Purpose

The story of Sisyphus

One of the famous Greek mythology is the legend of Sisyphus. If you remember your Greek mythology classSisyphus was a king punished in Tartarus by being cursed to roll a huge boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down, and to repeat this throughout eternity. Reading about Sisyphus one can ask what is the purpose of life? Is it to labor just to roll a boulder on top of a hill and at its pinnacle see that same boulder that he worked so hard fall back to the bottom of the hill? Meaningless right? And this very word 'meaningless' echoed in one of the writings of Solomon, the wisest king who ever lived, in the book called Ecclesiastes. There Solomon wrote, Meaningless of meaninglessness! All is meaningless!". Even the wisest king who lived realized that by the end of the day we are just 'chasing the wind' if we pursue our own desires. So if you think that our purpose is to pursue our own happiness, our flesh, our own pride, our own ambitions, and our desires then there will come a time when like Sisyphus we are simply rolling boulders up and down the hill for nothing!

So what is the purpose of life? Rick Warren in his book, The Purpose Driven Life, wrote that people who does not know their purpose can either guess about their purpose or read their manual and from there learn about their purpose.

Did we came with a manual?

I am a Christian and I believe that the Bible is our manual for life. If you think otherwise then I will not debate you. I will simply ask you to try reading it and I pray that God, the Creator of the Heavens and Earth, will open your mind as He has opened mine to understand it.

In a nutshell...

So what is our purpose? Let me quote King Solomon's answer to this question,

"Fear God and keep his commandments,

for this is the whole duty of man."

Yes we are here to fear Him and to glorify Him. 'Is that all?", you ask? Yes that's all. You see outside of God, life has no meaning. But with Him there is wholeness, peace, and real joy.

To conclude

Maybe you are disappointed with my discussion on Purpose in this Vision, Passion, and Purpose series of posts. I could not blame you.:) This is a bit direct and I do not want to shove my faith on anyone. However I experienced life in an extraordinary way these past few days and I realized that living life without a definite purpose is a complete waste of time and energy. I have lived my life for myself and you know what I realized how meaningless it was. I have worked my butt off and by the end of the day I experienced what Solomon calls 'chasing the wind'. I did not felt any satisfaction. I was achieving some results but the bottom-line is that I feel so out of place. At the pinnacle of every challenge I will simply roll by boulder down the hill and watch it as it reaches the bottom. But amidst it all I still heard a still small voice asking me to pray for sight although I thought I was not blind. I prayed that I may see what I may have missed in life and like the blind man that Jesus healed I could say that all I know is that I was blind and now I see. I see clearly that life's purpose is worship and I want to spend it worshiping my God. Once I got my sight and learn my purpose it is easy to be passionate. Indeed Vision, Passion, and Purpose goes hand in hand.

God bless you,

Joseph

Passion

Passion

Vision is to the mind as Passion is to the heart. Passion is the force that fuels the vision and causes us to move to action. Passion is a powerful tool because is produces enthusiasm which usually gets things done as Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm”.

Vision without passion is dead because you will never be compelled to take action. It is your passion that forces you to take a step forward. It is you passion that allows you to enjoy the journey toward your desired destination. If you report to work without passion you will get bored and eventually you will get burned out. If you start a project without passion your chance of achieving your goals is close to zero. Passion is the fuel that keeps you going. There is something about passion that make you enjoy what you are doing.

On the other hand, passion without vision is a mindless journey. It is like being excited about something but you just don’t know what it is. Passion without vision is aimless; it has no direction whatsoever. Without vision we will just be going round and round in circle excited but in the end we will be where we started.

In a group or an organization where the vision is not clear you usually find anemic and unmotivated people. You will find that these people refuses to work for the goal not because they are lazy, and not because don’t have the talent and the skills to do the job but because the leader failed to draw a compelling vision to the people. So it is important to establish vision and to make sure that that vision will bring forth passion.

