Is there such a thing as “long range plan”?

There’s no such thing as long-range planning. Let me tell you why.

- In college, I took up Accountancy, planning to be a CPA and be a manager of a multinational company at age 30. Never happened. I never thought that I’ll be a Technopreneur.

- In late ’90s, during the internet boom in the US, I planned to be there. Early 2000, got an offer from a New York company. With some twists and turns, I declined and started Team Sparrow, Inc instead with my best friend. Couldn’t be happier, but that wasn’t my plan.

- My long range plan for Team Sparrow, Inc. is to become one of the top outsourcing company in the Philippines. Then suddenly, and unexpectedly, the global financial crisis hits. We lost a big US client and we are left with the local projects. We changed course, and while I’m excited with our new business model, this is not what I planned.

- I got a laser stone operation last year. My back is aching again. And sometimes, my tummy. I’m not trying to scare my lovely wife, ( :-D ) but what if, just what if… this isn’t just a stone. Say, this is cancer and I’ll have a few years to live? The long-term plan to see my kids grow old or grow a company — it’s gone and will never see it happen.

You can never do long range planning. Instead, do scenario planning. Have an attitude of “I’ll do this… if such and such thing happens.”

Scenario planning. And live for the moment.

Do you plan to be a doctor? Or a lawyer? Or the president of a multinational company? Or become a millionaire at age 30? It’s good to have plan for your future. But don’t expect it do happen. Quite discouraging? Yes, but you need to face the realities of life. Do scenario planning instead. And live for the moment.

“Lord, I know that a person’s life doesn’t really belong to him. No one can control his own life.” Jeremiah 10:23

Blogging break

I love blogging. I guess I can never leave blogging.

There has been a lot of things, though, that’s going on right now. So, again, for the nth time, I’m having another blogging break. When everything settles down, I’m going to start blogging again. Not that anybody misses me — I may have 2 readers on this blog… myself and my brother. Anyway, I’ll blog away soon.

Miss California and gay marriages

I kind of created an unwanted tension between my friends on Facebook when I posted a link to a blog post by former Miss Philippines Universe Joyce Burton-Titular about Ms. California being the most famous first runner up. If you’ve been around the blogsphere, you know about the buzz. During the Miss USA pageant, Miss California was asked by showbiz blogger Perez Hilton about what she thinks on same sex marriages. She answered with conviction, she doesn’t support it. It became very controversial, it even came to a point where she was about to be stripped off her Mis CA crown.

On one side, some friends of mine (really close ones) said Miss California, by rejecting same sex marriage, claims to be a Christian but is inaccurately representing it by her actions. On another side, a friend of mine said we should stop criticizing her for the other things that she’s doing and instead praise her for taking a stand. I hope to defuse the tension a bit by giving my own (hopefully diplomatic) stand.

First of all, in my opinion, Ms. CA did a great job at answering the pageant question. I’m not saying whether I agree or disagree with her answer. All I’m saying is she did a great job. She was asked with a controversial question, what else can you expect but a controversial answer. What she did is simply to answer the question with conviction — exactly what a pageant like this requires. If she answered differently with the same conviction, she will still get an A from me. 

Secondly, in my understanding, as far as civil rights are concerned, this is not an issue whether same sex marriages are moral or not. The issue is the definition of marriage — is marriage between a man or a woman, or is it time to redefine its meaning? You only have two choices and Miss CA took the former definition.

And lastly, while I think Miss CA did a great job in standing for her Christian conviction, it is true that some reports did say that she was inconsistent with it. But, on the other hand, isn’t that an issue for all of us? I mean, who can say that we’re always consistent with our own beliefs? Isn’t that the goal of a growing Christian — little by little to become like Jesus and be consistent with our beliefs? In the meantime, we’re all going to mess up. But thank God for his grace.

I do have my own opinion on gay marriages. But since I do not live in the US nor this is going to be an issue here in the Philippines, at least for now, I’m just going to hold my piece. In any case, US President Obama — largely liberal president whom I suppose supports gay marriages, and Rick Warren, an evangelical pastor that rejects it, are friends. Warren prayed for Obama on the inaugural. I think it’s the best way to say that we can all live together in harmony even if we have different convictions.

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Yes man?

Did you see the newest Jim Carey movie “Yes man“? We did.

The plot of the story: for you to enjoy life and be happy, say yes to everything that comes your way.

I’m a “yes man” and I’m unhappy about it.

- People tell me what to do. I say “yes”, almost every time.
- Even if I’m not sure about something, I would just say “Yes” because I wouldn’t want an opportunity to pass by.
- I hate to offend people, so I’d say “yes” because by saying “no”, they’ll be offended.

The net effect: I do more things with less results. Instead of learning from mistakes, I commit mistakes over and over again. I’m seriously like “a lady” for being a “yes man”. Because a true man can make tough decisions, reject what needs to be rejected and face whatever consequence it may bring.

I’m going to be “No man”. I’d say “no” if I mean “no”. I will make tough decisions — and people will be hurt, in the process. I will say sorry, but go ahead anyway. Saying “no” is tougher than saying “yes”.

I will be a “NO man”. Yes?

Serious about fighting porn addiction?

Porn addiction is serious. And I know of people who are addicted to it but really want to help themselves in getting rid of it.

While reading a discussion in a mailing list, I accidentally stumbled upon OpenDNS, a free dns service provider. I signed up, applied the configuration to our office network and tested several levels of security. It works! (This service, by the way, isn’t just about filtering porn sites. It has different level of filtering which includes social networking sites, dating, drug related websites. Works well if you have teenagers at home or you want to play “police” to your employees. Me? I don’t have a teenager yet and I just play it low with my employees)

If you’re serious about helping yourself, sign up to this free service, follow the instructions in changing your dns configuration, log in and click on “settings”. Set your content filtering to at least “low”. This includes filtering of adult related websites.