Goodbye March!

Finally, the four weeks of worries already ended. I believe that this month is the most critical period in this year since I literally run out of funds due to the renovation. Now that I successfully surpass it, this blog will review the status of the goals that I set for this month. In my previous blogs, I shared my monthly goals in line with the target I have for this year. I believe that by working on it on a monthly basis, it will help me to achieve all of the things that I planned for 2022. During this period, I observe how time became slow due to the productive things that I did every day. Rather than saying “I’m busy”, I found myself enjoying every single hour of the day doing things for my own self and my goals. Even though I am doing it all alone, I stick to it and became consistent.

“Planning requires effort, hard work and consistency.” – Lea Pearl

In this third month of the year, I can see how I became stronger than ever. I literally became alone when one of my colleagues moved out. That situation helped me to find happiness on my own. I continued all the things that I planned for the day and just focus on it. I didn’t let that situation bring me down but see it as an opportunity to become a better person. In this time, I realized that peace of mind is not really a place but a mindset. I experienced it on my own this month and I feel very grateful in this moment. Rather than being affected by the environment that I’m currently in, I made used of that opportunity to fixed myself within. Every month of this year literally gives me a lot of learnings and realizations. Now, as I continue what I started, I will look forward to a more meaningful months ahead of me.

“Happiness is within you.” – Lea Pearl

This will surely be a very meaningful year for me. I promise that I will make it happened and this blog will be the reminder of my journey. I may not know what my future will be, but one thing for sure is that I will continue what I started. This month of March marked the third step that I took toward my goals for this year. It was a challenging month but I’m thankful that I surpass it successfully. As I welcome another month ahead, I will continue to assess my performance in order to know the things that I still need to work on.

“In making goals, assessment and feedback will greatly help you in motivating yourself more.” – Lea Pearl

There remaining months of the year will be the start of the ideal life that I am aiming. In this journey, I will choose to inspire more individuals who find it hard to see their future due to their current situation. By means of this blog, it will show them how I was able to reach the goals that I set even if it looks like it’s impossible to attain. My journey will be their inspiration to unleash their limitations to be able to get their hopes and dreams in life.

Before assessing everything, let’s make a review on things that I planned for the month of March by checking out my previous blog about it:

Now that you have an idea on what this blog will be all about, let’s now check my progress and accomplishments for the month of March!

In this month of March, I succeeded all the plans that I set for myself. Even though I had a challenged with my finances, I made it sure that it won’t affect me emotionally, mentally and physically. By doing all the things that I must do in this month, I became more confident on myself. I really pushed myself to make time solely for my growth without any disturbance especially mobile phones. In this period, I can feel how positivity radiates within me and I’m happy that everybody who sees me acknowledge it. I received a lot of compliments about working out consistently and they even tell me that they’re inspired by it. It is just so amazing that I was able to influence the people around me. By means of that, I feel more inspired to do it consistently.

Don’t just focus on your goals, be a blessing and radiate positive things to others at the same time.” – Lea Pearl

For the month of March, these are the three things that I set for myself. It comprises with things I need to work on for my own self, places I need to go and lastly the workout routine I’ll be focusing on. Now, let’s see its status and check if I achieved it.

UNHEALTHY HABITS FOCUS: IMPROVE SELF CONFIDENCE

Last month, I shared my concern regarding self-confidence. Although It’s easy to say things that I must do to achieve it, you can’t really feel confident every single time especially in tough situations. Me as well still feel that, and I even end up questioning myself because of the flaws that I am focusing on. That’s why, this attitude of mine is very challenging for me to change right away. It will surely take time for me to overcome this, but with a positive approach, I will eventually achieve it. I know that, a lot of us experience this same situation. It may vary on how we developed it, but we still face the same challenge of having low self-esteem. In my case, it has been developed since I was in childhood. Being a middle child is one of the factors why I loss confidence on myself. The years of comparison, had dragged me in a place where I always questioned my existence.

As I grow up, I sometimes locked myself in that same space even after telling to myself how I’m worth it. Everything is still a work on progress up until this day. I’m not shy to say it because what important for me is I acknowledge it and choose to fix it. For me to efficiently work on it, I had set a rule for myself that I strictly need to follow for the month of March. By means of this, I can at least avoid negative feelings about myself. These serves as a guide for me as I work on building my confidence.

