I shared my thoughts on the usual personal finance stuff I usually talk about which was great, but I was delighted to interact with another guest who was talking about his new book, Productive Pinoy. The author was Yeng Remulla, a very young and successful entrepreneur who was also a former member of the famous band True Faith. Yeng’s book is an awesome way for us to review ourselves and improve our productivity. It is really encouraging to see young guys like Yeng taking the lead in helping improve Pinoys in general. During the hearty discussion in the show, Ardy and I was enthralled by the wisdom of Yeng — specially when Ardy shared an excerpt from his book. The snippet was all about how to stay in focus and Yeng’s 10 point recommendation hits the spot, bulls eye!

Here are Yeng’s priceless tips:

(1)  Phone in Silent Mode. Use the features of your phone. Missed call logs are there to help you. Don’t worry you can always return the call when you are ready. Don’t feel guilty!

Note: Don’t miss a call for an important event or a transaction about to happen.

(2) Ignore text messages during your Focus Time. You can always read it later. Don’t put it to vibrating mode either.

(3) Turn off your email notification app or your email app.

Close any window in your desktop that you are not using. Yes, including those Messenger and Facebook windows.

(4) Check your email two to three times a day only. Avoid checking your email every 10 minutes. Set time intervals. Set a few minutes in the morning around 10:00am, then check again around 3:00pm. Find out what time works for you.

This will allow you to reply to your emails in bulk, saving you time and allowing you to focus on other things. Besides, it’s more fun to answer emails simultaneously.

(5) Close and lock the door. If you run a home-based business, you’ll find it difficult to separate work and home. Decide to close doors. Consider that room your nine to five office. Let your family know that you need that “uninterrupted” time to get things done.

If you are attending to kids, set your FOCUS Time during nap time or while they are watching their favorite TV shows. In this way, the interruption is minimal (they forget about you when they are watching).

(6) Set a fixed schedule for your FOCUS Time. Make it predictable. Make the people around you aware of this schedule. This will lessen interruption. Let them know that this is your sacred private time.

(7) Your To-Do List must be within reach. Let’s say you are working on a project and your creative juices are flowing; suddenly, you remember something important that you need to do and it’s not related to what you are currently doing. This is how to proceed: Grab a pen and write it down on your To Do list. Then, forget about it and continue with what you were doing earlier.

Writing it down or dumping it on paper frees your mind from thinking about it. If you are running your To-Do List app in your computer, keep that window minimized or in the background. Pop when needed.

(8) Hire an assistant to filter your calls. Answer only calls that you need to answer yourself. Write an instruction on how to handle phone calls– give it to your assistant. This will save you time and energy.

(9) Finish all errands in the morning or in the evening.

Deciding when to do errands frees your mind from worrying about it. Block an hour or a little more to do errands all together.

(10) Go somewhere else. Leave the house or the office. Go to the nearest café, the ambiance might inspire you. It might get you in the mood to be creative or analytical. Go to Starbucks and try a hot, grande breve latte. Put 3 packs of brown sugar. It’s not in the menu, but the barista will be delighted to make the drink for you. Sip and enjoy!

I’m enjoying Productive Pinoy book and it is teaching me so much on how to improve things I normally do. A highly recommended book not just for entrepreneurs but for everyone.

Well done Mr. Yeng Remulla! We need more guys like you to write books and teach guys like me.

Here’s my tip for 2011 and beyond: Walk with the Lord Jesus Christ and you will have the best years of your life.

Jesus Christ is the reason for Christmas. Merry Christmas to all!

Two recent events that I participated in made me really think hard of the education of my children. As a father of four, education has been a primary concern for my wife and me. My eldest is a sophomore in the university, my second is graduating from high school, my third is in second grade and my youngest in pre-school. I believe in education and I believe that it is one thing that my wife and I can give to our children that will make or break their future.

