Pacman Philosophy vs. Marquez Methodology

The whole Filipino nation was held breathless...at the very last second of the 6th round in the Pacquiao versus Marquez fight IV, "Dinamita" landed a vicious right hand counter punch that knocked out cold the Pambansang Kamao.

I sat on my chair literally stunned. We thought it was a hard low blow, but the way Pacman was not moving, it was a legit K.O.

But I will not share my opinions and insights on the fight itself or how Pacman should have won it. I am not a sports analyst...I am not a professional boxer...I am not in the position to say that he should have done this, he should have done that. (Yes, I may have joked that he should have gotten Chuck Norris rather than Steven Seagal at his corner; or probably all of the 80's bad-asses just like the Expendables.) And I will not judge him for choosing which faith he believes in.

The realization that dawned unto me is this;

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Pacman Philosophy:

I am a multi-tasker. I am gifted, I can do many things at the same time. I am a jack-of-all-trades. I am at the top.

Marquez Methodology:

I am focused. I set one goal and I shut the whole world out and channel all my energy to accomplishing this one mission no matter how long the preparation may take. I am a counter-puncher, that means I am simply reactive to your actions no matter what the consequences are. I am the underdog.
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What does the Pacman Philosophy tell me?

Having more than one skill set can really be an edge. Take for example a customer service representative in a BPO industry. Most call centers nowadays employ and train CSRs to have at least 2 skill sets. Usually that would be Customer Service and Tech Support. Some even have 3, when you pitch in Sales or Upselling. If you look at it on paper, you would say great, you can do all these tasks, your value just went up.

But before you know it, you tend to focus more on one aspect and neglect the others. This would now affect the CSR's metrics. If the CSR concentrates on making a Sale or Upselling, that would mean staying longer on the phone, which would affect the Average Handling Time of the employee. Indeed it is easy to say that all you need to do is maintain the balance between the metrics. But can it be sustained?

Multi-tasking can make you indispensable. But take away a percentage of attention from any one of those task, can lead to disaster. Even if you are confident that you can do things with your eyes closed because you have been doing it for a long time, it doesn't hurt keeping your eyes open for the unexpected. We have to learn that in Life, there are so many uncertainties and probabilities on things happening for a reason. Giving our undivided attention to one task will result to having completed those to perfection.

Being on top means there is no other place to go but down. So you have to ensure that you don't misstep and fall down that ladder. Having to many things on hand, you will have nothing to use to grab the ladder and hang on; you will literally come crashing down...face on the ground.

What I have learned from the Marquez Methodology?

Focusing on one goal before moving to the next. In Human Resources, I try to be as well-rounded as I can. Right now, being more employee engaged is on my task list. With the help of Head Office, I managed to launch a couple of wonderful clubs at the office. But what was my mistake? I tried to multi-task and became greedy. I wanted to spearhead all the clubs that I had in mind. End result, I have now conflicting schedules with the club events and is unable to launch the other clubs, have lost my footing in my general tasks, and is now gathering the pieces on how to get back on track.

When in the process of accomplishing something, some of us would want to have that peace and quiet to be able to concentrate. While during training, it is best to focus on the agenda, rather than having many distractions on the side. If it means shutting the world out, just to achieve that one goal, it is justified. Distractions are simply...destructive. It destroys whatever you have accomplished so far, and you may have to start from scratch. (Try interrupting someone who is counting money; if they get distracted, they have to start over.)

Preparing ahead of time is something that we must turn into a habit. Cramming has never been proven effective. If the meeting is at 10:00AM, then you should be there at least 15 minutes before so you can prepare your notes, brainstorm on possible questions, and simply relax. You're scrambling to get things done quickly because you either need to attend to something else or you weren't fully prepared because you were late achieving your last task. Buildings are not constructed overnight. It takes a couple of years to ensure that the foundations and architecture are precisely the way it should be. If you stack those bricks hurriedly, it will definitely collapse.

Being the undergo means you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Even if it does not grant a victory, the underdog's effort does not remain unnoticed.

Most mentors and leaders would say that you definitely have to take initiative and never be reactive. You must be one step ahead. Being reactive does not entirely mean that you are a step behind or you were caught off-guard. What if you wanted it to happen? What if you wanted your opponent to make that mistake to rush in headstrong? Isn't there a bit of truth in it that sometimes, something has to fail for you to be able to implement a contingency or revision in the process? Take for example an Anti-Virus software. In order for it to be an effective anti-virus, you have to attack it with several unknown viruses. Then you build up a protective shield to prevent that virus from attacking again. Because now you know your enemy, now you know what the problem is.

Issues and problems are often unforeseen and being reactive is not always a bad thing. You just have to make sure that you have a massive "counter-punch" to knock that problem down and put it out of it's misery.

Practicing a Pacman Philosophy definitely has it's advantages, as long as you can sustain living by it's principles. But for a person who is thorough and does not mind taking a hit, a Marquez Methodology is a habit you don't want to break.