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“And to think I used to be such a shy bastard.”

When I started college, I didn’t know what course to pick.

I didn’t know what career path to follow.

I didn’t know what kind of life I want to live.

Like everyone else at my level (or peer group) back then, I let my parents decide.

Note: I later realized that this is a Filipino only thing.

I can’t remember what the situation was but I got this advice from my half-sister.

We didn’t talk much so I remembered her advice pretty well since its the only actual conversation I remember.

Here’s the advise:

“If you’re having trouble deciding where you want to go, try listing down what you’re good at and note which ones you like while trying things out and chose from there.”

My list at age 16-17:

I liked writing.

I liked talking to people.

I liked drawing.

I liked martial arts ( I liked fighting but I don’t enjoy hurting people so I only fought stronger opponents)

I liked adding new skills to my list.

At that age I never realized that the advice would get me to where I am today.

I started with a job in sales and was eventually invited by different companies to work for them.

I landed a gig in a training school.

I got mentored by successful people in sales, marketing, business development, people development and website creation.

I also have been blessed to acquire a whole bunch of skills and trainings at a young age.

Later on, I realized that it’s not the course you took in the university that will bring you where you want to go.

You can just use what you have right now.

Where I am right now, I’m confident I can make any business flourish, help people figure out solutions to their problems, get any job if I need to and teach you how to do the same.

Here’s how to get started:

  • Write a list of things you are good at.
  • Write as many as you can my first list included kicking ass and battlefield strategies (even if you’re just referring to computer/mobile games).
  • Pick what you enjoy doing.
  • Write a list of accomplishments.
  • Write a short story for each accomplishment.
  • Write a list of positive adjectives about yourself.
  • Think of a story related to each positive adjective.
  • Write a list of failures. (Spend a lot of time here).
  • With each failure, identify and enumerate the life lessons you picked up.
  • Write a list of weaknesses both past and present.
  • Current weaknesses are areas to improve on and can become personal projects in the next few months.
  • Past weaknesses can be converted to success-stories you can use in your interviews that you can share how you overcome disadvantages and can also be products or part of your service in the future as well.
  • Write a list of jobs you took.
  • From each job, make a list of things you can contribute to others as a result of taking on those jobs.

My advice:

Use what you have and do what you can, then package it in a way that it can contribute to others.

Then you’ll never worry about getting clients or finding a gig.

Updated: Saturday, August 25, 2018 and message from Kevin of the present day:

This post is both popular and cringe-worthy.

I’m getting goosebumps just opening this post.

The other reason is that my dad recently passed away and I’ve had more interactions with the sister I mentioned here.

I don’t know what to make of it yet, but since I met her, I’ve looked up to her a lot. In fact, I unintentionally imitated her and followed her career path or built, what appears to me as a similar career using the crude tools that I have at my disposal.

There’s been some friction too because everyone is experiencing peak emotional highs and lows and at this point, I’m just hoping for a good outcome.

This post is a good template for moments where you don’t have a goal, you’re not motivated or you need to improve your writing skills.

As I complete editing this post, I only fixed some of the formatting and completed or removed unspecific statements, I’m really happy with what I’ve done here.

This had been the recipe for a lot of my wins in the past and had been a missing recipe to a lot of my failures.

I’ll see you on my next post.


Thank you for reading.

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