I am power question #3

It's time for the journal question

Power Question #3:
What 5 things are you most proud of? What 5 things will you be most
proud of?

Oh man, this is actually a good power question...let's start with the 5 things I'm most proud off. In no particular order of course...
1.  London's many track accomplishments.  - Being that I don't yet have any children of my own, well, not yet anyway, I see my only real niece, London, as one of my own, so to speak.  She is a very gifted and hardworking kid, and she has worked really hard in  her young adult life to get to where she is right now.  I am so incredibly proud of her, and she really has shown us how awesome she is.

2.  My level of fitness - I feel that I maintain a very active lifestyle, not even as active as I would like, but good enough.  Other people somewhat admire that I stay so active, so it makes me feel even better about it and pushes me to keep it up.  One of the things I want later in life is to be able to play with my kids, and I believe that staying fit always will help me accomplish that goal.  So as long as I can, I will keep it up. 

3.  My education - I am quite proud of my educational accomplishments, of where I've gone to school and my degree.  Especially these days, when a degree plays such an important role in job security and in getting a job, I am proud to say I worked towards my degree.  That way, when my kids grow up, I can have lived by example and show them that I did it.

4.  My family; both my wife's and my own - we are ALL successful individuals and they are all great parents.  When our baby comes, I know I will be proud of ourselves as parents too. 

5.  Having run a marathon - This kinda relates to the fitness thing, but I think this can be labeled as a separate accomplishment; because I believe it takes a LOT of not only physical endurance, training, strength, but just as much if not more MENTAL strength and endurance.  Having run both half and full marathon are feats that not everyone can say they've accomplished.  So that would definitely be one.

I 'm gonna list the 5 things I think I will BE most proud of in the coming future; not gonna note too much else, because I won't know exactly how proud I'll be yet...so they can be kindof a list of goals..,.
-Having given my first motivational speech - I'll know I at least tried, regardless of the outcome
-Having started and really worked towards getting a book published - again, an accomplishment I've always dreamed about
-Our daughter - of all of the things she will have accomplished and she will do...
-My wife - for carrying our child and delivering her to us safely and soundly in the next few months
-Having accomplished a sprint-triathalon

So these are the goals...and I can't wait for them to come to fruition!  I can look back on this entry and see exactly how far I've come!

I am weeks end...

This week went flying by and I didn't get to journal as much as I wanted to...dangit.  Also might start writing in a physical journal, so maybe those will get scanned and posted as well; we'll see.  It's the end of the week and here are the things I'm grateful for:

-My vision (currently 20/20)
-Our friends the Lavarros that helped improve our swim technique
-Having a pool to swim in with the wifey
-Work helping me get my PMP certification
-My friend Joey who I had lunch with
-Craigslist (Sold 2 things this week!)
-The NFL Draft (Lions drafted OLT and WR)
-NBA Playoffs
-Returning back to basketball league
-Abitlity to Tithe

It didn't seem as hard this week, maybe because I jotted down the things I was thankful for as I experienced them.  Probably a good note for the oncoming weeks.  Going to SD tomorrow w/ the wife and sibs...can't wait!

I am today's power question:

"How can you get paid to do what you love?"

I think this is a very very open-ended question, because you just have to find what you love to do and do it as your job.  For example, if you love being a doctor, and you do everything you can to do it, then at the end of the day you'd be doing what you love, and be getting paid for it.

As far as my specific scenario, getting paid to do what I love would involve being paid as a motivational speaker, which could even relate to being paid for appearances or other things that support this type of goal.  So in essence, I'd be getting paid helping people, but I wonder at one point if I would be compensated enough such that I would ever be able to leave my dayjob.  I guess that would remain to be seen.  And would the emotional or psychological reward be enough to do it so that being paid would only be a bonus if it was there?  I don't know.  It's definitely not one of your run-of-the-mill things that people usually want to be.  But something in me calls for it. 

I wonder how many people out there are getting paid to do what they love.  I would probably say about 1 in 3 people...if that.  But I don't want to say that just because you're not getting paid to do what you love, it doesn't necessarily say anything about who you are as a person.  Yes, fear can provide a lot of people from actually pursuing what they WANT to do opposed to what is easy to do, but there are people who are doing what they HAVE to do as a means to another end.  Being an expectant father makes me regard the latter with even more respect and awe.  I used to be critical about that kind of stuff, but sometimes, there just isn't enough compensation to do what you want, or even love.  If I gave free speeches and was still helping people and did not do anything else to make a living, well, my family would suffer.  So it's important to keep it all in perspective. 

Quote of the day
"To know the road ahead, ask those coming back."
- Chinese Proverb

I am an enjoyable weekend...

I almost forgot. At the end of each week, I'm supposed to write and mention the 10 things I'm thankful for. You know, I thought the first 10 were easy, but it actually got hard after the 5th one. You actually have to think a little more about the things you're thankful for, and there's a lot we take for granted. So it's a good exercise in that it helps you look hard and at everything in your life so that you don't overlook them.

So here they are: 10 things I'm grateful for
-My wife
-My baby-to-be
-My family
-My bed
-My house
-My job
-My health
-Weekends and offdays
-Wireless internet
-My Direct TV (Especially when Football season comes around)  

Quote of the day
"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant."
- Robert Louis Stevenson

I am a small semblance of consistency...

Taking this seminar has helped me stay on track with my blogging again, so that's cool. Whatever works, right?

I've been thinking a lot about vacation lately, probably more so because we haven't had a holiday in a while and I'm looking forward to travelling with Tinz next month. I'm just worried about how she'll be feeling around that time. Doc gave us the green light to go tho, so now we just have to plan the various activities/tours/things we wanna do on our trip. If only I could travel more for leisure...like if it was a full-time job. But if there was such a job that would require me to travel full time, I think it would be difficult with family because I'd be away from them all the time. And even if you could take the wife and kids with you, you'd never be settled any where, so I guess one should be careful what one asks for. Maybe grass IS always greener on the other side. Just like when I was in school, I wanted to work; and then, when I was working, I was wishing I was back in school.

Big kings game tonight, can't wait to see them crush the Canucks!


Quote of the day
"True enjoyment comes from activity of the mind and exercise of the body; the two are united."
- Alexander von Humboldt

I am a mulligan...

Looks like I was actually supposed to take a test first; where the TEST would tell me my strengths. I thought it was more of a self-assessment excercise; I guess that's what I get for jumping the gun, ha ha ha. So according to Authentic Happiness, here are my strengths.

Your Top Strength
Spirituality, sense of purpose, and faith
You have strong and coherent beliefs about the higher purpose and meaning of the universe. You know where you fit in the larger scheme. Your beliefs shape your actions and are a source of comfort to you.

Your Second Strength
Leadership
You excel at the tasks of leadership: encouraging a group to get things done and preserving harmony within the group by making everyone feel included. You do a good job organizing activities and seeing that they happen.


Your Third Strength
Citizenship, teamwork, and loyalty
You excel as a member of a group. You are a loyal and dedicated teammate, you always do your share, and you work hard for the success of your group.

Your Fourth Strength
Kindness and generosity
You are kind and generous to others, and you are never too busy to do a favor. You enjoy doing good deeds for others, even if you do not know them well.

Your Fifth Strength
Curiosity and interest in the world
You are curious about everything. You are always asking questions, and you find all subjects and topics fascinating. You like exploration and discovery.

I guess I wasn't totally off from my self assessment, he he he. So now, how are these strengths supposed to apply to myself, my community and my world? I think all of these strengths tie in to one another so that they can be applied together. With my family, my wife and I both have a strong foundation in our faith, so it would definitely be easy to pass that along to our children and those around us. As a leader, I can have confidence in leading my family in the right direction, and at the same time I can work together with the family as a team member to get things done. Additionally, I believe that my appeal to help others and general curiosity in the world definitely helps me pass along the desire to experience as much as you can with my family. I think and hope that these strengths will help my family during difficult times as well as good times. To be able to lead during hardship and tribulation is just as important, if not more important then leading during good times or when there isn't much of a challenge ahead.

