Finding Peace in Prayers – Saint Pancratius

On most days you know you have the physical strength, the willpower, the motivation and commitment to do your daily grind. You work smart and you have a great team, you have a supportive family and circle of friends. But there are days when it seems that all you can hope for is divine intervention.

Back in 2002 when I first landed a job in the BPO industry and my first experience doing a graveyard shift, my late grandmother came up to my room one day and gave me this novena. She told me that since I was working in the night time, this novena was for good health, success in work, and being free of adversities or ill-intentioned persons.

 

This novena carried me through tough times back then. Though let’s admit that we sometimes miss out on our catholic obligations, and only remember to pray when we are in need.  

 

Nowadays, I experience more and more obstacles in Life. May it be work or personal, some of these situations are just beyond my control. (Though I am still trying to find a solution for it to be within my control.) But this is where I turn to a higher power. It may not bring the desired results, but I do find peace and comfort whenever I complete my prayers.

So I just want to share the Novena to Saint Pancratius, for it may bring strength and guidance in your daily tasks.

NOVENA TO

SAINT PANCRATIUS

Act of Contrition:

 

 Jesus, my God,
how often have I offended Thee and,
despite my firm promise never to sin again,
how many times have I left Thy sweet company
to follow the path of sin!

Dearest Lord, I am sorry for my past negligences.
I regret this weakness of mine.
I would be ashamed to promise again
that I will not sin were it not for the confidence
I have in Thy love and Thy mercy.

I kneel in Thy presence,
hopeful that despite so many past violations of Thy commandments,
notwithstanding so many failures to correspond with Thy grace,
I can still repent.

I know that there is time to make a new beginning.
With Thy aid I will strive to be faithful to Thee,
with Thy assistance I will do my utmost to serve Thee faithfully - and always.
Do Thou, dear Jesus, help me.

Amen.

 

First Day

Our hearts have been created to love.
It is God Whom you have to love most,
more than all beings,
more than all riches of the world,
and in this way you will avoid many disappointments.
St. Pancratius did it so
and by it he obtained many favors from God.
Ask him fervently for this grace,
you will live peacefully
and will obtain his protection in all your needs.

Prayer for each day to the Blessed Trinity

Prayer to the Eternal Father

I believe, Heavenly Father,
all that Faith teaches,
and in that faith I wish to live and die;
through the intercession of St. Pancratius
grant us good health to fulfill our duties.

Our Father...
Hail Mary...
Glory be...

Prayer to God the Son

O good Jesus,
grant me the virtue of Hope in your promises
in the same measure that St. Pancratius
always trusted in your Providence,
so that I may, through his intercession,
obtain work and success in all my undertakings.

Our Father...
Hail Mary...
Glory be...

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

Grant me the virtue of Charity
that I may love God above all things
and my neighbor for the love of God,
as St. Pancratius did.
Through his intercession
I hope to obtain this grace
and that of being free from adversities
and from ill-intentioned persons.

Our Father...
Hail Mary...
Glory be...

Concluding Prayer:

O glorious St. Pancratius,
I beg thee to obtain for me
all the graces that I need,
but especially health and work,
so that I may appear before thee
to thank God for the favors
I received through your powerful intercession.

Amen.


Second Day

It is the law of God to love our neighbor,
but only in as much as this love does not hinder us from loving God.
St. Pancratius gave us the examples,
thus leading many souls in the right path to heaven.
Let us ask him from the depth of our hearts
to give us the grace to love our neighbors
as ourselves in order to love God better;
in this way we shall obtain many graces
from the glorious St. Pancratius.

(Prayer to the Blessed Trinity as on First Day)

Third Day

St. Pancratius possessed such a kind heart
that he always sympathized with the poor and the unfortunate;
for this reason he obtained so many graces from heaven.
You too, should imitate this virtue and thereby obtain,
through his intercession,
many favors from God.

(Prayer to the Blessed Trinity as on First Day)

Fourth Day

The glorious St. Pancratius not only tried to be good himself
but also strived to lead other souls to heaven,
and for this reason God bestowed on him
such a great power in behalf of those devoted to him.
You too, should try to spread this devotion
and to lead others to heaven.
In this way you will gain many graces,
especially those that you like to receive in this novena.

(Prayer to the Blessed Trinity as on First Day)

Fifth Day

There are many persons in the world who due to human respect,
fail to serve God wholeheartedly.
Be not one of them,
but rather imitate St. Pancratius
in defending always the truth and the good,
for the sake of God.
In this way,
you will obtain all that you need
through the intercession of St. Pancratius
who is always ready to hear your prayer.

(Prayer to the Blessed Trinity as on First Day)

Sixth Day

One of the hardest things for the heart
is to forgive those who have injured us.
Ask St. Pancratius to obtain for you this grace
when someone has offended you,
since he forgave even those who martyred him.
Be sure you will then be more at peace
and will obtain for yourself and for your family
graces that grow more than you can hope for.

(Prayer to the Blessed Trinity as on First Day)

Seventh Day

In this world,
great patience is needed for everything,
for more obstacles always come in our way than we expect.
Imitate St. Pancratius who always conforms his will
to the Holy Will of God,
and thus succeeded in living happily
and becoming a great saint amidst difficulties.
Ask him fervently to help you,
and he will grant you this grace and many others.

(Prayer to the Blessed Trinity as on First Day)

Eighth Day

Just as you treasure the picture of your parents
and other dear persons,
so also should you treasure the image of St. Pancratius,
assured that from heaven above he sees you
as you kneel before his altar.
The greater the fervor with which you do it
the more he will intercede for you before God
that he may grant you the graces you want
to obtain in this novena,
for you as well as for your family.

