Death – A debt to Life

At first, Steve Jobs said that during those moments he was delivering his speech, it was the closest he has ever gotten for a college graduation. He proudly said in his speech that he was not able to graduate college.

It is amusing to hear and realize to think that someone who would revolutionize the world and improve the quality of life of the people is not a college graduate. Since I was I, child, my parents would always tell me that I should study well so that I could graduate college and have a decent job. My mother was not even able to enter college due to the financial problems her family experience before that is why it is one of her aspirations to have all three of us, her children, to be a college graduate.

Both my father and my mother kept on saying that education is one of the best ways to improve our lives and the future and they keep on referencing Kim Atienza’s, “Mag-aral ng mabuti upang buhay ay bumuti.” We received a lot of reprimands and lessons from our parents. Before, I would be really upset that they would repeatedly tell us these things and up to a point that we have memorized their lines.

Yet, here we are today. My brother has finished his education, I am on my third-year, and my sister is doing well in high school. Our parents’ dreams are slowly taking place all because of their hard works and if not for them, we would not be in these fortunate lives.

Then there’s Steve Jobs. A billionaire who is not even a college graduate. In his first story, his first line was, “I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit.” Although it is not really shocking to hear anymore, it is just fascinating to realize that dropping out in their country is not that much of a fuss. If it was here in the Philippines and I was Steve Jobs, I have probably been scolded by my parents and they would probably teach me the most annoying lessons.

            ***

Here is a fact: I just realized that Steve’s mother was not ready to have him yet and it astounded me when I heard he was already put up for adoption and he is not even born yet. At first, I was having doubts and I think of this as absurd but then I realized that her mother just wanted the best for his son. It may seem odd to some but I think her mother knows best.

            ***

Steve went to college 17 years later and he went to an expensive school, Stanford. Education in America is really expensive and if I were Steve Jobs, I would not waste any of my time and I would surely do my best to give back to my parents. However, Steve was naïve. He was not able to see the value in studying in college.

Maybe it was at the time where Steve has realized what he really wants for himself. I am pretty sure he had a lot of realizations that made him drop out.

Also, another cool thing about studying in college in America is that they can drop out the classes they do not want to take and they can just take those interesting ones. In our university, students somewhat have a fix schedule and subjects that they should take or else, they would not be able to proceed to the next semester.  I do not know but somehow, the education system is too restrictive to the students and it bounds them from experiencing different things. Steve really did enjoy the freedom he was able to acquire and he spent it on interesting classes.

            ***

Is it not inspirational to hear that Steve Jobs, a billionaire and one of the influencers of the current generation, also experienced trials but succeeded? He said in his speech, “I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms, I returned Coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.”

Steve experienced these things before he succeeded. Clearly, it was not fun and games at first. Since before he was born, he had to endure a lot of things. From adoption to financial problems, Steve experienced a lot of hardships but he did not give up until he was able to achieve success.

            ***

Going back, Steve surprisingly was amused by the beauty of typography. He was just astounded by the spaces and letter combinations that are involved in typography. He even mentioned about the serif and sans serif. He described it and said, “It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.”

After 10 years, Steve Jobs and his team were designing the first Macs and he said that it was the first computer with a beautiful typography. Surprisingly, he mentioned that Windows just copied the concept of typefaces from Mac. Who would have thought that Windows would steal something from Apple? What a surprise.

For me, this was just one of the best inventions. I could not image computers with plain boring typefaces. What if Steve was not able to experience the beauty of typography? Maybe, the world would have been different. If it was not about his experiences in dropping out and dropping into typography classes, typefaces in computers would have not existed. It was then when he realized that all the dots from the past connected with the future. Every speck of memory connected with each other and made meaning to his life. Steve then said, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

Steve’s second story was about love and loss. For me, these two things complement each other and that they cannot exist without the other. It is like the concept of black and white, light and dark. Where black and darkness is the absence of white and light. Truth be told, you can’t realize the importance of one side without realizing the value of the other. Life would not be valued without the concept of death, right? People fear death because they do not want to lose their lives and it was the same with what Steve Jobs had experienced.

After 10 years of working for Apple, surprisingly he was fired from his own company; fired from the company he made. I remember the movie about Steve Jobs. In a particular scene, Steve and his friends went hired some talented person to help his company flourish. At first, they were all doing great. Without a doubt, his company achieved a lot of things but it was for a while until the board of directors had decided to fire Steve Jobs.

