“Your attitude, not your
aptitude, will determine your altitude.” -Zig
Ziglar
Why do we need to
have goals in life? Why do we need positive affirmations or life changing
thoughts in order to focus on our goals? These are just some of the questions
that are running into my head and it is only logical to seriously think about
these things.
It is really
imperative that at any stage in your life to have a solid plan to be able to
meet the realization of your aspirations.
Sadly for me, I
haven’t really seriously thought of devising a plan to push my dreams into
realization. Considering my age, I just plan for the day and go with the flow
on a daily basis. Am I doing the right thing?
BUT, when I heard
that Jonathan Yabut (the first Apprentice Asia winner) is the featured speaker
for the Sun Life Live Brighter session, I immediately felt the rush- fan mode
on and sheer enthusiasm to finally meet him face to face.
Yes, what can I say-
I am a huge fan of The Apprentice and Jonathan Yabut. The way he handled
himself during the reality show was kinda cool but I could sense that his mere
coolness was just part of the grandiose character that he has and that sets him
apart from the rest.
May
24, at the A-Space Makati, the Sun Life Live Brighter Session
took off where aspiring Sun Life financial advisors, millennials and invited
bloggers are present. This event aims to target and inspire young people to
live brighter and to plan ahead for the future. Speakers for this event are
Apprentice Asia winner Jonathan Yabut, JP Cruz, a Sun Lfe Financial Advisor and
Fin Bernardo- Sun Life Financial Recruitment Manager.
Jonathan Yabut is
the first winner of Apprentice Asia, a reality show that centers around the
search for the most promising CEO or future business magnate. Jonathan hails
from a small town in Aklan and his humble beginnings as well as struggles
propelled him to take positive actions that will ensure him to live a brighter
future and that’s what he did. He is now an in demand motivational speaker and
a successful entrepreneur.
Jonathan
Yabut at the Sun Life Live Brighter Session
I am so excited to
listen to Jonathan and so ready to chew and digest the valuable life hacks that
he’s about to share. I admit that I’ve never been so attentive at any event but
this live brighter session is a great opportunity to find motivation and
insights towards a secured future. Jonathan Yabut selflessly shares the lessons
he learned from the Apprentice Asia.
Jonathan
Yabut’s definition of success-
“Success is when
preparation meets opportunity”
(a quote from
Seneca)
He said that there
are two things- the predictable and the
unpredictable things, and humanity does not like unpredictability.
Jonathan
thinks that a lot of unpredictable
things in life are bad or just sad but there are unpredictable things that
turn out to be positive such as opportunities that come only once in your life.
What Seneca meant with his quote that people must always be prepared to any opportunity that might come since this will be
instrumental in turning one’s life around.
Jonathan Yabut
eagerly shares that he has prepared so much for Apprentice Asia by watching all
episodes and by even pretending to be one of the contestants answering
questions and creating scenarios in his head. At 17, he already envisioned
himself that one day he will make it to Apprentice and eventually win. So he
did. He prepared himself psychologically even if he is not sure that there will
be an Asian version of The Apprentice.
So what
makes Jonathan Yabut the winner of Apprentice Asia? The answer is simple- it is not because he is
the smartest but he won because he was the most
prepared contestant in the show. This is how he described his victory- why he is
declared as the big winner.
Jonathan was being honest
in saying that he hardly knew who Apprentice Asia big boss Tony Fernandes is-
that in the Philippines people were clueless about the guy. So what he did was
stalked him on social media and studied his character from his talks and TV
appearances.
Jonathan took note that Mr. Fernandes used the words ‘youth and accountability’ and ‘leadership and passion’ in his speeches.
For Jonathan, these are the characteristics that Fernandes are looking for in
his apprentice. When he joined the reality search Jonathan admits that he has
to prove himself and embody these qualities to ensure him a good chance of
winning Apprentice Asia.
Apply the cooking concept of “Mise En Place”
Mise en place is
a French culinary phrase which means "putting in place" or
"everything in its place." It refers to preparing everything ahead of
time prior to cooking.