(Prayer to the Blessed Trinity as on First Day)

Ninth Day

Now that you are ending this novena,
you are encouraged
and you feel a greater desire to love St. Pancratius
and by it to make yourself worthy of attaining heaven
where you will keep his company.
Be sure that he waits for you there,
and you will fulfill your duties faithfully,
leading the life of a good Christian;
and thus obtain his protection for yourself and for your family.

(Prayer to the Blessed Trinity as on First Day)

 

Music Defines my Day (Playlist One)

A very good mentor of mine shared a quote; “You are the books you read, the movies you watch, the music you listen to, the people you spend time with, the conversations you engage in. Choose wisely what you feed your mind."

Well generally for music, I don’t stick to one genre and I do like a lot of different tunes. And yeah, depending on the music that I listen to, it does affect my mood in some way. And most of the time depending on that particular day, I already have a preset playlist to define the day that lies ahead.

Hammered Hardstyle Days

Usually these are my Mondays and Tuesdays where there is a lot of pounding at the start of the week. Especially when you work the graveyard, you gotta keep the energy going like it’s a parteeee. (On some days it’s like a circus though, with clowns, huge elephants and monkeys.) You have that feeling like you want to hammer down on so many things. On some days you simply want to get your blood pumping when getting ready to play a game of hoops, and set that mind and body to inflict pain against your opponents. It’s basically your daily does of Bass-gasmic beats or Hardstyle harmonics.

Top 5 on my Pound your Pain List:

• Tsunami – DVBBS & Borgeous

• Planet E (Dense & Pika Remix) – Tiga

• Showtek vs. Donkey Rollers – Showtek

• Stereophobia – Dark Oscillators

• Dragonfly – Dash Berlin

Chillounge Days

Thursdays tend to be the days where I would almost find the light at the end of the tunnel or close to surviving the jungle I’ve been through. A time to lay back for a moment and catch my breath or heal battle wounds. Or it could be any day where I would just dream that time would move slower so I can just savor the moment of serenity. These are moments where you thank music for completely drowning out all that nonsense noise around you.

Top 5 on my Shush Be Quiet List:

• Warm – SG Lewis

• Ready – Charles Webster

• Flying Away (Sisco Lounge Mix) – Moony

• Together in Electric Dreams – Lali Puna

• Selfish (Chillout Version) - Sunset Daze

Rebooting Elements

It has been 8 months since I last posted anything on my blog, and I didn’t realize how long ago that was.

We get so hung up on so many things, we really tend to miss out or forego on spending time on the things that you really want to do. We try so hard to squeeze in everything in our schedule, but it seems like there isn’t enough time. On some occasions we do these things that we want, to help us take our mind off on other stressful matters. But that too tends to fall off our calendars.

I tired doing a root cause analysis on it, and unfortunately I’d rather not share what has caused this. Some things are best kept to yourself, and you would just have to push the reset button to start things over.

When I started this blog back in May 2009, Elements of Life, I just wanted to share what I have encountered in this lifetime. Everything and anything that is practically under the sun. I am no professional blogger, I have no experience in journalism, I don’t plan to make a career out of it. I simply want to share the things that make me laugh, cry, frustrated, excited, happy, sad, blow my top off, all the emotions that comes after the personal experiences in Life. Because in these personal experiences are some of the Elements that shape our Life.

The past 8 months have really been hectic for me. I seemed to have lost sight of several things. I grind out each day to the limit. You can say that I am at a point where I have exhausted all my energy and is gasping for a recharge. I have probably achieved one characteristic on becoming an astronaut as I have mastered the art of power naps. Because that’s pretty much the kind of sleep time I have nowadays.

There is so much that is expected of you that having to do just one function is not enough. Having to do what is expected is no longer the norm. (When the Norm No Longer Exists) You have to evolve in becoming cross-skilled. Even doing the extra mile, boy, you gotta go farther than one mile; it’s now a cross-country hike. So you see, you get cross-skilled, you do a cross-country, but be careful not to get cross-eyed.

People say to take a step back, take time off, disconnect. Yup, pretty much did that. I even blogged about getting disconnected Disconnect to Reconnect 

So do I need a reboot? (Similar to what I do with my 2007 desktop PC every time things get messed up already and it hangs up on me, I just literally unplug it and boot it up again.) Though it’s about time I should get a new one. This PC is croaking up already, I get notifications that Microsoft will no longer support my platform, Google Chrome will no longer send updates, and I can hear the internal fans also gasping for air.

Well, I can’t buy a new me. So I will have to deal with what me has to offer.

But there are certain Elements of Life that you can probably reboot in order for you to be revitalized. Look at the little things that make you happy. Capitalize on those. It doesn’t even have to be a huge thing because if you have trickles of happiness, it will have a ripple effect. Getting frustrated has no place in this Life, you just don’t have time for negative Elements. That time can very well be spent on something better.

When the Norm no longer Exists

Ever heard of Kodak? Or you probably had a historic Kodak moment that was captured on film? It was the company who pioneered camera film rolls and the first digital camera. They ruled for over a century, where their films were even used in the Apollo space missions. Fast forward to the next century, due to the digital age Kodak stopped selling film cameras in 2004, they knew that things had to change and they quickly switched gears to digital cameras. But a couple of years later, things started to go downhill to the point where they filed for bankruptcy in 2012.

 

So what went wrong? They dominated for 100 years, they adapted to the new age, and yet, it failed.

 

Ever heard of the saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. You have that certain level of complacency that things will be ok since you have been successful with how you do things traditionally or within the norm, that there is really no need to change the way things are or how it is done. You live in that state where you are in a bubble and inside you feel confident that you are protected, but outside, you have forces that can easily burst your domain and everything falls apart. But if you live outside that bubble, you are free to roam and do greater things.