Vision and passion usually goes together a compelling vision usually excites people which turns to passion. When I take on any project I usually think of the end result. If the end result is compelling enough, I usually get excited and move to action. When leading a group, I make sure that I communicate to the group a clear and compelling vision of the future in hope that they will find in their heart the passion that is required to make it happen. Once the “buy-in” happens then I find my group easier to lead and become proactive towards the vision.

One of the greatest leaders in the Bible is Nehemiah in the Book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah, upon learning that the walls of his country are in ruin, saw a compelling vision and became very passionate about his vision. He even convinced the king at that time to give him letters for his favor. In the end, he was able to draw that same vision to the people of Israelthat very same vision and as a result the people developed that same passion. Amidst the hurdles and opposition of their neighbors the Israelites completed the wall and they were protected by invaders once again.

If you are a leader you need to develop the skills of creating a compelling vision and nurturing a raging passion. If you can do that you will soon find out that you will be surrounded by supportive and motivated group.

Taking a sip,

Joseph Librero

Vision.Passion.Purpose

One of my bosses shared Sitel's wonderful video about Vision, Passion, and Purpose (http://www.sitel.com) and found it very profound especially when the video asked the question, "Do you have it?"

Since asking question is a form of evaluation I cannot help but think if I have a clear vision, passion, purpose.

What is VISION?
Vision is probably one of the powerful words that I hear every now and then. Almost every week I hear it from my pastor, or from a friend, or read it from a book, or from an email but really what is vision? I Googled the word "Vision" and I got a wiki hit with a name of an album, a definition which means sight, and a program of vision. I was looking for a simple word that can simplify vision. The word "sight" simply falls short from what I feel the word vision means.

I think another word for vision is foresight. It is a view of the future so when you say, what is your vision for yourself, it's like saying how do yo see yourself in the future? Or ask, what is your foresight of yourself? It's answering the question, what do you want to happen in the future? So vision simply means forward thinking.

The Bible says, "Where there is no VISION the people perish." In another words, if we fail to think forward for thew future we will soon get in trouble. Without vision we will soon die.

I think of an expirement that I've read about two mouses where one mouse if placed in a glass basin full of water and placed in pitch black room. For few hours (maybe 4 hours) the mouse was swimming in the water and then died. Then another mouse was placed in the same basin and was placed in the same room but this time they added a small light. For hours (maybe 12-20 hours) the mouse was swimming in the basin and died. When the compared the number of hours that the mouse survived in the basin they found out that the second mouse survived longer than the first mouse. What does the second mouse have that the first one didn't have? - VISION.

In our work, if we fail to see the light of what we are doing; If we fail to have a vision of what we are doing; And if we fail to have foresight of what our work does for our vision then ulitmately we get bored and then our productivity lowers down. The worst case is we come to the office unmotivated to work. We are like zombies coming to work just because we need to and not because we want to. We will be like that mouse swimming in a basin in a pitch black room: no hope, no vision, and is willing to die quickly without a fight.

Allow me to ask you the Sitel question - "Do you have VISION?" Are you the man who sees direction in what you are doing? Or are you working bored and dying?
Friend, rekindle the zest in your heart. Start looking toward your future. Start looking for that light that can give you hope to fight for one more day. Start developing foresight by looking at your hope for the future. Start setting goals. Start dreaming. Start building your life. Have a VISION.

Taking a sip,
Joseph Librero

P.S. In case you are wondering, what happened to PASSION and PURPOSE, I will talk about it next post so stay tuned.

Insomia and Blogging

Counting Sheep
Clock says 3.43AM and I could not sleep. So I decided to list down the things that bugged me and found the list very short. I still did not feel sleepy so I decided to read this month's Toastmaster Magazine and still I could not sleep. Finally I got up and turned on my PC for a blogging session. I figured this should be a great time to discuss bits and pieces in life.