Joathan Yabut
aspired to take culinary arts and so he did two years ago. He learned about the
value of this French phrase and apply it on practical situations in life which
is to execute
actions at the right timing.
His biggest pet peeve about working
people in the corporate world is that they wish they had zero inbox and will
brag at around 10 am that they accomplished the zero inbox goal.
The thing about
this is if you ask them if they made money today- the usual answer is no. Why?
Because there is a big difference between being busy
and being productive. This is where the concept of ‘mison en place’
comes in. It is the ability to identify the things that are needed to be
prioritized and focus on these.
Successful people
plan ahead, they strategized before attacking the battlefield thus the concept
of ‘mise en place’ comes into action.
You don’t need to say yes to every opportunity, success means
knowing why and when you should say no to someone or something.
Humanity and
science agreed that we cannot accomplish many things at the same time. Science
suggested that we are capable of multi-tasking only on 3 things at a time. We
should practice the art of filtering- successful
people have courage to say no to things even if they are important. “For every 100 opportunity presented to me I decline to 99 of
them and only focus on one big thing and make a name out of it” says
Warren Buffet.
Spreading too much
of yourself to many things will wear you out. You want to be good at one thing and be an expert.
Like Apple concentrated on one thing- the IOS and perfected it.
The
ability to say no allows a person to be good at one thing.
It is not about the many things that one can accomplish it’s more about the
quality of how things were done. Smaller things can only destruct you from the bigger things
that you need to accomplish.
Jonathan cited the
case of Delta Airlines where the management decided to forego of the lettuce on
their food. The lettuces are often left uneaten and ended on trash bins. They threw it out and in one year saved 1.4 M US dollars. Lesson- many people keep unnecessary lettuce in their life that they
thought were important but they really have to let it go. LET IT GO- for heaven's sake!!!
JONATHAN YABUT asks- Do you have some lettuce and identify what
it is that you think you can let go? (It could be someone or something that
stops you from reaching your goal)
Remember for every ‘no’ that you say it gains you a ‘yes’ to something else.
And that YES can be something that will truly propel you towards success.
In order to stand out you need to stand back.
Success is about
personal leadership. Jonathan imparts that being able to influence someone to
get that job done even if that person does not like you or his job means effective leadership.
Scientifically
it was proven that the great leaders are those who sustained themselves in the
long run because they put the interest of their people at heart. The leaders who
last are the leaders who also eat last.
Alex (one of
Apprentice Asia contender) questioned him why he did not volunteered to be a
project manager- he reasoned that there is a person that can do better than him
in that particular scenario. So he stepped back and let that other person
shine because real
leadership is to make more leaders out of others and when you are a leader it
is no longer about you but about the people you serve.
It’s not about working hard but working smart.
Jonathan Yabut
shares- “I hate people who goes to the
office at 7am leaves at 11pm believing that they are the best employee.” Working
smart is learning how to effectively use technology, delegate task, or decide
not to do it all. At the end of the day, you’ve got more time to relax and be
with your family or friends.
Jonathan Yabut also
shares that- The winner of the show is not the most intelligent guy- the winner
is the guy who has the most nutritious breakfast, most amount of sleep and
stamina.
He even admitted that he gets some artificial energy from Extra Joss! Haha..he
was high on caffeine and ready for the challenge at the Apprentice Asia. I am
amazed how honest Jonathan is on sharing his lessons and vital tips on winning
the apprentice asia- he is indeed one smart freaking guy who is ahead of his
competition! Simply brilliant.
Zoom out first before zooming in.
Access the
situation- look for better ways to improve things and work efficiently.
Jonathan Yabut said that people who use Mozilla /Chrome browsers were challenging
the default-installed software since they know that there is something better. Successful people are never contented with one-time victories.
They are looking out for something that can be better.
Success is democratically out there for everyone.
Success
is determined by grit. IQ (some level of
intelligence) + EQ + beauty/good looks + fitness + wealth= SUCCESS.