 

We always say to ourselves there is room for improvement, we need to get outside of our comfort zone. But do we actually give space for it? Do we actually step out?

 

Nowadays you have to really be open to anything and be able to adapt by leaps and bounds. How I wish it was as easy as Keanu Reeves’ character in the movie The Matrix, where you can learn Kung-Fu in a matter of seconds. You can’t be stuck with “I’m sorry, this is what I only know”. Wouldn’t it be better if you could say, “Hold on, I will learn how to do it”.

 

Kodak had it going, but they were not doing it at the speed that was in pace with the innovative world we live in. They probably foresaw what was coming and yet they did not act on it immediately, thinking that they were a giant in this world and it would take a lot to take them down. But then again Goliath was dropped with a single stone, and the bigger they are, the harder they fall. So we shouldn’t sit back and wait to see if others act on things, the moment we see a potential risk, we need to quickly assess it and do what is necessary to avoid an epic downfall.

 

Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher quoted, “The only thing that is constant is change.” Everything around us changes every day. Especially in my line of work I always say that each day is a new day since I encounter something different, an out of the ordinary situation that keeps me thinking constantly of solutions on how to deal with these dilemmas. And the moment you stop, either you get caught off guard or get too far behind to ever catch up on things. So we better start learning how to eat change for breakfast.

 

The Norm is a lost land. And you would not want to get stuck in it. Let’s admit that there is part in us that is old fashioned and is at ease when staying within that comfort zone. That we may not need to change our ways in our lifetime if things are ok. But then why settle for ok, when you can do better, and you can do more.

The Gladiator Way

They say that if you are not first, you're last. That championships defines success and excellence. That winning is everything. 

Not entirely true.

There is a lot to be said about the sport of basketball. How this team sport breeds and develops athletes not just physically but mentally. How the sport changes one's perspective in life and work ethic. A sport that unites and inspires others. And I am very grateful to have played basketball for at least a third of my life.

So what's the point if you did not win the championship?

They say that if you are not first, you're last.

True. If there are just two teams competing in that particular league. True. If indeed you are dead last and have not won any games at all. But if you have been in the finals for 3 consecutive years, in reality, I don't consider that being last. It's being competitive. This team climbed from being a 2nd runner up on it's first year, 1st runner up on the 2nd year, and became champions on the next. On our fourth year, after losing our first game, the team never looked back and streaked to the finals. It is unfortunate though that we lost to a better team. 

Take for example the San Antonio Spurs. They never won it each and every year (They've won a total of 5 back in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014), but their competitiveness never waned. Each and every year they won anywhere between 50 to 60 games out of a total 82 games. Would you consider the Spurs to be last?

That championships defines success and excellence, and winning is everything.

Indeed it is great to win them all. But it would be the greatest if you've won authentically and without shortcuts. To some, winning is everything, thus they would recruit talents just for the sake of playing. In the professional leagues, why not. But in a BPO industry; come on.  One thing I am very proud of this team is that the players are TRUE employees doing actual BPO work. 

I will be blunt and harsh on this. Other teams employ half of it's lineup and puts them in a department that needs very minimal office work or none at all. I know because we've done it in my previous employer. And believe me, when we won the championship, the feeling for me wasn't authentic. We took the short route, we guaranteed victory by getting an ex-professional player, collegiate athletes and a couple of amateur league players. For others they even brought in an import.

Really? These guys do BPO work? They go on a graveyard shift? They clock in 9 hours doing actual office duties? Is that defining success and excellence? Sure, sure. 

So how come we have ex-collegiate/amateur players in our roster you say? Let's set the record straight. These guys walked into our doors and applied on their own free will. And I am very proud of these two employee-athletes, who have shown much dedication and commitment, both with the sport and with work.

Rhey Mendoza and Danny Pribhdas for me are an excellent example of an employee-athlete. In the past 3 years these two were the heart and soul of the team. But despite being that, they have been unselfish and as true leaders they trusted and believed in their team mates and helped to make them better.

Rhey used to play for the NU Bulldogs and was named part of the Mythical Five and Danny played for the UST Growling Tigers in the UAAP. How much effort they put into the sport is the same level as to how much they exert their effort at work. Rhey is an OJT (On the Job Trainer) who helps new hires during their training period. Danny is one of our high performing employees and is now assuming an assistant team leader role. Regular night shift hours, high stress levels, and yet they deliver both on the court and on the job.

As captain of the team, Rhey said, "Even if we lost this year, what's important is the winning culture that we have. We will come back stronger and better as always."

Winning may not be everything, but the culture that you instill to breed the right attitude and behavior towards work and play, for me is more important. Never give up and strive harder.

That is what defines success and excellence.

That is the Gladiator Way.

Joys and Pains: Are You Busy, Dad?

"Family is not an important thing...it's everything." - Michael J. Fox

We go through life with much joy and pain, whether alone or with someone, situations and events that we experience on a daily basis, and at the end of the day you are either full of joy or in deep pain.

People often take HR work for granted. Thinking that it is any easy task that all we do is manage cases and do payroll. When in fact HR practitioners stretch their limits to cater to hundreds and even thousands of employees. We give in to almost every demand and have to say yes to each workload. We are selfless and committed. Which made me realize; if I could dedicate my time to each and every business need without much hesitation, looking after thousands of "children" in one site alone and making them happy...what reason is there for me not to do the same or even more for my own kids?

 None.

