By choice or by default

I love my life! I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I love my job.

I’ve been speaking in public for so many years now, but I can still recall the first 12 years of my speaking career. I would do some one hundred talks a year and never charge a cent or even accept honorarium. Some people had remarked how I love doing talks pro-bono, to which I would smile and think to myself, “But I’m not doing this pro-bono. I’m actually doing this pro-Deo.”

I believe that God is the one who has equipped me and called me to speak. This is my main motivation for doing what I do. Today, while the corporate world rewards my services with professional fees, I still do talks for schools “pro-Deo”.

I recently did a talk for a group of students from our country’s leading university. I found out that it’s not true that young people today have very short attention span. They actually want to be engaged; they just need communicators who understand them, their world and their concerns. After the talk, I agreed to have a little snack with them, and I kid you not when I say that practically the whole class continued to mill around me as I had a few bites of my chicken snack while answering the unending questions they threw at me. Those kids, bright and bubbly, were seriously hungry to learn. I went home that evening savoring those precious moments I’ve spent with them discussing life and success issues.

I remember them asking, “Sir Francis, how did you become successful?” My response was my usual one: “By never thinking that I am. This way I continue to learn and strive to improve. Success is never a destination but a journey – don’t you think so?” And the kids nodded with approval as smiles broke out all over the place.

Success is the intentional, pre-meditated use of choice and decision. Unless you choose and act on it, then you fail by default. It’s a process, and I can assure you that it’s a never-ending one. A person’s success and achievements depend more on his goal choices than on his abilities. Individuals with similar talents, intelligence and abilities will achieve different results because they select and pursue different goals.

You and I are the products of the choices we make from day to day. Each choice we choose and each decision we make, plus the courses of action we take, affect the kind of person that we become each day. There’s no escaping this. Thus, even the smallest choices are important because, over time, their cumulative effect becomes significant. 

Your decisions define you. Your goals can be the seeds of success.

Meanwhile, for those who simply drift through life – the “Whatevers”, I call them – their complacency is the biggest killer of opportunity and potential.

Every decision involves personal costs and requires a certain amount of risk taking. Deciding may be intimidating at times, but refusing to do so would be failure by default.

Don’t fail by default. Set goals. Your goals matter. The bigger your dreams and goals are, the higher you can rise, the sweeter your success can be. Live intentionally, so you live your life to the full and become a blessing to others.

The young students loved these thoughts. I only wish older people would too.

(Thank you to all those who attended the recently-concluded Developing The Leader Within You! We had a full house during the two-day seminar. The next run will be on Oct. 15-16 at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel, and is now open for early registration! For further inquiries, contact Hannah at 09228980196, or call 632-6310658 or 6310660 for more details.)