According
to Harvard studies (science of body language) it was suggested that successful
American CEOs average height is 6’2” which is a factor in looking good. Therefore, being able
to present yourself in a manner that is deemed attractive physically is a big contributing
factor to success. So always stand up straight and look confident.
People who are successful
in life know exactly the value of grit. According to author and psychologist Angela
Duckworth- grit is passion, perseverance combined to achieve a long term goal. The
idea of grit is that after every failure you get up dust yourself off and get
things done.
“Para ba kanino ka bumabangon tuwing umaga?”
Jonathan Yabut asks the audience (yah including me) - borrowing the famous phrase
from Nescafe. Then he said- if you
cannot answer the question you have no right to complain about life because you
are not inspire to do things because you really don’t know what you really want
to do in life. (OUCH!)
“Successful
people are gritty enough to believe that in spite of so many failures in life
they get it done. It is your duty and responsibility to inspire yourself every
day and discover what that grit is.”
Execution of things
or doing things better than anyone else will set you apart. There is no need to
be super intelligent to get things done more efficiently. Consistency to
execute actions better matters more than intelligence, talent or skills and not
be complacent at things.
The Growth Mindset theory- since the ability to learn is not fixed.
Practicing growth mindset theory is what successful people apply to any
challenge in life. As the saying goes- “the same boiling water that softens the potato hardens the
egg. The same fire that melts the butter toughens steel.” It
is rather how you react in every situation, which for every failure there is
always something to learn.
Never say- you can’t
or you won’t but instead say ALMOST GOT IT. It
is always a NEAR WIN not failure since you are
confident that it’s not yet time or you have to exert more effort into your
goal before finally achieving it.
Talk about brain
power- Did you know that neurons could expand and that our brain is capable of processing
more complex information regardless of age?
Our brain keeps on growing and the
amount of knowledge is virtually limitless. So we must make use of this
tremendous natural human ability to our utmost advantage. Like in every failure
we humans can turn these unfortunate events to opportunities to learn- right?
Jonathan Yabut also
reminded us the “failure is not permanent
but a necessary evil for you to succeed in life. That makes gritty people not
settling for anything less.”
Growth mindset vs
Fix mindset- failure is a near win… since you know you are getting something
out of it.
Successful companies
give back to the society- sharing it with anyone else means success. A business
should have social purpose or mission to be truly successful this is one grit
needed to have fulfillment in life.
Jonathan shared a Zig
Ziglar quote “if you feel intimidated that a lot
of people are ahead of you in a race -please don’t be because you create your own
race and your own finish line”.
So you don’t need to be
great to start but it all starts with day one. This is when most people fail
because their day one gets extended to day 1002 and they don’t end up doing anything
else. You have to START NOW!! So that’s
when you start to become GREAT!
 |
| Selfie time with The Apprentice Asia winner Jonathan Yabut- fan mode on- just happy to see him. |
The Sun Life Live
Brighter with Jonathan Yabut was a phenomenal experience. It has taught
me so much about living and moving forward.
The session with Apprentice
Asia winner Jonathan Yabut is life changing for me. The things he shared
including the life hacks he gladly imparted are very logical and outright
applicable. I will do my best to always remember his words and take it by
heart.
Sun Life Philippines
is very active with their Financial Literacy advocacy. Through the Live
Brighter sessions, attendees are given knowledge that will equip them for life.
Practical lessons from these talks and events are valuable in securing our own
stability whether financial or personal.
No one said life is
easy because it isn’t. However, when you turn failure into opportunity then it
would work into your advantage. As they say when life throws you lemons, make
lemonade out of it. It is really how you react to any situation that will give
you the outcome you’ll want. Timing is also crucial and the time to be great is NOW!!!
Get
to know more about Sun Life Philippines and start to LIVE BRIGHTER by visiting
their website: http://www.sunlife.com.ph/philippines
or like and follow SUN LIFE on Facebook
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