For me, it is somewhat hilarious to hear. Who would have thought that the founder of his own company would be fired by the people he recruited? Isn’t that betrayal? Isn’t that too absurd to hear? Well, even Steve himself was surprised. “So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.” – Steve Jobs described.

After he was fired, he was just down. He somehow realized that he was again back from the start; from nothing. If I were in his position, I would have also felt the same. I could not blame him if he was just depressed. Steve Jobs was Steve Jobs though. He did not stop. On the brighter side, maybe he realized that since he had nothing, then it is possible for him to have everything. And so, he decided to start over. Everyone is probably familiar with Pixar.

Steve Jobs was one of the men behind its heartwarming and tear-jerking animations. Fun fact, Steve Jobs was also one of the people behind the production of Toy Story, the first computer-animated film.

Success has followed Steve Jobs wherever he went but it was not easy for him since he had to endure and experience a lot of heartbreaking things.

These experiences are similar to most people. The best learnings in life are those we get from being hurt. Although the concept of defeat and pain is sad to hear, people have been slowly teaching themselves that it is okay to fall; it is okay to be defeated. Why? It is because they learn a lot of things and realizations come to them. Because of these mistakes that we often commit, we become wiser individuals. We learn not be defeated again. Imagine what Steve Jobs had experienced just to achieve the success. Imagine the number of mistakes and failures he was able to endure. If not for the trials, Steve would not have even been known to the world.

            ***

After the success NeXT and Pixar, Apple bought these companies and then he was back. “I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.”

Even Steve himself thought of the trials as a positive side. He then said, “I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith.” I think it is one of the best analogies I have heard so far. Sometimes, we have to endure unpleasing things to be pleased. We sometimes have to take the most painful injection to be healed. And sometimes, we have to survive the longest heartbreak to love again. What this world never fails to show is the beauty of bittersweet reality. No one can escape this truth because everyone has been experiencing this.

            ***

Despite the unjust treatment of Steve, he was still him and he did not lose. He even improved because of his love and his passion. “You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

Steve was not even contended. He even said that a person should not stop until he finds the things that he will love the most. “If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it…Keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

His second story about love and loss basically states that with the absence of loss, you will know love. And in the absence of love, you will know loss. These two things that completely complement each other makes people realize that a perfect life is a life with ups and downs. Being alive and experiencing life is not all about the joy but it is also about the trials and hardships we have endured. It is also about the lessons and realizations we acquire after being down. Life has a lot to offer and it is one of our plans to survive and face whatever it may give. Steve’s second story just made me realize, there will always be a rainbow after the rain. The stronger the storm, the clearer the skies will be afterward.

The last story was about death.

Steve said something about a quote that goes like, “ If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today.” And if ever his answer would result in a “No” he would do something. If today is going to be my last day, obviously, I would make it something worth remembering for the people I am close to. I would say all the things I want to say and hug all of them thinking it would be my last. I would try to do things on my bucket list and spend the day like it is really my last.

Surely, it would be worth it. It would really be fun but depressing. It would be depressing because if the day would be treated like my last, I would probably say all my grudges and just let it all out, removing all the negative thoughts. Is not that satisfying to hear when you can just shout at the top of your lungs until you run out of air?

            ***

For Steve, remembering that he’ll be dead is the most important tool that helped him to make big decisions in life. His speech was truly amazing when he said, “Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.”

What Steve is true. It is because when we think of things that we think we cannot conquer, in the eyes of death it becomes a small matter. It is really astounding how death defeats most things here on Earth and how it positively manipulates individuals.

Because of the existence of death, we have learned to preserve the beauty of life and we have appreciated the gift of God so much. We are afraid of death which is why we try to keep ourselves safe. It is similar to a kid who inserts a fork inside an electric socket. With this, chances are, the kid would be electrocuted, he will feel pain, and he will not do it again. These fears are really making people realize why some things should and should not be done.

We only live once.  This is why we try to learn lessons about life from other people because we can only experience death once. And once we experience death, our life experiences end. Because of these things I have realized, death should be really feared but appreciated.

It has helped us to become endurable and wiser individuals. If not for death then we would not realize the profoundness of life, right?

            ***

Going back, it was a sad news that Steve was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. “I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months.” – Steve said in his speech. At that moment, Steve was going to face the true death in no longer than three to six months.  He did most of what he can do. He bid goodbye to the people he loved.

