71st UAAP Cheer Dance Competition

Owning a piece of Uncle Sam

I opened a U$ Savings Account with BDO this week. Actually I wanted to open it with BPI, but Ms. Pebbles Lichauco of BDO's Trust and Investments Group convinced me otherwise.

The thing is opening a US dollar savings account with BDO requires a minimum deposit of $200 only! About P9,250 - An affordable amount for the average Filipino. What I wanted with this account is that every time I receive my $$$ from one of my income streams, I will deposit half of it in a $$$ savings account.

By August 31, 2009 I hope to have a $15,000 in this account.

Kevin vs. David*

*A modern day version of the David vs. Goliath story. The only difference is David lost this time, not to a Goliath, but to a Kevin.

After finishing Kevin's book, I decided to finish reading a book on the same concept as Kevin's book - inspiration and motivational - but written by someone academic. David J. Schwartz has a Ph. D. It was just a product of my curious mind and how these two people will discuss the same subject. Here goes ...

First, the similarities. Both authors talked about attitude towards life, work, people and situations. Interestingly, they espoused the same idea - that, our attitude towards everything will determine how successful we will become. For example, Dr. Schwartz talked about how successful people have the ability to rise above their failures and capitalize on these failures to learn anew and improve their game. Kevin, on the other hand, talked about how the word attitude sum up to 100% if you substitute each letter by the number they correspond if A=1, B=2.
There are more similarities in the book.
Second, the differences. Undoubtedly, the two authors have different style. What I like about Dr. Schwartz's style is that at the end of each chapter, he summarizes the key points. Kevin, on the other hand, has a more conversational tone and that he made the book like a worksheet with all the blank lines where a reader can write his or her views which made the book very personal.

Someday, I will meet these guys and shake their hands. That day will give me the opportunity to thank them for the insights they have shared.

A Book Review: Winning the Game of Life

Certainly, many of us, somewhere down the road, have lost our passion to achieve whatever we have decided to in the beginning of the journey. Many of us lost hope, lost energy, lost the drive or simply gave up.

Kevin’s book, which he affectionately called THE BOOKTM, presents 18, yes 18, secret weapons anyone can use to win the game that is called life. These weapons are very simple – so simple that a person would no higher-education can interpret and easily apply to his or her daily life.

Kevin, to be fair, is certainly not an academic. There were a lot of misspellings and wrong grammar in the book. THE BOOKTM will undoubtedly not win any prizes for the most correctly written book.

Kevin, however, delivered. What matters is that I learned - he communicated well in spite of the several wrong spelling and grammar in THE BOOKTM. Right now, I can’t say whether I will achieve whatever Kevin managed to while applying these 18 weapons. All I know is that I have my dreams, and I am now taking the risks of realizing them. Maybe, I’ll see him at the top or pass him on my way there.

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For a copy of Kevin Abdulrahman’s book, ‘Winning the Game of Life’, please contact Liza at +639209515051 or amgaspar20@yahoo.com. Master the secret weapons, be inspired and start winning!