Waking up. I am not talking about the event that happens when you open your eyes for the very first time after a deep slumber. I am talking about the event that happens when you realized that you could have done better. I read a friend's blog where she was talking about the things that she realized about life such as doing better in handling personal finance, relationship, smelling the roses, and etc. While reading it I realized that I have come to that point as well. At age 24, I realized I am going to get old and that realization became one big wake up call for me to be better in every aspect in my life. I figured that I need to be more prepared for the future but at the same time I should be taking care of the present. Now I am not done with myself yet but I am telling you that I am better now than before. Why? Because I took steps to address my internal dialog. I feel more peaceful with myself because I know I made a choice.

This process of self-evaluation pushes our lives to take mid-course corrections. And in the University of Life I believe that we all need mid-course correction. Every once in awhile we need to have something or somebody pull us off and say, "Hey! you are moving the wrong way!". And here we have a choice: either we listen to that voice or we ignore it. Now a Proverb says, "A prudent man sees evil and hides himself, The naive proceed and pay the penalty." which clearly tells us that when we start the process of self-evaluation and find ourselves not acting on it means that we are moving in the path to pay the penalty of inaction. Jim Rohn once said it this way, "We all must pay either two different kinds of pain; The pain of DISCIPLINE or the pain of REGRET. Now DISCIPLINE weighs ounces while REGRET weighs tons." Now my challenge you everyone is start the process of self-evaluation and get moving.

Delegation. One of the qualities of a good leader is his/her ability to delegate. When to delegate? You might ask, I don't have a one-size-fits-all answer to this but in my team I delegate when I see that doing so will empower my people, doing so will get more things done for the team, and delegating that task will mean that you can concentrate on the task that only you can achieve. It's important to put the team perspective on top in delegating because I certainly believe that outside of it is corruption. What causes lack of delegation? My answer to this is lack of trust. You only delegate a tasks when you trust that the person whom you gave task to has the ability to get the job done. Unless of course if you intend to get that person fired.:)

I am handling two teams right now and I found how delegation helps in raising the morale of the team. I found that once you delegate a task to a person he/she gets empowered and this benefits the team very well. If you are leading a team or an organization try to check if you have delegating or owning all the tasks. Do not be afraid that you will no longer have work to do because if you are very passionate about what you do then it will never happen. Why? Because you will find things to work on. You will notice things you need to improve on.

Toastmaster's Club. I am very passionate about this organization and so I want to share some of my thoughts about this club. I believe it was on mid-2006 that I joined the company's Toastmasters club. Back then I was just curious on how it would feel to be a Toastmaster but that curiosity quickly turned into fascination. I realized that I can benefit from the program of the club and I can develop my leadership skills in that environment. Fast-forward less than three years later I became the president of our club. I felt more accountable than ever before. I felt more challenge as a leader and as a person than ever before. But what I really appreciate about the club are the people on it. I found that if I will succeed as a leader it is not because I am a good leader but because I am surrounded by people (the officers) who are dedicated not only to the cause of the club but to our relationship as "friends" in the club. I know these people are occupied with work but they take time and effort to work on their duties are responsibilities in the club.

John Maxwell once said something like this, "If you want to test your leadership skills, lead a volunteer organization." I am in a position right now where I am leading a volunteer organization and yes this indeed tests me as a leader but more than that I learned more about people than anywhere else. Relationship is vital in making things work whether you be in a team or any organization. If you are a leader or wanting to develop your leadership skills then my challenge to you is put your leadership skills to the test and join Toastmaster's Club.:) My personal guarantee is that you will never be the same.

Taking a sip,
Joseph Librero

Give me liberty or give me death!

I've been actively involved in Toastmasters Club these days. In fact tomorrow (it's 1AM so that means today) we will have our regular meeting. I am task to call the session to order so let me share to you my 2-3 minute piece for the Call to Order:

Give me liberty or give me death!

Give me liberty or give me death! Ladies and gentlemen fellow Toastmasters and friends, good evening! On March 23, 1775, Patrick Henry shouted those very words to convince the Virginia House of Burgesses to pass a resolution delivering the Virginia troops to the Revolutionary War. Back then he was talking about the liberty to fight for freedom and physical death.