Thankfully, when the doctors scanned the tumor which was removed from his pancreas, it turned out that his pancreatic cancer was curable with surgery and during the time he delivered his speech, he was feeling fine. Unfortunately, he died in 2011. In my research, I found out that Steve’s cancer came back and that time, 2004, when he underwent a surgery, the cancer was not yet totally removed. It was really painful to hear that it seemed like it was just a false hope. Cancer was still inside him and he needed to fight a long battle. In 2009, since the cancer was spreading all over inside his body, he needed to have a liver transplant. According to some, he was not only battling cancer but also with the immune suppression after the liver transplant. As I went online to browse some photographs of Steve Jobs, the effects, such weakness and loss of weight, due to the suppression and cancer, were really clear. As time went by, his body during his talks was obviously becoming weak and he had lost a tremendous amount of weight unlike in his previous years.

            ***

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life.” – Steve Jobs said. Even if we like it or not, death will always be at some point in our lives, waiting for us to meet him. The twist is, we do not know where when and how we will meet him. Most of us are probably unprepared yet to meet death. Death would be one of the least things we are expecting but when we meet him, it is when we will realize and ask ourselves, did we make the most of our lives?

Steve Jobs added that “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.” Because of this words, he made me realize that I have been spending a part of my life for other people and not for myself. Which means I have wasted some of my time. Nevertheless, I will be doing my best to savor the beauty of life and spend most of my time for my benefit and improvement. I will try to just think of my days as my last and just be carefree. I am not going to lose anything if I spend my time wisely on wise things but I am going to lose everything if I regret about not cherishing the life I was given when I am about to meet death.

 

March 8 – A reflection

Last Thursday, March 08, for our second formal meeting, the class had another pitching session and during that time, there were three presenters who pitched their ideas.

The first idea that was pitched that day was an application inspired by Grab and Uber’s tracking system with a delivery system similar to Grab Express. What made it amazing is that it can be used by ordinary drivers such as those habal-habal ­tricycle drivers who are mostly idle. Since these drivers had a lot of vacant time, my classmate had the idea of somewhat giving them a side-job while they were doing nothing to spend their time. She said, (non-verbatim), “Since there are a lot of tricycle drivers who are mostly idle, why not give them a job and help those who do not want to leave their house just to deliver something?”

Because of the said issue, my classmate had seen an opportunity of generating money as a third-party from the ones who want to deliver some item and give jobs to those who want to be productive and stop themselves from being idle.

I really commend her for thinking of such idea. Though as some of my classmates said that the idea is already existing, what made it unique is that a lot of people can use it even habal-habal tricycle drivers. Aside from that, I do think that the proposed application will be successful if it will be materialized because there are a lot of people who do not want to deliver something themselves because it would sometimes be just a waste of time.

She also mentioned that the application is going to generate income from advertisements.

            ***

It was then the time when we have to ask her some questions. One of the said questions was about a possible delivery of drugs. The question went like this: “What if the sender scams the courier who would deliver tricking him into thinking he would deliver a vegetable when actually it is a marijuana?” The facilitator also added there was a similar situation that happened. In the situation, the delivered object was an explosive device. Because of the stated situations, the presenter was astounded and she was thinking of a possible way to prevent such cases.

Our facilitator ended the first pitch and she gave a “hanging” result to the first presenter and her idea. It was a splendid idea, overall. She just needs to fix that part of the issue and I think her idea will be approved after that.

            ***

It was time for the second presenter. It was Kyle’s turn, my classmate. Kyle’s proposed mobile application was for bus users and bus barkers. His proposed idea was inspired from the problems which bus commuters have been experiencing. He mentioned that there are times when calls for a bus along the road but the driver does not notice him. There would also be times when he rides the bus but he is unable to have a sit and just stand for the whole duration of the travel because all seats are occupied.

Kyle’s idea was also nice.  His statement of the problem was clear and that I can even relate to what he said. It is really a pain to just stand during the whole travel. The proposed application, supposedly, will have a detection system on buses which will determine whether all seats are occupied or there are vacant seats. Scanning buses’ plate numbers will inform commuters of the number of seats through the application itself, communicating from the bus barker inside the bus. Aside from that, possible users such as parents may also track where their child is and how long it will take for their child to reach the destination. Kyle said it would be an advantage for parents to know whether their child/ children are safe during their travel from and to their homes. However, a classmate of mine pointed out that possibly, commuters might have a hard time in using Kyle’s application due to the motion of the bus on the road.

