy. Just carry only one container in each hand.” On the next day, I did what she suggested and Yes, she was right, I completed the same task with ease.

It is reasonable to have several goals in life.  Goals like to get a good job; to get married and to have kids; to be good looking, to become skinny; to be a public speaker, to become a manager and even a goal to be rich. It is normal to have these. What we need to avoid is to try to achieve all these goals together at one time. We are humans, not machines and so our capacity to do things are limited. With this, we need to focus on one goal at a time.

Applying the law of acceleration into our life would not make us great. It only gives us a way on how to handle our goals and challenges in life at ease. By enhancing our strength, it would make us more efficient to work on the tasks to achieve our goals. And by lightening the workload ensures that we are not overloaded with tasks that would drain our strength to get going.

Fellow Toastmasters and guests, yes, I agree that life is a race. But, we need to understand that whether we lead or we follow does not matter. What matters most is we continue moving until we finish the race. Our ultimate purpose here on Earth is to have life and to survive with others harmoniously in the midst of trials and difficulties that come on our way.

Eyes on the Ball

by admin | Apr 30, 2017 | Public Speaking

It’s really a privilege to be the target speaker of the Division Toastmasters Evaluation Contest. When I accepted this role, it became my problem yet I considered it as an opportunity. After I delivered the speech, I received beautiful feedback from the Evaluation Contestants and people who were present at that event. But the most inspiring comments that I received are from the leaders of our club – Mangaf Communicators – especially from our outgoing and incoming presidents. I am a team player and it’s always my joy to contribute good things to our team.

Project Title: Eyes on the ball

Do you like having problems? Your reactions might be No way! Nobody likes problem. I will tell you that there are. There are people who look at problems as opportunities, not as obstacles. And these are the people who are successful in their own fields!

Search for the synonyms of the word problem and you will find all the ugliness of that word. It may the reason why many don’t like it. However, if we only know how to handle it, we could see the beauty that lies on it.

For almost 20 years as a player and a coach, I found that the 3 common mistakes in playing tennis are the same mistakes we need to avoid in handling our personal problems. Allow me to explain each one.

First, evading the ball.

I could not forget my first double-match with my coach as my partner. He instructed me to position near the net while he did his first serve. When the ball landed in the serving area, our receiving opponent swung his racket wide and hit the ball hard! I heard the sound “TAK” and saw the ball moving toward me. I did not wait to be hit by the ball, I ran outside the court. My coach smiled. He approached me and said, there was no need for you to run. You have the racket, what you must do is “eyes on the ball” and hit it back.

It was fear that dictates me to run and not to hold my ground.  It is the same fear that tells us to evade when we are confronted with a problem. My colleague told me that he had a friend in college who never took a licensure examination because of fear of failing the exam. If he only knew that the best way to overcome fear is to face it, then probably he passed that exam.

Second, ignoring the ball.

I am a double player and I played always at the net. One time, our opponent hit the ball high. I thought it was out and so I ignored it. It was too late for me to react when the ball landed inside our court. What I supposedly was done was to quickly move into the baseline, then “eyes on the ball”. In that way, I either smash or just hit the ball back into opponent’s court.

How many of us just ignore our problems thinking that they would just go away on the next day? Until then, we realized that the problems are still there – days, weeks and even months had passed. We need to be proactive and always be prepared.

Third, getting distracted.

My skills and confidence in playing tennis were improved, I started to participate double tournaments. It was a championship match and the score was so close. I was on the net when our opponent returned a short ball. I was about to hit the ball but someone from the audience shouted: “SMASH IT!”. I was so distracted. I hit the ball out from the court and we lose the championship. If only I executed what I believed to be the best action, my partner and I could have won the match.

To sum up my points; evading the ball, ignoring the ball and getting distracted are the three common mistakes in tennis. These are the same mistakes we need to avoid in order to solve our personal problems.

If we want to overcome any obstacle in our life, we need to face whatever trials and difficulties that come on their way, concentrate on the solutions and avoid getting distracted by other issues. Problems are everywhere and they are not easy to face, but if we have the right attitude and strategy, we can become successful in whatever we do.

As what I have learned from playing tennis, there is beauty in every problem if we know how to handle it.

The Power of our Thinking

by admin | Apr 30, 2017 | Public Speaking

PROJECT TITLE: The Power of Our Thinking

PROJECT NO: Competent Communicator 1 – Ice Breaker

I don’t believe in magic, however; I believe that whatever we think will happen.

I was in 4th Grade when I wanted to win a free bicycle from a raffle draw. I went to the church with the coupon in my hand. I kneeled in front of the altar and prayed: “Lord, please let me win.” I had too much hope and expectations, yet I was frustrated and with tears in my eyes, I asked God: “Why you did not answer my prayer”.

Nevertheless, my high school and college life were full of aspirations and fulfillment. When I was in Senior High School, not only that I passed the national college entrance examination, I even got the highest score among graduating students from our school. It gave me a chance into a scholarship grant for deserving students who could not afford to go to college.

If not with the scholarship, I would not be in my dreamt college and I would not meet Irene, my classmate who became my wife and mother of my two sons. Do you still remember my bicycle story? I bought one out from my scholarship allowance. The best thing happened to me in college was when I saw my parents received my academic award on stage and put it around my neck.

After graduation, like anybody else, I also have ambitions. I wanted to excel in my field and I achieved it when I taught Physics in one of the best science high schools in the Philippines. Topics on Quantum Mechanics made me understand on how the 100 billion nerve cells of our brain process our thoughts and direct our system to make it happen. Likewise, I learned the famous equation of E=mc2, the equation that led to the development of atomic bombs.

There are 3 reasons why I believe in the power of our thinking:

First is my bicycle story. It reminds me that God answers our prayers no matter how big or small they are. It would not be right now but I am sure there’s a right time for it. I waited for almost 10 years to have a bike but at least it happened.

Second is my dream college. Poverty is not a hindrance to achieve what we wanted. It was just a wish to study in a prominent institution and the whole world connived to make it happen.

And lastly is my experience in teaching Physics. I learned that it was not the equation of Einstein that killed hundreds of thousands of people by atomic bombs but those were the thoughts of the people who used that equation to develop the weapon of mass destruction. Sad to note, that bad things happened out of bad thoughts.

If we want to heal the world, let us think green for our environment, let us think peace among each other and let us think goodwill among nations. In this way, we can ameliorate our living condition and make our world a better place to live in. I believe that this will happen because there’s a power of our thinking.