Being positive

By Kelvin King Lee

I attended a seminar last week where Rico Hizon gave a talk on Leading in a Cross-Cultural environment. Mr. Hizon is currently the only Filipino broadcaster in BBC World News (British Broadcasting Corporation).

The Asian Business Report, the TV show which he anchors, is considered to be one of the most well-respected and widely watched business news show on Asia. When asked how someone could become as successful as he was, he said "you always have to be happy." The reason he did so well in BBC, which is a multi-cultural office filled with people from all over the world, was because he always injected a positive aspect into the workplace. He avoided cynics and infected his unit with optimism.

I loved his talk so much I told my girlfriend about it. I was going on and on about how we should have more Filipinos like Mr. Hizon, instead of the millions of depressed and cynical people here, and how the Philippines was such a negative place. I didn't notice that I had been ranting and complaining about our country for a good 15 minutes or so, until she touched my elbow and quietly told me that I was being negative now.

That floored me.

I had become exactly what I didn't want to be. A cynic. A whiner and complainer who can't even seem to say nice things about his own country. I looked through some of my articles in the last few years and it confirmed what I had just figured out. I was a cynic.

But that didn't mean I had to stay one. If there is one thing I have learned from Rico Hizon's talk is that being positive can move mountains. Mr. Hizon's secret weapon was his positive, can-do attitude, which was infectious. It made me feel like I could do anything. Imagine if we could multiply that feeling, that attitude a million-fold and infect all Filipinos.

Being positive isn't an isolated thing. A positive attitude played a key role for Colin Powell, a former Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff and former Secretary of State. One of his mottos is "perpetual optimism is a force-multiplier." A force-multiplier is a term referring to a factor that increases and multiplies the effectiveness of a group or unit.

Optimism, or being positive, essentially makes people more effective. And optimism was what made Colin Powell a great success.

A recent bestselling book written by Rhonda Byrnes entitled "The Secret," claims to hold the key to becoming a great success. The Secret is basically the Law of Attraction. You attract to yourself what you think. "It works like a magnet," says Bob Proctor, an expert on the Law of Attraction, "drawing to you what you put out." So if you think positively, positive things happen to you. You think negatively, negative and obviously BAD things will happen to you.

And just in case you haven't noticed, we are a country of very negative people. We think badly, and negatively of our government. We think negatively of our country (admit it, how often do you say nice things about the Philippines when you go abroad?). We even think negatively about ourselves as a people. Why else would so many want to leave and change citizenships?

If we are going to change this country, it's clear it starts within ourselves. And it starts within ourselves by being positive. So I say it's time to make a change. Let's stop being cynics and being so down about the Philippines. Let perpetual optimism multiply the effectiveness of the Filipino people. Let positive thoughts attract positive things in our lives. Let's do what Rico Hizon does and "always be happy."

Be positive. And maybe, just maybe, we can change the Philippines, for the better.