A video of a fight between a columnist and a celebrity couple has gone viral in youtube. It’s really sad how civilized, well-known, sophisticated people get involved in such a brainless fiasco. Why does one fall into this trap?
1) Pride
The Bible says, Pride goes before destruction, (Proverbs 16:18)
It is when we are full of ourselves that we tend to think that we’re above everyone else. Knowing our tendency to be proud can ground us to reality. The same Bible also says that Humility comes before honor. (Proverbs 15:33)
2) Lack of Character
“Competence is what makes us successful, Character is what keeps us successful.”
It takes a lifetime to build your reputataion but only a moment to destroy it.
Without character, the buildings we erect — no matter how tall and large they are — will fall.
3) Our Nature
Paul says in Romans 7, For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
It means that we should have a dependence on God knowing that He’s the only one who can help us defeat our sinful nature. Without God’s help, we will always go back to it, no matter how good we think we are.
When something similar happens to you, Remember that, “Anger falls one letter short of Danger.”
EQ is your Emotional Quotient; it’s how well you handle your emotions in times of distress. Research says that EQ is 24 times more powerful than IQ. Wow! No wonder people are so illogical. How many times have you heard the line…I Love You…only to see the relationship end. Statistics say that this happens to 50% of married couples. Sad.
Going back to our failed business adventure, with all the problems brewing, the worst is when I have to talk to seven investors who lost all their money. Around P300, 000 to P800, 000 each. This is probably the most difficult thing I have ever done in my professional life. I can still recall the agony of it all. The sleepless nights! The fear of receiving a text message from them…or worse a call. My experience made me so much tougher mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Good thing I didn’t need to be tougher physically as there were no glasses or fists thrown at me.
(I’ll share some tips about this in a future blog entitled How to talk with angry people. Can you think of a better title in a situation like this? Guess not.)
John Maxwell sums up the importance of our emotions in his book Failing Forward. He mentions that “There is one major difference between average people and successful people … it’s their reaction to failure.”
Kat was due in three weeks. I found out that the remaining balance we owe for our leased space in a certain mall was around P350, 000. Our bankrupt company has P100, 000 left, so it took me another 2 weeks to raise the remaining P250, 000 deficit. Lo and behold when I returned with the full balance, accounting told me that there is an interest of P70, 000 for the 2 weeks delay. For those of you less cunning readers, that’s an interest of P5, 000 per day. Our store is already close at this time with no operation.
I talked to the lease managers several times almost begging them not to add interest. All to No Avail! (I won’t mention which mall did this. Lets just say that they were this greedy even though, “They have it All!”)
I had to drain all our savings to lend it to the company so that we can start dismantling the facility w/ no further interest & sell the dismantled items. Money I was reserving for Kat’s delivery.
First rule in adversity: Never Panic! I forced my mind to think of ways to raise money without incurring any more debt. After three days, our hospital bill came out at P85, 000. When all was said and done, we ended up having almost three times the amount we needed. In three Days!
When your facing incredible odds toward success, think of your love ones so that you can get strength from the adversity. And do not stop believing in yourself because if you do, then no one will. By the way, after two years, the mall hasn’t found anyone to rent our space until now.
