Just a brief background about the people behind the event. Mr. Cito Beltran was the host of the show Straight Talk and a columnist in Philippine Star. On the other hand, Mr. Randell Tiongson is a personal finance coach and educator and maintains a website http://www.randelltiongson.com/. Last but not the least, Ms. Jenny Ignacio is responsible for the marketing and promotions of this event. Once again to the organizers, my heartfelt gratitude for inviting me in your event.
The first thing that struck me in Mr. Cito Beltran's introduction is when he said that "The most challenging things in life is the one that makes you prosper." It made me realize that in this seminar I will be expecting some concepts that would require changes in my perception and ideas.
In the first part of the seminar, Mr. Cito Beltran was talking about the concept of strategic thinking. But what is strategic thinking in the first place?
According to Mr. Cito Beltran, "Strategic thinking" is not about planning ahead but rather about seeking advantages. Mr. Cito Beltran reiterated this point several times during the seminar. On the other hand, although strategic thinking is about seeking advantages it does not mean that since you have the upper hand that you will have the right to take advantage.
Strategic thinking is also a mindset or an attitude. It is about recognizing advantages and harvesting opportunities.
Mr. Beltran said that this seminar is currently the toughest presentation he has prepared so far. I do understand why it can be hard especially when one of the goals is to see the lessons in this seminar as a means to redefine one's experience, the way one sees life, the way one thinks.
Is it possible to reach this goal in just a few hours of lecture? I asked myself that question at the beginning as well.
Mr. Cito Beltran advised the attendees that not all opportunities are obvious advantages as everything requires an investment. Thus, our advantage never remains the same. However, we have to be always on a look-out on what can be considered an advantage. For example, physical proximity can be regarded as an advantage.
However, there are several things that stop us from seeing opportunities and advantages that can enrich us. Mr. Beltran said one of those delimiting factors is our culture. Most of us (Filipinos in particular) think that declaring our profit or that the word "profit" itself is a dirty word. Beltran advices that it should not be regarded as bad if we only know how to moderate our greed. Another thing is that since we are not raised in a culture of commerce, we do not know how to express our intention to earn. However, a financially literate citizenry is one of the ways we can ensure the future of our children.
He also touched on the attitude of "pwede na yan". Indeed, how many times have we heard this from people around us and even coming from our own lips. The talk discussed the importance of educating our children and the importance of giving them due credit for their work. Why? Because as he said "The son is the story of a man."
There are certain requirements, one has to consider to perform strategic thinking and I will be listing some of them.
1. First is to STOP and study what your doing. For me this means, giving yourself time to reflect and think where are you now in your life and where are you heading.
2. Being deliberate
3. Finally being ready to "Peel your onion" - a symbolical activity where one has to peel the layers of an onion to finally see one's true core.
So is there a chance for me to be a strategic thinker? I can say it is highly probable given that among the characteristics listed I have 4 out of the 8 listed items namely I am an incurable optimist, a solution provider, a role-player and finally an unconventional thinker.
At the end of the seminar, Mr. Cito Beltran listed several case studies to show us real-life examples on how strategic thinking works. It was for me an eye-opener as I realized that there are things I thought was seen as being nice but was actually hurting me and the people around me because I lost a lot of possible opportunities.
However, this seminar is not about despairing on what I have lost. For me, it was a wake-up call which challenged me to take action given that now that I am aware of the things I have missed, what am I going to do about it?
There is really no black-and-white answer to this question but as Mr. Cito Beltran said you can have two options: Continue with your life and just think that it was a two thousand well spent or change and evolve which will most probably cause you much discomfort but you can regard it as investment which could probably earn you millions because you have discovered another light-bulb moment in your life.
Overall, the seminar really helped me answer a life question which I is currently disturbing me a lot at the moment. And for me that is the best gift I am bringing home tonight.
Randell Tiongson and Jenny Ignacio will have several upcoming events in the future. Don't miss these other life-changing events and seminars to be announced soon.
Keep in touch. :)
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