My classmate who asked was right. Bus speeds along the road are unpredictable; some are slow and some are too fast that scanners for plate numbers would just be useless. Our facilitator also agreed about the situation. The application would be great if there would be a barker to a commuter relationship in the application so that before the bus would reach the possible passenger’s location, the passenger would already be notified that a bus is incoming to his/her destination. In this manner, the chances of being left by the bus would be low.

Unfortunately, as far as I can remember, our facilitator gave Kyle’s idea a “no.” It was still not yet the end for Kyle though. I know he will still be able to generate better ideas.

            ***

For the last presenter, it was Rona. Rona presented sort a costume-lending application. Her idea was inspired by the need to buy costumes for events. She used the Coachella-themed party we had before during our freshmen year. As I can remember, we were required to wear a Coachella-themed attire. If one would search samples on the internet, a typical attire for a Coachella party is a casual colorful attire. Aside from that, there would sometimes be parties that would require Barong Tagalog, Filipiñana, Baro’t Saya, ball gowns, tuxedos, and etc. These attires are without a doubt expensive and usually, these are just used once or twice in a year. Because of this problem, Rona was inspired to think about a costume-lending application.

Rona’s application provides an easy way for people to find and rent costumes. Her application would serve as the middleman between the user and the lender. For me, it was simply amazing. I sometimes have to attend weddings. Wedding requires either a barong or a formal attire like a tuxedo. I don’t have these clothes in my wardrobe and I can’t even afford to buy and use them once or even never. It would just be a waste.

If Rona’s application will be materialized, a lot of people who attend weddings, debuts, birthday parties, themed parties, and other costume-requiring events will be helped. Aside from that, people who are not really using the costumes which they have bought may let their costumes be used for a certain amount of money which will end as a win-win situation for both the renter and the lender – that is if the application will be materialized.

However, a lot of my classmates, even the facilitator were somewhat unsatisfied and they needed to clarify. One of my classmates asked, “What if the costume was not actually washed and it has a foul smell?”

The question might seem non-sense for others but for me, it was not. When we rent something, other than making sure that our money is worth it, we also want to make sure that the quality of the item we are going to rent is not low to a point we rented for nothing.

Rona responded and she pointed out that it should be the prerogative of the renter to check the quality of the item. Conduct basic check-up on the item and search for literal holes. Who would want to wear pants with a hole on that would show one’s undergarments, right?

It was then the time for decision making and Rona asked the class and our facilitator’s final decision about her idea. As far as I can remember, it did not go well. Nevertheless, she can still make it up and improve her idea or generate some splendid innovations to present in class.

For the past few weeks that had passed, a lot of proposals were denied and left hanging. Only a small percentage of those who pitched their ideas were approved and a lot of my classmates have not proposed their ideas. What I am trying to say is that we only have roughly two months left and not even fifty percent of the class’ idea is approved by our facilitator. It is a really bothering thought that we are really going to fall under circumstances we are have been expecting. I do not even know if more than half of the class can still catch up to produce the necessary deliverables for the subject.

In relation to the previous meeting, Guy Kawasaki said that the core of Entrepreneurship is about making meaning. He said that a lot of companies that have been involved in most of our lives today have been making meaning. However, some of these companies set out to start by making money.

It is really nice to hear these things from a successful entrepreneur. Before, I really thought that it is all about generating money and hiring people. As a kid, I really never wanted to be a businessman because I have thought of it as a generic, cliché job. I have seen a lot of businessmen in movies and I did not aspire to do the same. I did not have a mind of a businessman nor an attitude of a boss. Most of the time, working for someone was on my mind. Dreaming to work as an employee for a company would not really hurt my ego as long as I know that I am enjoying the job.

I want to be a doctor. – That was what I used to say when I was a kid when I would be asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

I was really fascinated by the scientific and biological world. It was fascinating to see the profoundness of life and one of the reasons why I wanted to be a doctor before is because I wanted to preserve and maintain the high quality of life which every living individual has. It was from a simple “help” that I wanted to give that inspired me to become a doctor.

If you are going to ask me, “What do you want to be in the future?”, I would answer, I want to give meaning. Since I was enrolled in the subject Technopreneurship, I have always thought of having my own start-up company. In the field of information technology, not only will I be able to touch the field of medicine as my aspiration to be a doctor before, but I can also give meaning to various fields in this world. IT is interdisciplinary. It can adapt and it has been of use in various studies today.

            ***

If I will be asked on how I will make meaning in the future, I will probably answer the person by offering him a job to work for me and my company. This simply means that it is one of my goals to be the boss of a company and provide opportunities to deserving people. It is really funny to think that it just came to my realizations that not only doctors can help people but also businessmen. These employers have been providing a lot of opportunities to people and they are some of the people who make the nation progressive. We can say that they have been generating money for their company and themselves but let us not deny the fact that they have also been of great use to the company.