In this month, I can see that making time for my self indeed helped me to feel more confident. After my work, I always dedicate the next couple of hours for myself. I work out, do my journals, prepare a healthy snack at night and enjoy a movie before I sleep.  By doing this consistently for one month I was able to focus on things that I’m in control. Rather than wasting my time on other stuffs, I found a way to be happy on my own. These hours gave me a kind of happiness that only me can define it. I planned to continue and do more for April since I’ll have more time for myself due to the Ramadan

TRAVEL: EDUCATION CITY/ KATARA

Another thing that made this month very memorable is when me and my cousin visited Education City and when me and my partner shoot our 4^th vlog in Katara Cultural Village. It happened on the first two weeks of this month and It’s very ideal to do before the weather changed. It was really a great experience even though I had a duty the next day! I also got a chance to wear my OOTD fresh from Philippines thrift shop! Here are the pictures that we took in these two locations:

EDUCATION CITY, QATAR

KATARA CULTURAL VILLAGE

Travelling with someone close to you really gives a more meaningful experience. The moments you shared together in that place will become one of your memorable experiences. That’s how that experience impacted my life. It gives me immeasurable happiness that makes me crave more for it. These remaining nine months will surely be full of adventures and travels. I will make sure of it!

HEALTH & FITNESS: JOGGING/ JUMP ROPE/ YOGA

For the month of March, I initially planned to do Chinese Zumba, but since my Zumba partner change her accommodation, I changed it to cardio workouts. What I specifically did this month is a 30 minutes Jogging, Jump Rope and Squats. I do this workout routine right after I arrived from my work. This is also my way for me to prevent myself in wasting my time using my mobile. I usually do my workout just outside our villa, so some of the occupants see me every day working out. That’s when they time, they showered me a lot of compliments from the changes that took place in my body. I feel happy every time I hear their compliments and it became my motivation to be consistent.

Now that the weather will soon change, I will be doing indoor workout like what I did before.

“Use compliments to be more motivated and inspired. Don’t stop and be at ease. Choose to be consistent!” – Lea Pearl

In my blog March Financial Review, I shared my plans and status of my finances. There I assessed my performance and showed my expenses for the month. In that blog, I was able to see my progress and the things that I still need to work on. Having a tight budget will really teach you a lot of things. Two major things that I learned is PATIENCE & DETERMINATION. Without these two, I will surely easily give up my plans and just go on with my wants. It taught me to have the right attitude especially in achieving something. I can say that this third month can be considered a successful one in terms of my finances. Here below are the progress and status of my finances as of March:

1. ON-GOING] 1^st Insurance. Long term savings intended for emergency and health concerns situation. Will be settled on May.
2. [ON-GOING] 2^nd Insurance + Investment.  Long term savings fund intended for business and kid’s insurance. Will be settled on June.
3. [ON-GOING] SSS.  Long term savings fund intended for retirement purposes. Will be settled on May.
4. [ACHIEVED] 1^st House Rental. Intended for additional income stream.
5. [ON PROCESS] 2^ND House Rental. Intended for additional income stream.

“A budget is telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.”– Dave Ramsey

Now, here’s the status of my targets for the month of March!

IDEAL BUDGET GUIDELINES

Not only I achieved the budget I set for this month, I also saved my grocery budget. Could you imagine that I was able to manage my grocery items for two months? I actually still have a few stuffs up until the last week of March so I just decided to order everything on April 2 (Saturday). I will try to manage my items so that it can last long until the month of May. Hopefully I can achieve that since our duty will be six hours daily for the month of Ramadan. As long as I spend time at home, I think that I’ll fail to do it! Hopefully that will not be the case once the month of April start so that I can buy vitamins for me for the next month.

“The habit of saving is itself an education; it fosters every virtue, teaches self-denial, cultivates the sense of order, trains to forethought, and so broadens the mind.” – T.T. Munger

DEBT COLLECTION: SECURE DEBT

After changing the set-up for the payment, this month I received the first amount that she needs to pay. Even though I still feel bad about it, I just refuse to think of it so that it won’t affect my day. As long as she’ll pay for it on time then there will be no issue. After receiving the salary on the 27^th of March, it took days for her to reach out and give the amount that we planned. What important for me is to receive the payment that’s it. After all the settlement is done, I promise to myself that I won’t let other borrow money from me not unless there’s an assurance of payment.

Especially that I have plans and goals to achieved, I should start to say “NO”. Before thinking of them, I should consider first my capabilities and the things that may ruined if there will be challenges on his/her part. I still have three months to collect everything and I’ll make it sure that I’ll be paid this time.