As far as my community is concerned, I would like to think that all of these strengths could be braided together, so to speak in helping contribute to our church community and the rest of our community in general. Being part of the announcement ministry at church is kind of a combination of all 5 strengths I think and I can even further that by working on my book I want to write to inspire, lead and help people be all that they can be. And that would only translate further as far as contributing to the world around me. It has to start from self > family > and then naturally will continue to spread to the community and then the world. One step at a time, one person at a time. These strengths would definitely contribute to the characteristics and qualities needed in a motivational speaker, if that's what I am ever going to do later in my life. That, combined with my enthusiasm to be with people and loyalty to others would help solidify my want to help others.

That's all I can think of for now...been a long day!

I am my first Power entry…

I recently started a seminar in order to help myself get myself in gear and pursue things I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. Part of this process includes keeping a journal and being asked to journal about specific questions and topics. This is my first week...so here we go

Power Question: How can you use your strengths in greatest service to yourself, your family, your community and the world?

This is an interesting question...first of all, the most challenging part of it is being able to identify your strengths. It's funny because we are so quick and ready to identify not only others' weaknesses, but our own. I've always thought that we are our own worst critics, and I think that especially holds true with this question.

So I guess first, I would have to list what those strengths are. Just through my experience and from feedback from others, I would identify my strengths as: a solid voice, the ability to entertain and speak with people, a very social person, easy to talk to, and trustworthy.

Now having identified said strengths...how would they apply to the various parts of my life?

Let's start with myself. I think this is an easy one, I think I can use these strengths to help me pursue my goals and support my family, which would make ME happy. To know that I am giving my family what it needs and growing together, I would be very satisfied. I guess my family and myself are intertwined, becuase I would be able to use my abilities to speak, in various communications with my family.

Inasfar as my community is concerned; perhaps by joining in various activities where I can be in front of people and helping out in any way I can. Currently, my wife and I are part of our church choir(St. Lorenzo Ruiz Catholic Church in Walnut) and I have recently added joining the church announcement ministry as part of that. The goal of the announcement ministry is to bring enthusiastic people out in front of the lectern to share the various activities and things happening in and around the church. I am very comfortable in front of crowds and feel that I have a knack for getting people to pay attention. I have used these strengths also in leading small things such as my recreational basketball league teams; which could one day lead to coaching my children's sports teams, I don't know.

The world...that's so big and vast. I actually don't know how I would specifically service the world with my strengths, except for taking the community to another level; meaning to reach out to more people, to energize more people, and to basically help the world be a better place, one person at a time. Maybe finding various avenues to share my thoughts and experiences could affect the world around me.

So that's it for the first question. Rest of the week is back to general writing/thinking/meandering. I'm glad I took this seminar on because I think that it really helps me get back to blogging normally.

No quote of the day today, I'll leave the power question to be the meat of my topic. Maybe some other things going on, but mostly the power question for the first entry of the week.

I am a baby blog

Here is a couple of posts I wrote a lil while ago but never posted...

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Today we had our first ultra-sound. I wasn't sure exactly how I felt. I mean, I'd been excited every since we found out about 3 weeks earlier, but it was excitement mixed in with some anxiety. I'm not sure how other dads feel, but the first thing that popped into my head was, "I'm having a kid...what kind of dad am I gonna be?" It's not such an easy question to answer, because every decision I make from now on affects my kid's life, and sometimes that scares me. Because I've made mistakes, I've erred, and I don't want to do that for this little blessing. So naturally, I've been a little more nervous than usual.

But seeing that ultrasound...it kinda puts everything into perspective, and kinda gave me even more meaning into my already incredibly meaningful and blessed life. Christine and I are bringing a child into the world, to experience all that they can, and to get as much love from us as we can possibly give. I thought I was gonna cry, but I think the excitment overwhelmed me. To see the little heart beating, and to HEAR it...my God, there has never been a more beautiful rhythm in my life.

So now to tell the world...


Friday, December 23, 2011

Posted the ulstrasound picture on FB today, so now it's no longer a secret...feels good to let everyone know, because for the past few weeks, I've been bursting to tell everyone. But we wanted to wait until we told our closest friends and family first...some of whom were able to keep it a secret, and others, not so much...but I guess I can understand, it's hard to contain yourself when there's such good news as what we shared with them. But now, everyone knows, thanks to the wonderous social news portal that is facebook and we've gotten so many messages congratulating us and letting us know how excited they are for us. It's awesome. See little baby? You're so loved already! We can't wait for you to come! =)