Because of these entrepreneurs, the meaning is made not only in the community but also in the hearts and thoughts of the people around them. For some entrepreneurs, making money is just a slice of pie. Probably, they would not even sweat to gain millions in a single day. However, making meaning is different. I do believe it can be achieved by not generating money but by improving the quality of an individual’s life.

Guy Kawasaki, in the video, said, “We were not motivated. We were motivated by changing the world.” It was nice to hear from people who work in Apple that is not about the money but increasing the quality of life. Today, if I am going to ask a person of his opinions to Apple, he would probably say words like money, premium, and rich. It is somewhat implanted in the minds of the people that one of the core goals of Apple is to generate money but when it really is not. When people, like Guy Kawasaki, produced Macintosh, it was one of their core goals to improve the quality of life. How it would help people. How Macintosh should work for people and make their lives better. They would even wake up early in the morning and think how they would change people’s lives with Macintosh. Because of these motivations, Apple did not only help the community but they also gained money. As we all know, their core goal was not about the money but to improve lives, right? Well, it only means that if people, like Guy Kawasaki, would prioritize in people’s lives and not their money, a lot of good things could happen. It is like, “Think first on their lives and the money will follow.”

Second, after improving the quality of life is to right a wrong. It is about fixing something wrong in this world. As what I have learned lately in our discussions in Technopreneurship, one of the qualities of a technopreneur should have is that he should master his environment. Being an environment-mastered person means that you are always on the top of the situation and not under it. You should most likely see a lot of opportunities around your environment. Imagine, if you were a person who would find a lot of problems and generate opportunities for it, would you not be able to help the community and generate a lot of money as well?

Regardless if you are an entrepreneur or a technopreneur, of your core goals in making business is to right a wrong. It would a useless thought to “right” something that is already correct, right? That is pure nonsense. However, if you corrected something wrong, you will be able to make meaning and at the same time, improve people’s quality of life.

The last one is to prevent the end of something good. Obviously, the good should not be ended but maintained and improved for the betterment of the world. How? Innovations. It is a nice thing that I am taking up IT and that one of its goals is to produce and come up with world-changing innovations. Things that make our lives better should not be stopped but be improved. It can be achieved through technological advancements and innovations that should make our lives more convenient.

The stated things are just some of the things that entrepreneurs or technopreneurs should be motivated of in their businesses. I have learned a lot in the previous meeting and I am excited about the future discussions.

            ***

I once dreamed of becoming a doctor and today, it is one of my goals to be a boss and an employer of my own company someday. These are just some things I plan to achieve in the future. These things may seem too unrealistic to achieve, still, I am not closing my mind for possible opportunities that I would encounter in my life journey. If I will not achieve these things, I’ll gladly accept it. What I really want to do is to provide help and make meaning not only for myself but also in other peoples’ lives.

 

The Advocate

Last week, in the middle of our discussion, we were asked about our personalities, whether we are of it or not. Since most students from the class were not aware, our facilitator had given us a quick assessment test. It was not an objective-type of a test though. I can read between the lines of the questions that it was about being subjective and objective in a workplace.

It was from the perspective of a boss around a workplace about the work itself and his people. The questions were mostly about either prioritizing the goal of work or the welfare of the workers.  It was already clear in my motives that work is work. Regardless of any filial relationship at work, people around the workplace should be treated equally with respect. The personal involvement should come afterward. It is somewhat the ethics in working.

After taking the test, the results showed that I was under the middle category. It really did coincide with my real personality and outlook in business. The results were not that bad but I still have to improve as what our facilitator said. Most of us were under the middle category. Some were under the lower level. Needless to say, our facilitator said that the results should not determine our future but rather our guide on how much we should persevere to be on the top level. No one got on the top-level since all of us scored below 48.

Our facilitator also stated to those who got a low score not to be discouraged because the room for improvement is huge and that the purpose of the class is the improve their scores soon enough. For us, who were in the middle category, we were told not to boast about it because there could also be chances that it would decrease as the time goes by. He said that it would really be much better if we would acquire high scores, maintain, and improve the personality and perspective we have.

The given test was actually just a part of my personality and somewhat related to business and Technopreneurship. In reality, to my personality traits, I am actually an advocate, the other term for my personality, INFJ.

INFJ is actually from the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or MBTI assessment. INFJ who are introverted (I), intuition, (N), feeling (F), and judging (J). I took the online test for 3 years straight now and fortunately, nothing has changed with my personality since I took the test. The results were always the same however it seemed that my temperament was clearly changing.

As a person with INFJ, I tend to be more careful and sensitive with my actions and of other people’s feelings. I am not really introverted that I would rarely interact with other people. It is just that I find it satisfying and relaxing to spend some time with myself and just enjoy the company of being alone, not lonely.

Aside from that, according to the article from www.16personalities.com about INFJ, “Advocates indeed share a unique combination of traits: though soft-spoken, they have very strong opinions and will fight tirelessly for an idea they believe in. They are decisive and strong-willed, but will rarely use that energy for personal gain…” Though the world is full of philosophical logic, I really believe that the core point of it all is the subjective perspective of an individual.

The test I took about my personality has always been accurate about my strengths and weaknesses as an individual with a personality of INFJ. Because of the accuracy of the test, I was able to improve myself throughout the years and I can say that I have somewhat stayed the same and succeeded in improving some of my weaknesses. My sensitivity is still an issue. It acts like a double-edged sword. I can either be usefully sensitive or negatively sensitive to criticism. I try as much as I can to take it constructively but there are just times I am tilted and I take it as a personal attack. Nevertheless, I do not hold grudges. However, the said words would stay inside me for a long time and the tendency is that I would keep discouraging myself about it.

This personality also coincides with the EQ and AQ tests that I took. I was not able to confirm whether it matches my IQ. I am still not aware of my IQ today though. The AQ test that I took resulted in me having a moderate AQ (19-31). I had an AQ of 28 which is somewhat in the average level. It seems that I can still improve myself to have a higher AQ as time would pass by. I actually took the test without me, knowing the meaning of adversity.

It was only after the results were showed when I knew about the definition of adversity. I really thought that I would fall a lower AQ because, during times of difficulty and misfortune, I would usually be depressed and controlled by emotions.

There are just times that it is hard for me to think properly especially when my psychological and emotional state is stressed or under pressure. During these times of fight or flight mode, my usual response is to be in a flight mode and I would choose to turn away from the situation.

On the other hand, the results of the EQ test that I took last year from the University Guidance and Testing Office (UGTO) stated that I had a high tendency of being an adaptive person in various situations. It really did interconnect with my INFJ personality since, in reality, I could say that I could really blend into people but it would take much time since I am sometimes introverted.

To clear things up, I also took an online test for emotional quotient. Out of 200, I scored 40 it said: “not so good.”

Well, I can only blame myself and how I deal with stressful situations. Lately, I have been under a lot of stress and pressure and honestly, I did not deal with those so well. I have been depressed these past few days and I have not told anyone about it yet. Nevertheless, I still have a positive outlook on life and I am not giving up on it. There may be depressing times but most of the days are good.

“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”

Martin Luther King

March 6 – A reflection

Last Tuesday, March 6, 2017, the class once again had a meeting and it was the time for our pitching. Throughout the duration of the class, there were 3 students who pitched their ideas and I was the first one to perform.

It was nerve-wracking; my hands were chilling and my face was numbing; I even got butterflies in my stomach. Well, before that it was really hilarious to think when we were asked who is going to pitch their ideas. Almost everyone raised their hands.

Everyone clearly learned and it seems that no one would want to be dead-tired and sleepless of writing a staggering twenty-seven-thousand-word reflection. It was funny to think that everyone had learned their lessons and not to disappoint a person that much again.

Thirty minutes before the pitching time and our class, students have prepared their presentation slides and pitches. It seems everyone had already prepared themselves and materials. However, it was clear in their eyes that they were nervous and they had a hard time concentrating.

It was somewhat unfortunate to think that our class was delayed and it was clearly our fault. If we had not delayed and wasted the days, then we would not have been in this cramming situation. We only have 2 months left and there are tons of write-ups and preparations to do.

***

It was then the moment and I pitched. I tried to remove all the negativities and the nervousness that I had before. Fortunately, I was able to.

My idea is inspired by the problems that are currently rampant in the community. Unlike products in groceries, products in wet markets or palengkes do not have barcodes, expiration dates, and best before ­labels. Due to this fact, a lot of consumers have been fooled into buying toxic, unclean, and synthetic products. Aside from that, meat such as pork has been continuously sold even though it is already dead and not freshly killed. Meaning, the meat is double-dead. Who would want to buy these products? There may be some who still has the guts to buy and cook these foods, but I cannot stand to see the victims of food poisoning. Not only have they intoxicated themselves, but they also wasted their money.

