I just browsed through an anecdote which was thought reflecting.

Two friends agreed to meet at the railway station at 9:30. It was well half past ten, so the friend called up his colleague and asked, ” Where are you?”

The colleague answered, ” I am here on the railway station. But I think the railway station is lost and could not find me.”

We all have various end goals or objectives, but this is oftentimes vague. And when we don’t hit our goals or objectives, we feel that we are ok - it was our end goals that is ‘lost’ or ‘need to be redefined.’ But whether who is lost, the important thing is that you are not meeting your goals, and there is no joke that in the world that can make pretend that you succeeded.

This month has been a really busy month. It is Cebu Business Month! for which I was asked by the chamber of commerce to be chairman organize a series of over 20 events. The highlight of these events is the InTourPreneur Expo, a three day event that is a conference, exhibit and a jobs/livelihood fair. This is one of the main reasons I have not been blogging as much ( well, actually, I am , because I made a different blog of the event, and posted over 100 articles), and one day before it hits, these are my thoughts.
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My, it has become a big big event, much bigger than we ever thought. This three day event has grown and grown. As I said, when we started out the word InTourPreneur, it was not a known word. Now, it garners over a thousand hits in Yahoo and Google.

The statistics are staggering — 9 full day tracks, 5 sponsored tracks, with over 160 speakers. The Exhibition covers over 3,500 square meters with over 170 exhibitors, including 40 towns and cities of Cebu. Towns and schools are arranging for cultural presentations on the grand ballroom stage, and over the next three days, over 1,000 dancers and singers are estimated to perform onstage. All over the hotel, over 90 computers are being prepared and networked. Over 120 local and national media from radio, tv and print are covering the event. We are putting on over 70 people all over ( not including the hotel’s) to insure all things will be as smooth as we want.

The size of the event virtually insures some things will not go as expected. But we are doing what we can that it will be manageable. It was a fun job. It was a great job. It was a really tough job. You make hundreds of decisions, and many can be unpopular. You try to make the right call, but you still end up displeasing people. As the event gets bigger, more people want to be accommodated, and you start to look at what is the right factors to weigh when you make the call.

It was a different set of responsibilities than i am used to my regular business. It was a learning experience handling the project. You get the opportunities to work with a lot of people you barely knew a few days before. I will share more in future posts.

Whatever it is, it has been great fun! I wouldn’t want to do it again, but doing it one time at least ihas been an exhilirating experience.

The other day, I received a comment that I looked younger than my years.  Ok, so that was flattery, but it did made me looked into the mirror twice.  But let us assume for once that it is true, and that set off a lot of wishful thinking and thoughts….

  I have had a backbreaking schedule since as long as I can remember.  For the last 20 years, I reckon I have worked 75 hour weeks on average. I don’t take a lot of break and can hardly remember more than 2 or 3 days when I was totally disengaged from the business.  I eat too much for my own good, and I exercise too little.  I read too much ( that makes me a couch potato too!) and I spend too much time in front of the computer. 

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One of life’s luxuries I hope I can be able to afford in the future, currently only knowingly practiced by the world’s richest man, is the Think Week.

Twice a year, for one week, Bill Gates goes into a secluded site for his bi-annual think week.  This is the time, which he purportedly spends 18 hour days just reading and thinking about the latest technologies, and what he feels Microsoft should ponder in the future.

Nobody is allowed to be there, not employees, not family, not anybody except a person who discreetly brings him a simple meal twice a day.  During this time, he would pour on hundreds of white papers, submitted by people from Microsoft and others, on what are the technologies that matter, and where Microsoft should go.

I think this is a great great idea.  Sometimes, we need complete silence to think deep, and listen to ourselves, and put in full concentration on things.  Or maybe it is a good idea not even to wait that long. I know some people who give themselves a few minutes a day to go deep and momentarily forget what are the business issue at hand, and do the crossword puzzle.  It is also said that Bill Gates ocassionally gives himself a few minutes of distraction to solve an online bridge problem.

It is said that Bill Gates famous paper on the Internet Tidal Wave in 1995, or the initiatives to go online video game, to do secure computing, or the tablet PC all came from this think week.

Now if he can afford that, why can’t we?  If he is so busy that he has to manage the world’s largest software company, with over 60,000 employees and can give himself a week, why can’t I? 

Here is a story that gives a good reflection on life and management.

“My six year old constantly demands my attention when I a most busy. I always tell him, ” hey, I’m busy right now. Go ask your mother.”

The disappointed look on his face made me resolved that I need to respond better the next time he asks. I need to give him more attention, I told myself. One day, I was climbing the top of our two-storied house, ready to paint. As I was about to start, I heard him call, ” Daddy, daddy.”
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