Life Lessons I learned in 2011

As the year comes to an end, its great to take a little time to look back and ponder on what you can take from what happened this year, 2011, and use it as a charge for 2012. I came up with a little list of life lessons that I believe helped me this year and will help me next year.

1. It's all about Grace.

This year has been an amazing year for me: I met new friends, lost some 'friends', got promoted, failed, got married, and etc. But I can honestly say that everything that happened is always a display of God's favor to me. It's really hard to explain so I would like to lead you to my other blog: www.restfulincrease.org so you can read more about my journey in God's Grace.

2. Travel.

This year I've traveled outside the Philippines more than I've traveled in the past. I used to just love staying home and just be in my comfort zone but this year I discovered something really amazing about travel - it makes you a better person.:) Traveling to other countries expands your understanding about people, culture, possibilities, and behaviors. It makes you ask the two most powerful question in life: Why? and Why Not? And when you start asking questions, you become better.

In the past, I just hoped to travel outside the country but that's all it really is "hope". This year I took a little risk and went out of the country. Yes it cost me money but the returns are quite higher than the investment. Let me leave you this quote by Paulo Coelho that I've read from the book Aleph - "Travel is never a matter of money but of courage."

3. People matters.

In this life, people matters a lot. When me and my wife-to-be prepared a list for my wedding, I discovered something very interesting (I think I already knew about it but I was just in denial), she has more guests than I have. In fact, almost all of our principal sponsors for the wedding are the people she knows. I started to realized that for the past 28 years of my life, I have never really too much investment with people. So this year, I socializing is a key element that I wish I did more.

Get out there and meet people. Join a club. Pursue a hobby that involves others. Build a community. There are many ways to meet people you just have to take time.

4. Value your job.

There is a saying that goes, finding a job is hard; finding a job that you love is even harder.:) I've seen people waste their time in their job. I think if we only learn to value our job, then we will be doing better. But how can we value our job? To me, to value what we do on a day to day basis is to find significance in our success and failures in our work or business. When we find that significance then it would be easy to value one's work.

Let me leave you with a popular quote on work: Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.

5. Get Married.

I got married earlier this month. Me and Joyce prepared for everything and it turned out to be a very wonderful wedding. If you are a guy and you have a serious girlfriend for a long time now, then let me ask you this, "What are you waiting for?Get married." If you are already living together with your lover, then get married! What are you afraid of?

Getting married can be scary if you ask the wrong people. People who are already married and who are very critical about should be noted only as reference but not as a textbook. Understand that people's beliefs are contagious. The more you listen to people who are critical about marriage then you will find yourself becoming critical yourself. But if you surround yourself with people who has a positive outlook of marriage then their belief will also rub off on you. Get married.

I've also written down my other life lessons in the past: