“How I got here”
How did I get here? What path did I take? Is there something interesting about my journey so far?
I’d like to share my manifestation and aspiration five years ago.
At the age 20, I imagined myself as a management trainee in a Leadership Institute in Thailand. I already visualized and manifested on how I would live abroad, do my sales training for 6 months, and become successful like Jonathan Yabut, a marketing guru, speaker, and winner of Apprentice Asia.
It’s quite a dream for me, isn’t it?
However, it did not happen as planned due to some changes in the company’s direction. Hence, I moved to a different path and grabbed an opportunity to work as a Marketing Analyst for a US-based export marketing company with a commercial office in the Philippines. With that, I was able to experience and understand some of the cultural differences of several key markets in Asia for FMCG and Pet Food which serves as my foundation for curating marketing plans.
At 23, I had a chance to see and experience not just one, but eight other countries, and gained international sales and marketing experience.
I couldn’t imagine my younger self joining in international mission and tradeshows where I’m the youngest and I’m always half the age of the average people in the room; where we build brands out of scratch and compete with the likes of Kraft, Spam, and other brands — but I just did.
South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, Taiwan — those countries were great places to go to, and that’s where I went.
But somehow, in the middle, for someone who always travels with 20 to 40 kg baggage plus the emotional baggage on the side, I got tired and asked myself a few times if I’m still headed onto the right path.
Some of my travels were a dedicated time to course-correct if I’m headed in the wrong direction.
So after a lot of coaching from peers and personal mentors, with pain in my heart, but courage and hope, I left and moved on to another industry that I also enjoy.
Now, at 25, reaching the “quarter-life” stage, and in this journey where I’m in the process of “self-discovery”, “self-awareness” stage, I’m finally embracing the fact that I must keep an open mind and heart to whatever kind of detour life would bring me.
So how did I get here? I just go with the flow.
Honoring each signal, roadblock and roundabout allowed me to reflect on how far I’ve become in terms of development and on how I got here in this club, so I can further improve myself in a lot of aspects.
Those past experiences served as my signals (whether it meant to stop, look or listen) — all of those things served their purpose.
The detours that happened to me are opportunities for me to know what was possible, and they empowered me to be better every day.
And I hope, the next time we’re stuck in traffic or in a certain situation, we should explore all opportunities and be aware of the signals, possible roadblocks, and roundabouts ahead — because that’s how I got here.
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This piece was delivered during the Boosting Purpose and Impact (BPI) Toastmasters Club (June 22, 2022) as part of the author’s Icebreaker project.