There are just people who trick other people into buying these type of unjust products for money. I knew I had to think a solution to this problem so that there would be a decrease in the number of victims of the said unfortunate issues.

In the current technological age, my proposed solution is planned to be aided by deep learning and digital image processing. Veggienity is what I had proposed. This current idea is honestly not so new. A lot of similar technologies have been implanted especially for the detection of double-dead meat. However, I choose to focus more on vegetables which are one of the highly-bought products in palengkes.

Imagine if the mobile application is able to detect fresh products by determining its age since it was picked from the soil then consumers will be able to know which products to buy and not to buy. Not just that. The will also be able to know if the given product has a lot of toxic ingredients, preservatives and if it is synthetic. All these things, I believe, is possible with the help of deep learning and digital image processing.

With the help both technologies’, they will be able to analyze the toxicity and authenticity of a product using complex algorithms and artificial intelligence. Not only will it be able to identify but it will also learn and grow intellectually as people will feed it with a lot of scanned products.

Its help will be of great use to the community. It may not be able to directly help those who were victimized by food poisoning but they will be given justice and the rate of the production of synthetic and double-dead products could decrease. Through this vision, I am really aiming that the solution could help.

            ***

I finished my pitch and I was able to do it properly. It was satisfying to think that the weeks of the stress of thinking about what they had caused has somewhat ended. After I was able to present the idea to the class and to the facilitator, my classmates asked questions about the application.

I was able to answer some of them. The questions were really of great help because I was able to clarify the application and it helped my application to improve.

Some questions that were asked included how I was going to generate income.

Since the application is in mobile, I am planning to have a monthly premium subscription to the application. The good thing is, the premium subscription does not really affect one’s usage of the application that much. The user can still scan products but it will only be limited to 20 products but with a premium subscription, the user can have unlimited scans and it gives more details about the scanned product.

Aside from that, the user has a better access to more products of vegetables because, in a free account, the user is only limited to four vegetables. The detection of double-dead meat is even included in a premium subscription.

Imagine the help that this application could give to the consumers of palengkes. Not can they only assure the safety of their families but they can also save a lot of money as well from medication and waste it from buying toxic products.

After answering questions, it was the moment that the class and the facilitator had to decide whether the application is going to be approved or not. There were a lot who was satisfied with the application but the facilitator’s decision would even be more valuable.

Unfortunately, it was a no. Well, I was actually expecting that I would receive a no. Nevertheless, I gave my best. It was clear to me that I would receive that response because I somewhat knew that I had lacked something but I was not really sure of it. I also had doubts about my idea and maybe the facilitator somewhat sensed it.

The facilitator gave me a chance to justify my application and he asked me some questions about its effects on the law specifically about the Republic Act 10173 or also known as the Data Privacy Act.

According to him, if the application would be materialized, chances are, other people’s privacy would be violated especially if the product that would be scanned will be processed without the consent of the vendor. It would be an issue if the vendor filed complaints against the one who scanned his/her products without his permission and the vendor has the clear rights to do that as stipulated in the said law.

It was at that point that I said, “Why have not I thought of this situation?” After that, the facilitator luckily gave me a chance to fix it and think of an alternative solution.

He also added about how it was going to help the community. I somehow managed to explain that after the application scans a product, reports are going to be disseminated about the acts of deception inside the palengke and that authorities will be alerted. In this manner, there would a big chance that vendors of fake products and double-dead meat will decrease. However, this idea still violates the law and I still need to fix this part of my application.

            ***

After I pitched, I was followed by another presenter. As far as I can remember, he pitched about an application that has something to do with buses. He pointed out that he wants to help bus drivers and bus commuters that are from airplane terminals. The presenter stated the problem that there are a lot of people from airplane terminals who do not know when a bus will arrive and if a bus is available for a certain destination, and more.

The presenter was prepared and it was a really cool idea. However, it seemed that some of my classmates were not impressed. It was still clarified and they asked questions to him. One of it was about the tracking system of buses.

He, the presenter, stated that the application is going to use a GPS so that people who are going to look out for buses will have an idea of the incoming buses at their location.

This idea was unclear for some so someone asked a question. Non-verbatim, my classmate asked, “What if there is the bus is out of town and there is no coverage for the internet. How is it going to work?”

The facilitator agreed with the question and he clarified and asked the presenter for a response. The presenter somewhat responded about a device which will be engineered if the application is going to be materialized.

