A glorious day

It was a heavy week, capped off by this glorious day.

I traveled from one place to another, from one speaking engagement to another, all week last week. This has been my kind of lifestyle for many years now. A friend of mine once remarked, “Francis does not only know how to manage his time and schedule; he has found the rhythm of doing it.” That’s a nice word to hear, rhythm.

Then March 1 happened.

Once a year, I come up with my “Big Event”. This is where I invite the top-notch speakers of the country to share the platform with me for half a day of learning at SMX Convention Center. This is where I gather a big crowd of people from all walks of life who are interested in learning from the best.

The March 1 event this year turned out to be very glorious. A record number 2,200 people showed up. Following tradition, there were hundreds of students who availed of the free seats provided by PLDT Foundation and Inspire Leadership Consultancy, the duo who put the whole thing together.

Butch Jimenez started the session, and was marvelous to watch and listen to. Butch never fails to fire up a crowd. He shared fantastic lessons on leadership and how to move up in a competitive corporate environment. TV personality Chinkee Tan made the whole audience laugh and learn. The audience got more than their money’s worth as they learned how to manage their money from this dynamic speaker. And then Alex Lacson placed the entire audience in a very reflective mood. Reminding us to love our country and be productive citizens, he really challenged the audience, especially the students, to help make this country a better place.

The three brilliant speakers made my work easy. Building on their talks, I spoke for another hour and ended the session at 6 p.m. The thing that blessed my heart was that the audience stayed. None went out of the hall. This can only mean one thing: people are hungry for learning. We really need to share good ideas and help everybody learn.

Staging a big event like that entails a lot of costs, but we had sponsors who helped tremendously. Most of them have been my clients who have become my friends. Without hesitation, they participated in the event when I told them about it.

There’s one recurring theme throughout the entire learning event: Do not be average! Be excellent! Let me share a material I shared during the event. “The Average” is authored by Edmund Gaudet. Little is known of the author, but much is to be learned from his piece.

Are you average?

Average is what the failures claim to be when their family and friends ask them why they are not more successful.

“Average” is the top of the bottom, the best of the worst, the bottom of the top, the worst of the best. Which of these are you?

“Average” means being run-of-the-mill, mediocre, insignificant, an also-ran, a non-entity.

Being “average” is the lazy person’s cop-out; it’s lacking the guts to take a stand in life; it’s living by default.

Being “average” is to take up space for no purpose; to take the trip through life, but never to pay the fare; to return no interest for God’s investment in you.

Being “average” is to pass one’s life away with time, rather than to pass one’s time away with life; it’s to kill time, rather than to work it to death.

To be “average” is to be forgotten once you pass from this life.

The successful are remembered for their contributions; the failures are remembered because they tried; but the “average,” the silent majority, is just forgotten.

To be “average” is to commit the greatest crime one can against one’s self, humanity, and one’s God. 

The saddest epitaph is this: “Here lies Mr. and Ms. Average -- here lies the remains of what might have been, except for their belief that they were only “average”.

My thanks to the leadership of Binky Ocaya, ably assisted by Lylee Pascua and the Inspire Leadership team, for making the March 1 event successful. God is good, and He has blessed the event with sweet success. As I look back to that glorious day, I remind myself that the next one should be better. The work continues, and we all

should refuse to be.. average!

(Let’s stay connected! Click on to www.franciskong.com or “Like” my page at www.facebook.com/franciskong2. You can also listen to my radio program “Business Matters” aired at 8:00 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. during weekdays over “The Master’s Touch” 98.7 dzFE-FM, the classical music station.)