Today, I shout these very same words! Give me Liberty or give me Death! This time it is for liberation from ignorance and fears. Do you know that the moment you stop learning is the moment that you start dying? Just look at the cemeteries today they are people who literally stopped learning. But ladies and gentlemen, let me congratulate you because you are here. You are here today investing your time and energy for personal development. You are here today showing that you have the tenacity to learn and to share what you learned. You are here today taking a step forward in conquering your fears and getting out of your comfort zone. You are here today fighting for your liberty against ignorance and fear.

Today let me start this meeting by saying congratulations. Keep learning. Participate in our program and become a toastmaster.

With the banging of this gavel is the commencement of our proceedings. By the power vested in me by Toastmasters International and Lexmark Toastmasters Club I now call the meeting to order.

Finding my way back

Oh my… how long has it been? Two weeks? Maybe it has been a month or two that I have not posted anything on this blog (or any blog) but I will try to find my way back and get back into the flow. I was out working on three projects for the past three- four months so I could not update my blog. I learned a lot and I will share them to you here. I have two book summaries coming up so stay tuned for Yuppie Talks will never be silent. I believe that there are always things to share, stories to tell, and lessons to learn. I can see that there are people coming back to this blog, I appreciate your visit. With this I hope I can get back to “the flow”.

How can you bring down a tree?

How can you bring down a tree without using any equipment? A certain tribe in Papua New Guinea maintains if you go out and shout at the top of your lungs at any particular tree every day for two weeks or so, the tree will die. They said that shouting to the tree crushes its spirit causing the tree to die and fall. Whether this is true or not, words are really powerful, it can build up or bring down a person. It can start a war or end it.

 

The Bible even said that life and death is in the power of the tongue. The words that the tongue speaks can determine a person's future. A lot people down-play the power of words but I truly believe that words brings life and death to a person. In taking action I believe words are cheap but in encouraging a person words are all you got.

 

I have a four-year-old nephew and I made a decision never to speak anything negative to my nephew. I decided to encourage him and support his ideas. Since when he was still three-years-old he would come to me and show me his messy drawing. But I would respond not by describing the drawing. I did not say, "Oh what a messy drawing you got!" I simply say, "Wow!! That is wonderful! You are very smart!" He would giggle and return to making more messy drawing. Coming home from work, I often become too tired to be excited about anything but when he shows me his new toys I would say, "Wow!!! Those are very nice toys!" and then I would add a smile. He would smile back with contentment in his eyes that he is playing "very nice toys". He grew confident about himself and I can tell that he likes himself. I can tell that he enjoys making drawings and studying. When he gets home from school he would show me the stars that his teacher gave him. I would respond by applauding and asking him why he is so smart. He would give me any reason why he is so smart. My nephew is always in the top of his class and he loves to learn because he knows that he will be appreciated.

 

I know of a neighbor who is constantly being "emotionally tortured" by his parents telling him how hard-headed he is and how dumb he is. He grew up to be anti-social with low self-esteem and a bit "un-teachable".

 

Personally, I grew up being told by my family that I am special and that I am smart and guess what? I believed them and really treated myself as special and as a smart person. In grade school, in my teacher's anger she told me that I am dumb but I did not believe her. Why? Because deep down inside I know I am special and that I am smart and that I am talented because that's what my family told me years before my teacher even told me I was dumb. So instead of being discouraged I strived hard to perform to what I thought I am – a special and smart person.

 

How about you? What words are you hearing about yourself? Is it a positive voice telling you how good you are, how talented you are and how likeable you are? Or is it the opposite? If it's the opposite then you need to identify who are the people who are shouting these words at you and avoid them. You need to hangout with people who celebrate you and speak positive and encouraging words to you. You might not be a tree but I guarantee you sooner or later you will fall down.

 

 

Taking a sip,

Joseph Librero