It pains me that when I'm home and my kids go to me, they would ask me first, are you busy? Are you working? I know I brought this upon myself the moment I decided to bring home my work. But it is inevitable. HR functions 24/7 in the industry that I am in and I chose this profession. It just pains me to tell Kian and Julia, "Sorry, daddy is talking to the office." or "Wait a minute, I'm just doing something on my office computer, let me finish first", where it came to a point that my 4-year old daughter tells me, "Dad, you're always working".

That is why no matter how tired I am after my graveyard shift, every chance I get to bring Kian to school in the morning, I grab it. Because these are moment where I can make up for lost time and no matter how painful the traffic may be, it brings me joy when I have these morning conversations with Kian about how he keeps telling me to buy a tank so we can run over traffic. How he would ask updates from me about his Clash of Clans and Boom Beach. These are games on his iPad, since he cannot use it during school days; so he gave me the task to upgrade his troops and townhall. And when I fail to do so, as any boss would do, I am asked why didn't you do your job. If I can stay up for anything, that definitely includes this.

Julia would often ask if she could watch cartoons in my room. Although it pains me knowing that if I say yes, I wouldn't get any sleep. And it pains to see her face when I do say no. And whenever I do fall asleep she gets irritated and tells me to stop snoring because she can't hear the TV. That is why no matter how many times she wakes me up just to tell me to stop snoring, I don't mind the pain since it brings me much joy to know that she is there not just watching TV, but watching over me.

Some people can debate all day that your work pays for your salary so you should put more focus on your work and not your kids. It is true that your children don't have the financial capability to pay your wages. But the Ultimate Boss, God, gave you these gifts, and you are tasked to take care of them "pro bono". (Try asking God for wages, when He actually paid for our sins.)

A couple of years ago a good friend and neighbor of mine passed away. His father hugged him one last time on the coroner's table. And when the coroner asked him to stop already, he simply asked for more time since he did not get the chance to hug him that much when he was younger because he was busy.

More often than not we make sacrifices for the greater good. We take risks, we push ourselves to live up to our commitments. And no matter how painful it is, physically or mentally, we get the job done. Because the joy that it brings us can never be measured. So the next time my bosses would ask me if I am busy....

"For you kids...Dad is never busy."

When Rules Apply, We Don't Comply

I remember a scene in the movie Devil’s Advocate where Al Pacino’s character was explaining to Keanu Reeves’ character on something about rules and it goes; “Let me give you a little inside information about God. God likes to watch. He's a prankster. Think about it. He gives man instincts. He gives you this extraordinary gift, and then what does He do, I swear for His own amusement, his own private, cosmic gag reel, He sets the rules in opposition. It's the goof of all time. Look but don't touch. Touch, but don't taste. Taste, don't swallow”.

And for some reason, we sometimes touch, we taste, and we swallow.

Or as the late WWE superstar Eddie Guerrero used to say...

I often think, here are Ten Commandments that are written in stone, and yet there are those who commit sin against it. Written in stone. By definition it means it is fixed, it cannot be changed, and you can’t have a workaround for it. If this can happen to something carved unto stone tablets, what more to rules, policies and procedures that are only set on paper.

I’m no saint and I had my small share of rebelliousness. One of them would be during my 1st year in the BPO industry, the IT team for the company I worked for kept raising a concern about me for always enabling the internet connection in my PC, which obviously was not allowed. It came to a point where they escalated me to the Senior Operations Manager already. So one day, he approached me and simply said, “JPP, you have greater things to do than just break rules. Do you think you can do greater things?” He was right. I am not a better or greater person by simply disobeying protocol and showing how cool I am that I can browse the internet during work while others can’t. 

So what drives us not to comply? How difficult is it to follow a simple set of rules?

Take for example this new “No Contact” apprehension policy of the Metro Manila Development Authority. Why should we fear this if we are confident that we are really following the prescribed traffic rules? There are roads signs, and we are pretty much familiar with driving etiquette. But we know that there is this habit within a person where we think that it’s OK to violate the rules because no one is watching, so we go ahead and do it. So it begs the question again, what drives us not to comply?

Is it because others are doing it anyway, so should you? Are we so forgetful that it slips our mind every now and then?

There is such a long list of things that we do that don’t conform to the norm. Whether we feel that following rules is so bureaucratic or much of a hassle, we are in a hurry or trying to cut corners, when we feel that we are the authority and we can do whatever we want so rules don’t apply. Rules, no matter how simple they may be, are there to guide us and remind us of the right thing to do. There are even rules that are not written and are simply part of the natural habitat or environment. People with common sense can easily comprehend to this.  

Other say that when you play by the rules, you get left behind, you lose. My take on it, if I play by the rules so damn well, I can actually bend them without breaking it. As the saying goes, “The pain of discipline is not as great as the pain of regret”.

But I guess there are some idiots who have a high threshold for pain, and can take huge amounts of regret. 

Well, it’s their rebellious life…I have greater things to do.

It's Not All About Skills

“Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them…a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill, and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.” – Muhammad Ali

When friends ask me what I do, it comes as a surprise to them that I am in Human Resources. How did that happen? Being a hot-headed, short tempered teen, an introvert and anti-social young adult; took up Computer studies and landed my first job in the airline industry. It’s just not HR material. And yet, here I am.

When someone questions your ability and skills in getting things done, my simple answer was; 13 years and counting. That’s how long I have been in this profession. It’s true, I may not have the degree in Psychology or Business Management, or whatever pre-HR course there is, and yet, here I am.

When circumstances presents itself and tests your capabilities, it begs the question, are you skilled for this? 