So, as to what I understood, the application is going to be partnered with a device that will aid people in tracking buses as well as bus operators vice versa.

Unfortunately, the facilitator reminded us that it would be much better if the ideas which we are going to propose would be an application because it would take a lot of time to build a device especially that we are not engineers but IT students. I do agree with our facilitator.

We have two months left and my idea is still hanging, on the verge of approval and failure. Nevertheless, I am hastening my actions and I am currently assuring that I will be able to give remedy to the flaws that were pointed out about the idea that I have proposed.

            ***

After the pitching, since there was some time left, we had a quick discussion about SEED.

The discussion about SEED was really interesting. I have learned a lot especially about the importance of one’s attitude towards the things he/she encounters in his/her everyday life.

SEED is actually an acronym for self-mastery, environment mastery, enterprise mastery, and the development of a business plan.

Self-mastery is about one’s self. It is somewhat the consciousness of a person about his/her personality and through this, he/she will be able to know her strengths and weaknesses. Mastering one’s self will help them to adapt to their surroundings and somewhat appropriately act to other people. It is an act of being matured and sensitive to other people and their feelings,

Self-mastery can be achieved by starting at identifying their Intelligence, Emotional, and Adversity Quotient. These are just some of the object identifiers but there more tests that will help a person to know himself/herself more such as the personality traits test.

A person does not really need to have a high IQ to master himself/herself. It is but the ability to have a personal vision. Using this vision, people will have an outline of their future and this will be their guide to success. Though it is considerable for some that having a high IQ would mean opportunities, IQ alone is not the sole means to master one’s self. Aside from self-mastery, there is also environment mastery.

People who have mastered environment are fully aware of the issues and opportunities around them. For these people, they tend to look at the advantages of things and the opportunities that they could possibly possess. They are usually at the top of the situation rather than being under the situation. It is really amazing to think that once you have mastered your environment, opportunities would be much easier to notice unlike to those who are not.

They are also updated with trends. Technopreneurs must have the knowledge of the trends because it is essential. Trends can either be the cause of one’s loss or success. For example, I am aiming to propose a certain idea but I am unaware that the idea that I am going to propose is already existing. Because of this, there would be a bigger chance of failing. However, if I am aware of this, I could just possibly improvise and embed some extraordinary technology to my idea and make it better.

Aside from that, people who have mastered their environment are also aware of the forecasts that include the analytics. Facts and figures are as much as important as ingredients to a dish. They supplement the idea itself and it helps in providing a foundation.

Facts and figures are really important to Technopreneurship because they help in making the problem concrete and solution convincing. Without them, chances are, the problem would go astray and the solution would be weak. Because of this, investors might not just invest in the idea and it would be put to waste. It would really be better if technopreneurs would also be updated with these because it helps a lot.

Lastly, after a person is able to master himself/herself and his/her environment, it is also really important to have enterprise mastery. As far as I can remember, enterprise mastery is about running a business and marketing an idea.

Running a business, for me, today is hard. I can say that I am not a business-oriented person. Generating income and spending money wisely is still hard for me. I can understand the minds of some people but I just cannot think how the minds of business-minded people run. For me, it is complicated and they, maybe, think ahead of what is expected. Maybe, they have anticipated a lot of things which is why they are successful. Marketing an idea also needs a lot of skill. It is hard to convince people of a new and unfamiliar idea. Before you can convince them, you should first think like them. I think that is how it goes.

Lastly, after self-mastery, environment mastery, enterprise mastery, there is the development of the business plan. The development of the business plan is also important for a technopreneur because it would somewhat serve as his/her guide throughout his business. During our discussion, our facilitator discussed the intriguing business models and strategies of some businesses here in Davao.

He pointed out the amazing tactics of some malls about how and when they usually offer sales and discounts to their customers. It was really hilarious to hear that at the end of it all, though we have benefited from the discounts, the last laugh was still from the business people.

It is amazing to think that they fooled a lot of people for money. The psychology of business is really effective and a lot is still in its trance. No wonder why successful business people are rich.

Nevertheless, I am still aiming to be like one of them and soon, I might also just have my own startup company. Ever since these discussions started, I was already thinking of being a boss of my own company, recruit people, and generate money. Above it, all is improving the quality of the lives within the community.

            ***

The discussion last March 6 was really fun. It was, I guess, our first proper discussion just after we were reprimanded about our unruly behavior. My classmates and I are looking forward to much more fun and interesting discussions.