I was invited to attend a meeting being conducted by the Reedley International School. I have no plans of sending my kids to this school so I was not really interested in attending, but my friend Carlo Ople said that they only invited a few people for some good exchange of ideas and I am to represent parents of home-schooled children (our two youngest kids are being home schooled). I was glad I was able to attend the said meeting because I learned much about the school and more than that, that is has a very good approach to education.

I learned that Reedley has a very strong policy against bullying, even cyber-bullying. Bullying is so rampant in almost all schools and society has accepted this as an acceptable circumstance, even believing that it’s good training for a child. I have met people who are victims of bullying or were bullies themselves at one time in their life and I tell you, there’s nothing acceptable in such a behavior – it really is detrimental to one’s character.

Another trait I admired about the school was that they have a culture that should be replicated in all other schools – every single faculty of the school genuinely cares for their students. The school administration really emphasizes this culture and this determines whether a faculty will continue to be employed. The school believes that when the teachers really care for the student, they learn better.

Lastly, I like the fact that Reedley is a school that gives second chances to other students. I have learned that the school has become a refuge of sorts to students from prestigious exclusive schools who can’t do well in such an environment. The school believes there are no poor students and they take these students with open arms and show they can be just as good as, if not better than, those who excel in the prestigious schools; and they do learn and they excel. Proof of this is the school’s high passing rate to choice universities not only in the Philippines but also abroad.

Catch Part 2 of this column in two weeks as I write about my other experience in another event, the hybrid high-school home-school program.  The whole idea of this two-part column is for us to understand that while education has costs, we must know how to pay for the right price for it.

A Merry Christmas to all and let us always remember the reason for the season.

“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). – Matthew 1:23, NIV.

– Doug Firebaugh

However, I really wanted to tell the viewers one thing about the lotto, it is to forget it! It was not my place in the show and I was being asked questions on what to do with the winnings and not whether one should spend money of lotto.

My view on lotto? It is for people who don’t understand math – simply put. Not sure about the actual odds but there are claims that you are more likely to die from lightning rather than win the lotto. The chances are almost nil and yet people part good money on lotto all the time.

Whenever you think about playing the lotto, here’s my advice — don’t. Lotto, regardless of how you justify it is gambling… and worse kind of gambling since your chances of winning is almost zero, zilch! Here’s more… most lotto winners end up losing most, if not all of its winnings in less than 3 years or so!

You really want to help the poor? Save your lotto money and be financially responsible — then share your blessings to the poor in a more sustainable manner.

My thoughts, but I pray that Pinoys will think like this too.

– Jim Rohn

While I don’t argue that what I mentioned are great ways to create and grow your wealth, I would say that the best investment you can even make is by investing in yourself.

There are many ways one can invest in oneself and it all starts with education. Education remains to be the best way for us to achieve our aspirations in life. Developing and enhancing our skills can be achieved through proper education, both formal and informal ways. I find it absurd that there are those who foolishly claim that education is not necessary to be successful in life and they will state a couple of individuals who became successful despite the lack of proper education.

The experience of a few notable exceptions does not mean it becomes the rule of the game. The same notable exceptions would spend so much money in ensuring their children will get a good education, something they really put value to. Further, the said exceptions may not have received proper formal education but they received some other forms of education—through other people, circumstances and their situation.

However, I do not subscribe to the belief that quality education is synonymous to cost: the bigger the cost is, the better the education. We have seen countless stories of very victorious individuals who rose up the corporate ladder or established successful businesses without going through the “expensive” educational institution. Quality is a function of dedication-—of the educational institution, the student and the parent. The student can learn the theoretical knowledge from the schools and the practical understanding from the parent, which the student must be able to apply by himself.

Education is also not limited to the acquisition and retention of knowledge. The mark of a good education is in the learning of knowledge and the subscription to proper values. Formation of values is also a function of education— in the school, in the home and in the streets.

Let us invest in good education: one that makes us improve our skills and live our values so we can be what God created us to be, with Christ as our model.

-Mark Twain