Every time this comes up, I remind myself of the story of Rudy Ruettiger, who played college football in the University of Notre Dame. (His story was made into a movie back in 1993, “Rudy”)

Rudy dreamed of playing football for Notre Dame, but he was never built for football. He didn’t have the size nor the skills for it. But he did have the heart. And in the movie, Coach Parseghian said, “I wish God would put your heart in some of my players’ bodies.” Rudy trained hard more than anyone else in the team, and eventually this earned him a shot at getting a chance to finally play. So on November 8, 1975 against Georgia Tech, Rudy played for the first time, on his senior year and his last game. Rudy only played for a couple of minutes, but in the end he was one of the only two players in Notre Dame history to ever be carried off the field.

Having a degree doesn’t guarantee that you will be 100% successful nor does it ensure that you are hiring the best talent. If the individual does not have the work ethics for it, that degree will be wasted. Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs. What do they have in common? College drop outs. And where are they now? They are visionaries. They built a new age empire. They are PIMPED.

In one of the leadership summits that I attended, they shared with us how one should be PIMPED:

Passionate, Inspired, Motivated, Persevering, Energized, Dedicated.

Hiring someone who is PIMPED but not too skilled has a higher probability of making wonders for your company. Technical skills can always and easily be injected into someone. But getting them PIMPED is exhausting if their behavior is not even up to it. Try hiring someone who is highly skilled, but lacks the will…let me know how that works out.

On the other hand, no matter how daunting the task, no matter how tired I may be, no matter what other people say that I am not skilled for it…

I am PIMPED and I’m gonna RUDY it.

When Everything is Not Enough

I'm pretty sure each and every one of us have already experienced at least once in our life the feeling of exhaustion when you come to a point where you thought and believed that you have done it all and yet you don't succeed; you have given it your all and yet you lose; you have thunk of every solution possible and yet problems still arise; you have devoted most of your daily lives to what you normally do, and yet it still demands more time.

You then ask yourself...wasn't that enough?

Man does has its limits. But we have always pushed ourselves beyond. We knew that doing that extra mile to our customers pays off, and eventually feel fulfilled. We knew that spending those quality time with our family is priceless, and eventually feel blessed. We break the limits because we are not asked to do so, but because we want to.

And this where our problem lies.

I recall the time when I loved playing basketball so much, that I played 4 straight games in one day. The energy and desire was at it's peak. Especially when my first 3 teams lost, and I injured both ankles already, I came into my fourth game still having that drive to play. Not because I had nothing to do that day nor was I asked or paid to win, but because I wanted to win. But in the past 2 years, the wanting and the desire seems to have dropped a notch. Either I no longer look forward to the next game, play sub-par, and sometimes even passes on it.

The same way can be said about our jobs. (It is no longer an expectation but a fact; 100% guaranteed, whether scientifically, socially or professionally proven fact that our jobs have, are, and will always ask for more.) Thus, you have to really want to do your job, otherwise, when you lose that desire and commitment, the exhaustion will now come into play. We have to admit, we sometimes tell ourselves, "What am I complaining about when I know this is what I do. This is what my profession requires of me and even if it is not part of what I normally do, I know that my contract states that I may be tasked to do work that is beyond my job description."

And so that is where our fault is evident.

A good mentor of mine once said, "We can't just sit around and say, that ain't my job. If you see that something is wrong, call it out. Or better yet, if you know how to fix it, then make it happen." Which makes a really good point. We all work in one company and is geared toward common goals, so even if it is not part of our job description, if you really want to help the company succeed, you would want to make things happen.

Make it Happen.

That really stuck to me for the past 2 months. To be given that empowerment to see things in a different perspective and make changes to benefit the organization. Look at it this way, instead of treating demands and requests to do things outside your scope as added work, why not view it as people seeking your expertise and execution on the problems they encounter. You are a subject matter expert, you are a role model, you can make it happen.

There is also no question when it comes to your family. You just have to give it your all. And I am sure we always end up giving everything and more. Because for me, family is everything.

Indeed everything you do may not be enough, because the things that happen in our lives never stops. So for 2016 and beyond, instead of feeling exhausted, we should feel invigorated and make things happen.

A Dose of Sense: Motorcycle Madness

On certain days we encounter situations that makes us think…what just happened? Or we come across individuals that makes us wonder…what were you thinking? When things tend to get complicated, we often over-think the situation, not knowing that the solution sometimes…is plainly common sense. 

Diagnosis: Motorcycle Madness

Notes:

Patient may be suffering from the worst stage of motorcycle madness which is categorized as the Deadly Evel Knievel – Hallucinating Enhanced Disease; or for short DEK-HED.

These motorcycle riding DEKHEDs feel they are invincible. Nothing can stop them including incoming traffic when they counter-flow, enter one-way streets and cross intersections with total disregard to safety.
 

These DEKHEDs weave through traffic as if they have ingested some sort of hallucinogens, which they think gives them unnatural power to squeeze through any tight spot.

These DEKHEDs also have deficiencies with color association. Even when the light shows red which means stop, all they see is green.

Further Evaluation and Medication:

Please help me understand how a DEKHED like you had this belief that you have that powerful privilege of violating common road rules. What authoritative agency gave you the right to create your own lane aside from the usual motorcycle lane?

Patient is delusional. The DEKHED firmly believes that Yamaha hired him to compete in the MotoGP. Honestly, who are you trying to impress by doing 80 to a 100 KPH on a side road?

You are not indestructible. But if you have a knack for getting yourself busted wide open, try applying as a crash test dummy for some car manufacturer. This way, they would have more realistic results.

Don’t be a DEKHED.

It’s just common sense. But you’re not common…you’re special.

