I became a big fan of Yeng Remulla after I read his book, Productive Pinoy. It was the first book written by a Filipino that I got so impressed with! Productive Pinoy has so many lessons in it that I felt a lot of people can take advantage of.
In my case, I do not have a dad. However, reading Productive Pinoy felt like I do have that father-like figure who was providing me life-long lessons to live by. Each chapter is a gem in itself. Yeng was too selfless in sharing all those important lessons in life with us through the book.
So when Yeng sent me an email and asked me to be one of the speakers on his free Start Something seminar, I couldn’t say no. Two reasons why I said yes even if I had some reservations on speaking in public:
- I wanted to finally meet Yeng in person!
- Somehow, I do not want to turn down an opportunity to finally speak in public.
The Start Something Seminar by Productive Pinoy was held at Fully Booked, Bonifacio High Street last June 8, 2012. It was a free event and it was a successful one! The forum was full of registered participants all ready to learn from Productive Pinoy himself, Yeng Remulla.
Yeng wanted to help the participants start the idea they’ve been dreaming of doing by providing the free seminar. I guess the Productive Pinoy group wanted to inspire the participants through Yeng’s personal productivity tips as well as the guest speakers’ testimonies on how they started something.
As Yeng said in his blog, “Whether you’re planning to write a book, start a business, shift careers, or put out your art, I hope this event will help you jumpstart the work that you’ve been dreaming of.”
An activity was done during the Start Something seminar which I found very effective.. A paper was given to each of the participants and everyone was asked to draw the idea that they have been putting off for quite some time.
Then some participants volunteered to share their ideas to everyone. Upon hearing some of them, I was just blown away. Their ideas were so good! I felt that they are destined to work on their ideas. I mean why would they attend a ‘Start Something’ seminar if they didn’t have the willpower to start what they have thought of, right?
When it was time for the guest speakers to talk, I started to really get nervous. I didn’t even know if I could make it on stage , hahaha! I just said to myself to suck it up and think that I might be able to inspire people by sharing how I started my blog.
Here’s a transcript of my 5-minute speech:
Hello everyone! My name is Roch and I’m the blogger behind HeaRty’s Haven. You can find HeaRty’s Haven at rochellesychua.com. I’m here to talk about how I started with blogging but first, I’d like to say that I became a big fan of Yeng Remulla after I read his book, Productive Pinoy. The book is just too good! I highly suggest you get one now if you haven’t. It’s a good compilation of lessons that we can live by. For me, it was like taking different self-help trainings molded into one book.
Now, how did I start blogging? I’m working in a multi-national company which I have been dreaming to work in for the longest time. I wanted to improve on my work every single day so when I got feedback that I needed to improve on my written skill, I decided that I need to do something about it. I thought of writing a diary but it just won’t cut it for me as I hate my own handwriting and I rarely use pen and paper due to the advancement of technology. I ended up creating a blog wherein I put all my experiences whether it’s food, travel, gadgets or movies, I just put it all out there. Don’t try to check out my 2008 entries because I assure you, they suck (haha)! Anyhow, I never thought that my site views went up from 0 to 60,000 a month! I was able to turn a weakness into a strength. I was able to improve on my writing plus I was also able to find a new passion/hobby.
Always remember like what Yeng said in his book, Productive Pinoy, that we should stop being a spectator, we should take a lead and start something! Because we can do it! 🙂
I was afraid while I was doing the speech as I do not believe I’m good in speaking public. I have stage fright that I can’t seem to get over with. I tried to work on it by attending effective presentations training and joining toastmasters but I couldn’t sustain it. I guess I have to try to speak in a public forum to finally realize how fulfilling it is. I would like to thank Yeng of Productive Pinoy for giving me this rare chance to talk to everyone. I’m not sure if I was able to inspire the participants but I really hope I did 🙂
It’s really such an honor to have known such great motivational speakers like Cornel Bongco (Yoyo Gospel Man), Malvin Dinlasan (BroTalks) and of course, Yeng Remulla (Productive Pinoy) in the Start Something event. It’s truly an unforgettable experience!
Yeng’s How to achieve Major, Major goals are as follows:
- take inventory of your abilities and resources
- dream big
- start small
- break it down into pieces
- involve others/do not do it alone
- expect challenges and setbacks along the way
Start Something seminar was very inspiring, informative and really nice!
I, myself, was inspired to start something again!
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Start Something Seminar by Productive Pinoy
June 8, 2012, 1–4pm
The Forum, Fully Booked, Bonifacio High Street, The Fort, Taguig City, Metro Manila, Philippines
http://www.productivepinoy.com/2012/04/be-productive-pinoy-at-fully-booked-bhs.html
great article rochelle!