FAMILY & LOVED ONES: 3RD PHASE RENOVATION/ CANVASS 2^ND HOUSE

Finally, an answered prayer!

After a year of sacrificing my wants for this dream, I finally achieved one of my goals this year which is to renovate one house rental and gain my first passive income! It still feels surreal just by thinking of it.  After achieving this goal, I feel more motivated in pursuing this kind of investment. Now I need to just ready my finances for the next house so that I can start investing in my own property. At 26, I believe that this is the right time for me to be optimistic in this path that I’d chosen. The more I will put my heart into this, dedication and commitment will come after. I also think that this is the best and ideal investment for me since I’m working overseas. As long as I achieved the budget required for a property, I need to invest on it as early as possible in order to be financially free. The only challenging will be the budget that I need to work on, but after achieving this goal, I believe that I can eventually make it happen.

My planned is to have my own property before I get married. By achieving that, at least I will have a source of income other than my salary. It will also help me to save more to other types of investment.

Here below are the current progress of the renovation as of last week of March.

Considering the things that is currently happening right now in the world, I decided to carefully assess my situations before deciding anything. Especially in dealing with my career goals that I set this year, I should not let my emotions win and jump to irrational decisions. I realized to make use of the moment efficiently and focus on things that I can do for myself. Rather than keep looking forward on things that still didn’t happen, I should be doing something today that will be a big help in my future. This is not a question of “Why them?” anymore. Trust in Him should win over my doubts. As I set my goals this year, I can say that I am doing well and in a right track. In this third of month of this year, I already achieve one goal of mine and now currently making steps to achieve the rest.

I’m happy and proud of the things that I’d done in this month. Despite of the things that I failed to do; I believe that I have more chances to make it possible for the rest of the months.

“Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. “- Proverbs 16:3“

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT: CHECK CURRENT APPLICATION

Now that I decided not to pressure myself in applying and let just focus on the things that I must do for myself, I just applied in two pre-opening properties and waited for the response from my existing application. As of March, I received some response and attended one interview. I also received a total of three rejections from my overseas application and from a pre-opening property in Lusail. Despite of the rejections, I really don’t feel about it since I always believe that what is meant for me, will be there for me no matter what happen. Here’s the current status of my application as of March:

1. Waldorf Astoria (Rejected)
2. Banana Island Anantara (On Process)
3. Marriott Canada (Rejected)
4. Accor Canada (Rejected)
5. Fairmont Qatar (Response Pending)
6. Aman Switzerland (Response Pending)
7. Qatar Airways (Response Pending)
8. The Chedi Hotel, Katara (Response Pending)

In this period, I don’t let myself be overwhelm in applying. Although there’s a lot of opportunities right now, I need to assess everything and see the pros and cons in every decision I will make. Another thing is, my career goal shouldn’t be a burden but a key motivator in my life. I should learn to trust the process and just focus on the things that I can do today.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT: STARTS DIPLOMA/TRAINING CERTIFICATES (Every Saturday)

One thing that I failed to do this month is this target. This is for the reason that there are some added reports that I must do for my team which requires time and efforts. Given the other task that I currently have, it is really a big challenge for me to do everything that I set. Another reason is that, the Ramadan period will soon start and we are pretty burdened by tasks we need to prepare for it. Once the month of April starts and I can find time for it, I planned to continue this target that I set in order to achieved my career goals for this year.

For me to stick to my industry and gain more credentials connected to it, I set different topics that will serves as a guide for me to choose a right training:

1. Management Certification
2. Hospitality (Hotel & Restaurant)
3. Food & Beverage Service
4. Food Safety Certification
5. Kitchen Management

I also need to check different training websites that offers free certification other than Alison. In this way, I can gain multiple credentials in CPD approved trainings and certifications. As long as I achieved one Diploma this year, I will successfully complete my personal development goals this year.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT: BE INTERVIEW READY!

After carefully planning the things that I must do, I successfully achieved this target by doing it. One of the things that greatly helped me to improve my communication skill is my daily job which deals with coordination with the staffs. Having a diverse team, it really challenges me to provide good and understandable communication skills. By watching as well YouTube videos about common interview question, it gave me an idea to select the right answer for it and how to handle questions professionally.