A Dose of Sense: AWOL Disease

On certain days we encounter situations that makes us think…what just happened? Or we come across individuals that makes us wonder…what were you thinking? When things tend to get complicated, we often over-think the situation, not knowing that the solution sometimes…is plainly common sense. 

Diagnosis: AWOL Disease

Notes:
Absence without Official Leave. or A.K.A. the David Copperfield Persona. The sudden disappearance of an individual from the plane of reality. Now, if only the Company had some special set of skills...

The company where this individual works will now experience the RKO effect. Patterned after the popularly known signature move of WWE wrestling sensation Randy Orton. Because the AWOL comes “out of nowhere!!!”

Patient's most common symptoms for not calling in:
No cellphone signal or load
No Landline
Forgot to wake up

Further Evaluation and Medication:

How incapacitated were you, for you not to call in? And yet, you were able to post a selfie, tweet a rant, update your Facebook status, joined a clan and started a war in COC.

You decided to work for a living, and yet you don’t have that level of professionalism to simply advise the company that you no longer wish to continue. The resignation letter is just a piece of paper, it’s not as if you’re asked to write this on stone tablets, right?

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand the common courtesy of simply telling the company that all good things come to an end and that there is no forever. 

It’s just common sense. But you’re not common…you’re special.

So take your Dose of Sense.

HR – The Company Concierge

I’ve always loved the movie “For Love or Money” where Michael J. Fox stars as a hotel concierge who has this dream of building his own hotel. He then falls in love with Gabrielle Anwar’s character and was later in a situation to choose whether to fulfill his dream of having his own hotel or giving it up for true love.

Aside from the plot of the story, I was more intrigued by the role of MJF as a hotel concierge. How he was loved by his hotel guests for being able to pull off even the most outrageous requests. How he has so many connections, able to get courtside tickets, best restaurant seats, etc. Pretty much, anything and everything that a person can ask for while they are guests at the hotel.

This is how I feel right now about my job in HR; like a hotel concierge.

It is no longer the traditional HR that simply handles payroll & benefits, data and case management, or employee relations. The HR role now delves deeper into business optimization and financials. Gone were the days where I would only worry about case evidences, ensuring people get paid on time and what activity to launch. HR now focuses on lowering operations’ attrition, brainstorming on how to increase revenue, analyzing how other business units can perform better, basically almost every detail in ensuring that the company runs smoothly.

And believe it or not, I have accepted this role without hesitation and regret.

In addition to being a company concierge, you can add an M.D. to that. Well, not that an HR personnel is a medical doctor, but in terms of being “on call” and trying to heal the wounds, you’re pretty much on the same wavelength. For urgent matters of the life of a business unit, for consultations, “ask and you shall be responded to”, daytime, noon, and night, my clock does not stop. Some would ask, don’t you have a choice? For me, it’s not that I don’t have a choice, but I made it my only choice to make myself available. At the onset, I totally planned to bring this upon myself. Why?

Because like I always say, when something goes wrong, at the end of the day, more often than not, it always falls unto to HR to find out what happened, and how to get it fixed. (So this is how President Aquino feels. He gets blamed for everything and is expected to fix everything. I feel you dawg. I feel you.) I want to be on top of things, I don’t want to be caught off-guard. Because you never know who will be holding a knife, stabbing you in the back or probably portraying as Hansel and Gretel’s witch hunters looking for faults and errors.

The role requires that you have this “I get it, I got it, it’s done” attitude. It’s like you are a hostage negotiator. You are not allowed to say no, never, it can’t happen. You will always, always respond, “I will see what I can do.” You will get requests that seem out of your jurisdiction, but as a concierge, you use everything at your disposal to get what the customer wants. (It’s like grabbing a magic lamp and comes out an HR Genie to grant your wishes.)

The Company Concierge M.D. does have its pros. You are well rounded, well informed, people can’t live without you, and you are the first person that comes to their minds with pretty much anything when things get messy. The sense of fulfillment is priceless. The satisfaction you give to your customers is equally priceless.

But on the flip side of this role is the way that my children now see me. It almost drove me to tears when my 5-year old son asked me one day, “Dad, why are you always at the office?” I simply responded, “Dad works so he can buy you all the toys that you want.” And his only reply was, “Dad, I don’t like toys anymore, will you stop working?”

I really try to balance work with the life that I want to live. I want to be able to tutor my kids with their homework, I want to spend the weekends with them uninterrupted; but I no longer yearn to be able to watch the DVDs I bought that are still unpacked, read the E-comics that I have downloaded, and play the hobbies that bring happiness to me. Because whatever free time I have, it’s no longer about me, It’s about making my customers at home happy, it’s about the 5-year old kid who is willing to give up his toys so I could be at home with him.

So it begs the question now, as an HR Company Concierge M.D., do I do it for love…or for money?

You're A Leader: Act Like One

Not too long ago, I came across a story that really annoyed me;

 

After being tasked to accomplish a project on short notice, this leader was told the good news that they met the deadline and that we should thank the team who completed it. And the epic response…”Why should I thank them for doing their jobs.”

 

I had to actually pause for a moment…

 

The leader said what?

 

So it was not in this leader’s nature to say, job well done, appreciate the help, good to hear that, or simply…thank you? It’s not really the most difficult phrase in this world. Is it? It’s not as if this leader was being asked to say it in other languages; Xie Xie, Merci, Danke, Grazie, Ariga tou gozai mas, Muchas Gracias, or we would have settled in our very own dialect, Salamat.

 

There are many interpretations and traits of what a good leader is; leading by example, showing the way, nurturing others to become leaders, decisiveness, integrity, humility, just to name a few. And it was General Douglas MacArthur who claimed that, “A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent.”

