Transformational Leadership. Social Entrepreneurship

Are you merely surviving from one paycheck to the next one? Is it barely enough? Can you say that you are truly living a fulfilling life?

Sit in front of television and you’ll be subjected to hundreds of commercials and advertisements telling you to buy this and that! Too often though, instead of reaching for the remote control, we reach for our wallets and compute how much we need to spend for the goods and services we see on TV!

Sometimes, the results can be devastating. When emergencies come, you become suddenly out of cash. Good for you if you have friends you can borrow money from. But what if they are not around? What if they do not want to give you money?

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Most of us need that occasional boost of finances whenever we find out that our income falls short of our spending. We borrow money from various sources—friends, family members, banks, credit cards and even loan sharks! But what happens if you accumulate more debt than you could ever handle?

Here are some tips to help you get out of the deep hole of personal debt.

1. Take stock of all the debts you have.

Go get pen and paper and list down EVERY SINGLE LOAN AND DEBT that you have. Your debt may have come from banks, credit cards, loan sharks, friends and family members. Take note of all of them. Add them all up so you can get a good idea of how much you owe.

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Office politics may well be the reason why some employees never get promoted. It may also be one of the top reasons why employees resign from their jobs. How can you deal with it? Is it possible to do away with office politics?

Here are some tips on how to survive office politics.

Clarify goals and expectations. Write down your goals and expectations from the office. It helps to clarify your expectations to avoid disappointments and even heartaches.

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You’ve gone through the job hunt; negotiated your salary; went through the final interview and voila! You’ve just signed the contract. Welcome aboard!

How do you go through the first few days in the office? Follow these simple tips to get you started.

Attend the on-boarding training. Even if you’re a veteran employee, it wouldn’t hurt to attend the on-boarding training. Through this, you can learn about the organizational culture, the dos and don’ts of the company as well as the various requirements of your job. The on-boarding training allows you to get an overview of the company you’ve just signed up for. Along the way, you may come to understand if you’ve made a mistake in signing up with them or not.

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In the Philippines and even in other countries, getting a job is always a big challenge. It is easier for some people to land a job while others find it difficult. If you’re freshly out of college, or you’ve just resigned and looking forward to applying for another job, you gotta prepare for the job hunt!

Research. Look for the right job for you. Do what you are passionate about! If you apply at a job that you hardly care about, then you will just end up becoming a mediocre performer. Discover your passion, your gifts, your skills and your talents—these could help you land at your dream job!

Mindset. Job hunt is a highly competitive process. Prepare your mind for action! Other people are also out to get the job you are applying for. If you do not outprepare and out-perform them, you lose! So get on the champion mindset and start telling yourself you’re the greatest professional in the world!

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“High school life, oh my high school life, walang kasing saya…” so goes a song about high school graduation. Don’t you worry, graduating from high school does not mean end of the world. If you are going to college, be thankful that despite poverty, unemployment and uncertainties in our country, your parents are still able to send you to school. You might be off to a college or university in a not-so-nearby town, or perhaps you are going to a place far from your home like Baguio, Manila or Cebu and part of you is afraid…

College life is an altogether different and deeper adventure. If you are graduating from high school this March or a junior who feels so excited to be 4th year soon, these principles will help you. And if you are already a college student, it’s not hurting to be reminded of these pointers.

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I recently stumbled upon a website that shows the accomplishments (both positive and negative ones) of people my age. I just entered my age in the space provided and click on “Display accomplishments” and the following appeared!

At age 27:

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. dropped out from his job at General Electric to become a full-time writer.

Henry David Thoreau went off for two years to live alone in a cabin at Walden Pond.

Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space.

Memphis millionaire Frederic W. Smith, whose father built the Greyhound bus system, founded Federal Express.

Scottish botanist David Douglas discovered the Douglas fir.

Ernest Hemingway published his first novel, The Sun Also Rises.

Boston dentist William Morton pioneered modern anaesthesiology after learning that inhalation of ether will cause a loss of consciousness.

Jimi Hendrix choked to death on his own vomit after ingesting wine and sleeping pills.

Janis Joplin died of an overdose of whiskey and heroin.

Conceptual artist Piero Manzoni crapped in 90 small cans which were then factory sealed and offered for sale at the price of gold.

Bob K., first degree murder, in prison for life with no chance of parole.

Jessica Schram trolled MySpace for seven straight hours during work.

Pretty interesting if you ask me! It made me think of my own accomplishments and the stuff I want to do before I turn thirty! These are my goals:

Publish my first book of poetry.
Complete my first novel.
Grow my blog and my business.
Earn my first million pesos.

Big goals. Big dreams. But I’m willing to work out in accomplishing these goals!

Stephen Covey, in his bestselling book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, he talked about the Circle of Concern. This circle contains the things that people get worried about yet they don’t have direct control over these things! Focusing on the circle of concern is counterproductive! Why? Because you cannot really control it. Why bother?

In order for you to become more effective, you need to minimize your circle of concern! I’ve been thinking about my own circle of concern and how I can minimize them. I’ve listed twelve things that belong to my circle of concern, which I need to stop worrying about.

1. The weather. Even if I do some rain ritual or dance, I can’t make the rain fall at my own whim!

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Have you ever worked nonstop for at least two weeks? Do you remember how stressed you were and things didn’t seem to work out?

“All work and no play makes you dull,” so they say. It’s true! I’ve been in situations where I go to work at 10am and leave at 11pm! I did it straight for ten days. By the eleventh day, I had to call in sick and work (minimally) from home.

You should have off days, they are extremely important in your work-life balance and in ensuring that you have enough energy for more work. Too often though, people fill their off days with more activities that they barely have room to breathe! Here are the top four things you should do on your off days.

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Our society is obsessed with independence and personal freedom. We don’t want anybody telling us what to do. We don’t want poverty, we don’t want to have shackles in us, and we don’t want any kind of appearance that we depend on someone else. There’s nothing wrong in that except that appearances are very different from reality.

“Man is free, but everywhere he goes, he is in chains.”

Freedom is an abstract concept. Dictionaries have different definition of freedom. What’s your definition of freedom? How is freedom different from independence?

Independence simply means that you are FREE FROM something that could give you some sort of struggle or difficulty. Independence Day came to mean that finally, the conquerors are gone. Independence may also mean that you are free from the control and clutches of others. You are free from addiction and any other bad habits.

Freedom from control means that no other people are dictating how you live your life and how you react to your circumstances in life. It also means that you are by yourself. Freedom from control is essentially negative because it simply means that there are no outside forces controlling you.

Freedom from control, however, does not necessarily mean that you are completely free!

Let’s explore the other side of the coin. FREEDOM TO…

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