Philippine bloggers’ association?

Posted: March 8th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: All in a days work | View Comments
The talk of Philippine blogsphere town these days is the proposed "national bloggers' association". Janette Toral (digitalfilipino.com) and Tonyo Cruz started the proposal. As a blogger myself, and since they've been asking for opinions regarding this matter, here's mine — it's sweet and simple:

Anyone has the right to start an organization. Anyone is free to join any organization. I might even join one. Janette and Tonyo, therefore, are welcome to start an advocacy with their organization. Or Abe Olandres, or Carlo Ople can start their own bloggers' association, too, for that matter. This is just a way of saying that any organization can be built to help achieve a mission an pursue a vision.

Having said that, while anyone is free to start an organization, no one has the right to represent anyone — or any blogger — that are not part of their organization. If they will start going around telling companies and the government that their sentiment is the sentiment of the entire blogging community here in the country, that's just going beyond what any blogging association should do. I just feel that, with the kind of dynamics and diversity, it's impossible for a single organization to represent the entire blogging community — even if they'll just try to find common grounds among bloggers, as Tonyo Cruz said. They can, however, represent their members. But definitely should not include the entire community. It's a simple principle but has a huge impact in the way it can be used in the daily course of business.

My 2 cents.

The worst moments are your best opportunity – Seth Godin

Posted: March 4th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: All in a days work | View Comments

That’s how we judge you and how we remember you.

You are presumed to be showing us your real self when you are on deadline, have a headache, are facing a customer service meltdown, haven’t had a good night’s sleep, are facing an ethical dilemma, are momentarily in power, are caught doing something when you thought no one else was looking, are irritable, have the opportunity to extract revenge, are losing a competition or are truly overwhelmed.

What a great opportunity to tell the story you’d like us to hear about you.

Twitter war: Gringo Honasan vs. Jim Paredes

Posted: February 25th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: All in a days work | View Comments

Former EDSA hero turned coup plotter turned Senator Gringo Honasan and APO Hiking Society’s and fellow EDSA veteran Jim Paredes exchanged some sweet sarcasm on Twitter — you can’t see this everyday, so people, enjoy. Here’s my contribution to the EDSA 25th anniversary celebration today. ;)

Philippines would have been like Singapore now if under the Marcoses?

Posted: February 24th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: All in a days work | View Comments

In connection with the 25th year celebration of EDSA People Power 1, Senator Bongbong Marcos issued a very bold statement yesterday: the Philippines would have been like Singapore economically should EDSA 1 did not happen. He further said that his father has great plans for the Philippines back then.

I understand Sen. Marcos. We're talking about his family and their legacy. He should fight for it. But with all due respect to the good senator, I think we should stick to history:

- Back then, everything is chaotic. 
- Economy is at all time low.
- Corruption is a way of life.
- The martial law was a failure. Human rights violations are not found in any law books.
- Plus, every body knows that his dad was very sick and dying.

So, I can't understand what's Sen. Marcos' basis for saying this. EDSA 1 might have failed us in a lot of ways, but couldn't we agree that we're better off without a dictator?

There is no limits?

Posted: February 18th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: All in a days work | View Comments
I had a nice Twitter exchange with a good online friend and fellow technopreneur John Arce. John is very young, but at his age, he already has accomplished so much. He's a leader of a huge online organization of web enthusiasts and leads his own company. I see great future with this young man. I used to tell my wife that at John's age, I was busy running after her. :D

Today, John twitted, "There is no limits!", to which I teased him saying "Dude, that's a nice cliche. Nice to hear. But, sorry to burst the bubble, there are limits. :D" He responded saying that it's just for positive mindset in breaking the barriers and reaching your greatest potential. I actually know where he's coming from. He's a driven person.

While what I told him was in jest, there is truth to heart to what I said. Self-help books and motivational speakers will tell us there is no limits to what we can accomplish — our mind is the only limiting factor. So think positive! 

There is some truth to that. But not quite. Because in reality there are limits to what we can accomplish.
  • We only have 24 hours a day. We we need to sleep, otherwise, our body naturally breaks down.
  • We don't know what the future will bring. Did anybody ever see that the US economy will collapse and therefore loose your long standing clients? We certainly did not see that coming.
  • Our minds do have limits. All of us are wired differently. My mind may be best functioning logically, but creatively? My mind struggle.
  • Our physical strength has limits. On the average, we only live 60 to 80 years. Abuse your body and you'll slash that by a decade.
So, yes, there are limits to what we can do and achieve. 

Based on my little experience in life — with all my successes and failures, with my current challenges and future struggles — the best mindset is this: Know your limits. Be aware of those limits. That way, you can bring to God, who is without limit, those things that you don't have control over. Instead of trusting your own will power, mind and ability, trust in a higher power, bigger than you, smarter than you, powerful that you. Then be excited for what God can do through you.