1. 8 Power Words for Your Job Interview in English WATCHED & REVIEWED
2. 10 Common Job Interview Questions and Answers (Job Interviews in English) WATCHED & REVIEWED
3. 5 Easy Ways to Sound More Confident with Assertive Language in English WATCHED & REVIEWED

I was able also to put all the things that I learned on test when I was invited for an interview in Banana Island Luxury Resort by Anantara here in Qatar. Because of thorough practicing, I was able to handle the interview well and I didn’t even feel nervous during that time. It felt like it’s just a common conversation between colleagues and I really enjoyed it. I will continue to enhance my communication skills these coming months so I can be ready for interview anytime.

YOUTUBE: WORK ON 4^TH TRAVEL VLOG

Last Month, me and my partner successfully shoot our 4^th vlog in Katara Cultural Village. The only thing that we failed to do is to edit it since I don’t have that much phone storage anymore. That’s why we just decided to edit it on April since we also have more time and just upload it on May. Now that the weather will be hotter these coming months, I think that it will affect us on shooting videos for our vlogs. Once the weather will be tolerable, we can go back and shoot more videos to upload for our YouTube channel. In terms of our account, we still didn’t yet even reach 50 subscribers but we don’t feel about it. We just want to have our own memories well-kept so that we can check it again once we grow old.

Here’s the current status and progress of our vlogs:

1. CINEMATIC 4K | EXPLORE QATAR: Msheireb Downtown Doha –January
2. CINEMATIC 4K | EXPLORE QATAR: Aspire Park –January
3. CINEMATIC 4K | EXPLORE QATAR: Souq Waqif –February
4. CINEMATIC 4K | EXPLORE QATAR: Katara Cultural Village- May

I also decided this month, not to set any targets since we’re just starting. Rather than being pressured by it, we will just focus on making more travel vlogs and advertise it at the same time.

INSTAGRAM: 1200 FOLLOWERS

One of the unexpected things that happened this month is when my Instagram account boost because of the pictures that I uploaded in Corniche. Actually, what I usually do is to set a target of 50 followers increase every month. In the month of March, I just decided out of nowhere to set a 100 increase of followers. To tell you honestly, I’m really in doubt at first but in just one day I received tons of notifications. Now, from 30-50 likes in my post before, I now get a minimum of 100 likes per post. For stories, I received a minimum of 200 views which I never experienced before. Could you imagine that I reached 1400 followers in total for the month of March? To sum up everything, I had total of 300 followers in this month alone.

Now that I have more engagements, I will make used of this opportunity to broaden my scope and reach more accounts.

Here below are my current updates in my Instagram account.

WORDPRESS:6-7 BLOGS

There are some changes that I did on my blog, rather than doing a monthly workout review, I decided to do it every two months. I find this method more effective for me to show the results effectively. Unlike the weekly update which really doesn’t show that much progress, a two-month review will be more ideal. That’s why in this month, I did an inspirational blog to replace it. I’ll do my workout progress review in this coming month and it will cover the month of March and April. Another progress for my blog is when I successfully published another travel blog which is in Souq Waqif. Now I have total of three travel blogs which I planned to continue in these coming months.

Here below are the things that I strictly need to do in this month. For me to ensure that I’ll make it happen, I assigned a day for me to achieved all of those. I will mark it in my journal, so that I can be reminded by it.

1. 6-7 Blogs
2. Share it in Instagram post & Stories
3. Published it in Facebook
4. CONSISTENTLY Share it in Pinterest
5. Share some in LinkedIn (Live to Inspire)

TIKTOK: 1000 FOLLOWERS

During the last week of this Month, I’m about to delete my Tiktok account since I think that I’m about to fail the target followers I set for March. Despite of updating consistently, I still find it hard to gather engagements in this social media platform. Now that my Instagram is doing well, I planned just to focus on it and let go of my tiktok. That day, I decided just to upload one photo slideshow and see if it ill turns out well. The next morning, I saw that I gained almost a hundred followers surpassing my 1000 target because of that video that I uploaded. Now, I realized that giving up will not be included in my choices anymore. I will continue to upload there whether I reach target or not. As long as I share my passion in photography and editing, that will be more than enough.

Now here are some of the Tiktok videos that I uploaded in the month of March.

A challenging month comes to an end and here we are again welcoming another month of the year. Even though it was tough, I am grateful for all the efforts that I put into it to make this month successful. I believe that the rest of the months will be meaningful and full of adventures.

I successfully marked DONE some of my goals for this year and all I need to work on is for the rest of my goals. It will be a tougher and challenging road for me, but I will make use this moment to work on myself and be stronger than before.

“Jesus said to him, ‘If you can believe? All things are possible for one who believes.” -Mark 9:23