Toastmasters International

I've finally done it!

 

I've been dreaming of becoming a member since I first heard about the organization back in 2005.

 

 

 

 

To learn more about Toastmasters International, check out their website: Toastmasters International

 



Getting Things Done in 2014

For the past 6 months, I haven’t done that much activity in my blog. Primarily due to work, but the trade off was that my company has blessed me with additional responsibilities and benefits, an upshot of all those work rendered and goals being achieved. In what I can humbly claim as over a decade of honorable HR service, I have been promoted 5 times in the industry that I work in. That’s why no matter what, it’s really hard to say no to an employer and mentor that supports and believes in what I can do.

Office is not all about work in my company and I am not hard selling them, but this is the only company that I have worked for that has shown no restraint when it comes to employee engagement and activities. They even gave me a free hand in launching a Magic the Gathering Club and Network Gaming Club. (They even paid for the cards and PC games.) It may seem easy on paper to be the chairperson of these clubs, but it’s actually very time consuming. As much as I can, I really try to exert much effort to sustain their activities. I am also in the middle of reviving our Writer’s Guild. Aside from this, there are so many clubs in our company that I dream of joining such as the Toastmasters and the Epic Runners…but I can’t do it all.

I’m semi retired in the one sport that I love. I used to play in no less than 3 leagues every weekend, but now, I painfully turn them down because I just have too many items on my hands. I try hard to still be involved in the sport by helping the company’s basketball program in scouting recruits and coaching the men’s team. I am also assessing my resources if I could divert some effort towards the company’s women’s basketball and volleyball teams. So office work for me is like a hobby if you look at it in a different perspective with the clubs and sports advocacy…but I can’t do it all.

There are so many things I love doing…but so little time to do it.

I love watching DVDs and TV series, both old and new. CSI, Spartacus, Walking Dead, Boardwalk Empire, Friends, Battlestar Galactica, Heroes, and the list goes on. I have boxes and shelves of unwatched DVDs, from all movie genres. I love playing video games. Call of Duty, Battlefield, Diablo, NBA, Gran Turismo, Tekken, Borderlands, and the list goes on as well. I love reading comics, Marvel, DC, IDW, and the list never ends. I even bought a 1-Terabyte external hard drive to store all my e-comics….but I can’t watch them all, play them all or read them all.

I love taking trips with my family, Balik Bukid, Boracay, Palawan, Ocean Park, anywhere that can take my mind off work for a moment. (Despite the rare occasions that my office phone would ring, it’s still a getaway for me.) So no matter how much I want to run away to these destinations…I just can’t go to them all.

And this is but the tip of the iceberg of the other things in life that one can do.

So how do I get things done?

It’s not impossible to do it all. Challenging, yes, but doable. Can’t do it doesn’t mean you won’t do it or never will. It’s a “can’t” at the moment. And when that moment passes, you’re pretty much on your way to doing whatever you want.

For me, it’s simply managing or prioritizing what must be done at that moment; such as when I do get the chance to watch DVDs, how can I ever turn down the request of my 4-year old Kian to watch Oggy and the Cockroaches on Cartoon Network, or to watch Barney on Youtube with my 2-year old Julia. These moments are priceless for me, and there is no doubt that this is definitely something I can do all the time.

So as the year 2014 dawned on me, my one and only resolution is getting things done. Regardless of what it is. When people would now ask me if it’s doable, my answer would be…

It’s not doable…consider it done.