 

Even though the general was a tough S.O.B., he knew about compassion and equality among ranks and how it affects the morale of his troops.

 

Employees are not robots; so as leaders, it’s not about pushing the right buttons, it’s about getting to know the people that actually run the business and ensuring that they remain happy working with the company. In my opinion, the simple gesture of recognizing the efforts of employees can already boost their morale. (It does not even entail any operation cost.) Letting people know that they are indeed doing good in their jobs and thanking them for doing so, will encourage them to be more efficient and eager to take more responsibilities. This is already a primer in breeding future leaders.

 

(If leaders are arrogant, disrespectful and condescending, and instills fear among the ranks, what kind of culture would that company have? What type of leaders would rise through these ranks? This particular leader should probably watch the Godfather, in order to understand that Respect is earned not given.)

 

So going back to the story, even if the task given was part of this team’s job description, I am totally lost as to where this leader’s compassion compass is pointing or maybe this leader’s gratitude GPS has a connection error.

(Get your bearings straight comrade.)

 

And to answer the question, why should you thank people for doing their jobs?

 

Let me ask you this, if they don’t do it…will you?

 

 

Thank you Great Leader

 

 

Elements Bits: Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol

 

Cast:

 

Tom Cruise - Ethan Hunt

Jeremy Renner – William Brandt

Michael Nyqvist - Kurt Hendricks

Paula Patton - Jane Carter

Lea Seydoux - Sabine Moreau

 

A plan to bolt out Ethan from a Russian jail only means that things are worse outside prison, and the IMF needs him badly to complete a mission.

 

When an IMF agent was assassinated while intercepting a classified file from a courier, its now Ethan’s mission to retrieve the file and locate an extremist named Cobalt, as this is considered a top priority, since the file contains Russian nuclear launch codes. But to find Cobalt they need his personal file which is stored inside the Kremlin. But when the mission suspiciously failed and the Kremlin is devasted by a bomb, the US president initiated Ghost Protocol and has disavowed the whole IMF Team.

 

It is now Ethan’s mission to travel the world and find out who set them up and ensure that the launch codes are not used to start a nuclear war.

 

-----------------------

 

Elements Bits number 1:

 

Not all things are what they seem to be. More often than not, intentions have hidden agendas or coincidentally a blessing in disguise. I’m a very gullible person, and I tend to give my trust too much and too often. When faced with a situation, we must remind ourselves of Murphy’s Law, which we must anticipate that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Either you’re prepared for it, or you have an effective recovery plan. (When Things Go Wrong - Blame Murphy’s Law)

 

----------------------

 

Memorable Quotes:

 

Ethan: "You mind telling me why you broke me out?"

Jane: "This wasn't a rescue mission?"

Ethan: "Let me put it this way. If the Secretary wanted me out of there, it must be pretty bad out here."

 

---------------------

 

Sabine: "How good is your backup?"

William: "The best."
Sabine: "I've killed the best."

 

 

Babe Battle

 

Lea Seydoux vs Paula Patton

Elements Bits: The Divide

Cast:

Mickey - Michael Biehn
Eva – Lauren German

New York City has been struck by several nuclear missiles, and nine strangers were able to seek refuge in a basement of an apartment building. Days have passed and what they thought was a rescue team, turns out to be a retrieval unit that took into custody a little girl from the group.

The group then manages to fight of the remaining soldiers, and was able to intercept a radio message about completing the sweep of the city. They then decide to use one of the hazard suits of the soldiers to find out what’s happening on the surface. What you would expect in a holocaust are friendly soldiers helping out, but in retaliation, the soldiers kept them in solitary and welded shut the basement entrance.

Now the group has nowhere else to go and the worst that can happen now is that they turn against each other and it has now become a survival of the fittest.

---------------------------

Elements Bits number 1:

Reaching our breaking point. What do we do when we suddenly snap? When one reaches its threshold, some actions tend to be reckless, ill-advised or generally evil. One who is not prepared for the worst normally breaks and is unable to maintain its composure. Of course I will not say that when the end of days would come, I will be able to cope with it easily. I will surely panic; but the crucial thing would be how I will manage to recover and make a just decision with a clear conscience moving forward.

Elements Bits number 2:

Taking from the context of the movie Batman the Dark Knight, would you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain? If we are talking survival, would you sacrifice yourself for the others to survive? Doesn’t necessarily mean that you will sacrifice your life, but are you willing to do whatever it takes if it meant saving others.

-----------------------------

Psychopathy Checklist

To determine if one is a psychopath, a checklist is used to rate an individual in several facets and factors that may contribute to this behaviour. These are scored on a rating of zero to 2. Zero being not evident, 1 being if there are partial symptoms, and 2 if it perfectly matches the individual. Out of the 20 items, if the individual scores 30 to 40, they may be already considers as psychopaths. Dare to take the test?

Below are the 20 items that are in the checklist,

according to the Hare Psychopathy Checklist – Revised. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hare_Psychopathy_Checklist)

 

Interpersonal:

Glibness/superficial charm

Grandiose sense of self-worth

Pathological lying

Cunning/manipulative

 

Affective:

Lack of remorse or guilt

Emotionally shallow

Callous/lack of empathy

Failure to accept responsibility for own actions

 

Lifestyle:

Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom

Parasitic lifestyle

Lack of realistic, long-term goals

Impulsiveness

Irresponsibility

 

Anti-Social:

Poor behavioral controls

Early behavioral problems

Juvenile delinquency

Revocation of conditional release

Criminal versatility

 

Others:

Many short-term marital relationships

Promiscuous sexual behavior

Drawing the Line

Do you sometimes question yourself, how much is enough? When you are like me who hardly says no, where do you draw that line and say, I can’t do this anymore.

In our universe, there seems to be a limit to everything. No matter how boundless one thing seems, it has to end somewhere, somehow and sometime soon. We’ve heard most of it already, “we can’t live forever”, “I’ve had it up to here.”, “the fat lady has sung.” and you simply “ran out of luck.” I’m pretty sure each and every one of knows someone who can push it and yet still, there is a limit. (Or you are being pushed beyond your free will. I hope not.)

There are several things that no matter how hard you want to keep going, you can’t simply move on with it; whether the body or mind is no longer willing, or there is just too much conflict, resistance and hate, that compels you to simply put a stop to things.

For me, one of these things would be…Work.

The challenge in my profession is that, your problem is my problem, and I am tasked to resolve it. In my personal opinion, HR is perceived to be like the walking, talking, Book of Answers, a 24-hour convenience store and the ultimate house cleaner. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job. Every day I learn something new. On some days, the tasks are quite daunting, but achievable…if given the time.

On being the Book of Answers; I greatly appreciate it when people come up to HR and seek counsel. There is that level of fulfillment when the employee walks away satisfied with your answers, knowing that you have helped them resolve their issues. It feels good that HR practitioners are often dubbed as a shoulder to cry on, defender of the oppressed and a provider of resolution. But the one perception that I would like to change and I do admit, is that HR is not an omnipotent oracle that knows everything. (Well how I wish I had these powers as I shared in my other article, I’m no Superhero.)

In fact, as Albert Einstein said, “The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Being in HR is also a test of endurance. There are some beliefs that HR never closes. (Or maybe HR practitioners are like doctors, who should be on call 24/7…but do we dare ask if the matters are that of life and death?) Nowadays, I’m lucky if I get any sleep for 3 straight hours during the work week. Calls and messages comes in almost every 30 minutes. But I think of it this way though, as one mentor put it:

• It is better that people reach out to you rather than not;
• But you must take heed because it could mean that if they continuously reach out to you because no resolution or action has been done, then you may deemed neglectful. Or if they don’t reach out to you at all, it could mean you have no credibility.

Now the real trials of the job are cleaning up the mess of others or getting things organized. Thus, being the ultimate house cleaner. Yes, I understand that we all live under the same roof and we all have our own roles and you have the heads of the family take lead, but maybe some residents should take accountability and own up. Or better yet, at the onset, get things organized. Again, I hardly say no and will offer whatever help I can; it’s my nature and not just the profession. But it does get quite irritating though when some say that, “we did something wrong, you have to fix this right now.” As if I have a magic wand and could simply chant bibbidi-bobbidi-boo.

Unfortunately I can’t just pick up a chalk and draw that line in front of me, as I have to accept the fact that this is indeed the nature of my work, and I signed up for it 11 years ago.

Taking cue from a Nike commercial...So maybe I brought this upon myself for not learning to say No. Maybe it was my fault for making myself very accessible and available for each and every need. Maybe it was not a good decision on my part to intervene in every little incident. Maybe it was my eagerness to prove my worth?

 

Or maybe, just maybe…as Michael Jordan put it…”Maybe you’re just making excuses.”

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.

When Things Go Wrong – blame Murphy’s Law

“Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.”

 

Don’t you just hate it when things happen when least expected. When you don’t see things coming your way and you're caught off-guard, and frustration kicks in because you have to start all over again. Understand that no matter how perfectly planned things are, sooner or later, something will go wrong.

 

I couldn’t really find an accurate validation as to whoever Murphy’s Law is attributed to. I tried researching it on the Net, and it had various associations to different individuals. But the common ground is that these folks had their own experiences of things going badly.

 

In my job in Human Resources, I keep reminding myself of Murphy’s Law. Especially when things seem so calm, I am never complacent that nothing wrong will happen. Because I condition my mind that everyday, something wrong is going to happen. And I am not being a pessimist; its not like I view things negatively, but more of me doing mental exercises of the probabilities of the different types of errors and what contingencies or preventive measures I should employ.

 

Being an HR practitioner we would like to keep a good record under our belts on having no or low counts of labor cases. But just recently I received a call from my previous employer asking about a particular case I handled, where the employee was terminated and we had it well documented and he was proven liable for it. But three years later, the employee filed a case. So what went wrong? I never even expected that this person would still pursue this after 3 years.

 

When dealing with employees, you really have to take into account their behaviour and current disposition. Which can be highly subjective, but nevertheless you have to put those into the equation if you are to anticipate what intentions these employees have down the line.

 

I’d also like to believe that in handling a particular situation, there are several ways of doing it to achieve the same results, the variance would be the number of errors that I will encounter, and that I must foresee and manage my expectations that no matter how small the chances of this error happening to mess things up, I should still be prepared for it. It doesn’t even matter if it’s caused by something that is not of this world, it can still contribute to things that may eventually go wrong.

 

So is this something inevitable? That there is no way of not committing an error? 

 

Take for example a commercial airline where we the consumers would expect that it is 100% safe. But in reality, their Six Sigma confidence level is at 99.99967%, which means there is still a 0.0000163% probability that something bad can happen. (Let’s hope not) But even they expect with a fraction of a chance that something can still go wrong. In other words, when somebody asks us, are we 100% sure, we say 99.99967% sure. 

 

We just have to accept the fact that we don’t live in a perfect world. That anything and everything may go wrong. It’s probably just a matter of time as to when will it go wrong. It may be a daily test for us, on how we react and deal with the situations. 

 

For me, Perfection is an illusion;

and in Michael J. Fox’s words…”Perfection is God’s business.” 

 

So when things go wrong, don’t blame God…blame Murphy’s Law.