#MUNIonThis: In putting together nearly 40 MUNI Meetups in the past couple of years, we realized that something we haven’t directly done something dedicated to mindset or the psychological well-being.
And so with our recent meetup on Mindful Life + Work, and this most recent meetup on Motivation, we aimed to provide our community of cause-driven creatives and entrepreneurs extra emotional strength that technical business how-to’s can’t provide.
The evening began with a quick introduction on MUNI and Motivation by MUNI’s Jen Horn, and then attendees broke out into support groups for various causes including: 1) Community / Livelihood Development with Joanna Cancio of Human Nature, 2) Conscious Consumption / Sustainable Production with Kc Coling of MUNI, 3) Accessible Quality Education with Lynn Pinugu of Mano Amiga, 4) Healthy Food & Nutrition with Jaq Abergas of Jertie’s Kitchen, 5) Mobility & Livable Cities with Julia Nebrija of VivaManila.
We can summarize some of the evening’s lessons through these 6 main tips on keeping on keeping on for your cause or mission:
#1 Surround yourself with enablers. We can’t emphasize the importance of a support group enough, and that’s precisely why we organize MUNI Meetups.
The room was filled with them, and each facilitator / group reporter later echoed the necessity of having other like-minded individuals to gather strength and courage from. Julia Nebrija of VivaManila shared:
“Common to all of us is the need for communities like this, and when we hit those road blocks for motivation, coming together and being reinforced by the positivity of others is really powerful.”
#2 Remind yourself why it matters and who you do it for. Lerizze Dizon of Project Lingap shared, “As a social entrepreneur, it’s so easy to be fixated with fixing your business, getting your product or service ready that you forget the heart of the business“.
She reminded us not to put the burden on our shoulders too, because it is the communities we seek to help that we can also draw strength and support from.”Every time you’re with them, you’re actually learning more,” she added. So when your purpose gets a little murky, clarify and re-start with your why.
#3 Manage your naysayers. Jen Horn also reminded attendees that naysayers exist because sometimes: (1) They are insecure about themselves / threatened by your potential success or forward-thinking-ness. (2) They are the voice of reason to keep craziness / flightiness at healthy levels. (3) They are also just voices of people who care about you and are worried about you.
When these Debbie Downers come your way, try to decipher the intention behind the words they speak, and perhaps, you can turn your naysayers into your allies.
#4 Recall how you overcame challenges & own your successes. When people give us a vote of confidence or acknowledge us for the work we do, reluctant changemakers may often suffer from the Impostor Syndrome and feel undeserving of praise or accolades.
However, when we take the time, as we did in this meetup, we realize we can push past difficult times, and that we have the skills to push forward, and that it is mostly our mindset and fear that holds us back. So when you do succeed, relish that moment, and use that as a deposit in your motivation & courage bank.
Gela Aquino reporting her group’s summary of insights and overcoming reservations about public speaking! 🙂
#5 Break down barriers & create ripples. In sharing the action steps for her group, Alexa Cancio said that their goal would be to: “Consistently communicate sustainable living as positively as possible. Be more open about what you’re doing. Tell people who they can support. And don’t just tell people what’s bad then not give them a solution or tell them who to approach.”
Not until we put ourselves out there, and until we live our lives in a way that we wish others to live too do we effectively effect change, get affirmation for the work we do, and get inspired to soldier on. Alexa ended by saying:
“We get motivated by affirmation, and it’s when you see the impact of what you do or when you see other people emulating the things you do. With every minute there is a chance to be a ripple effect.”
#6 Love yourself (cheesy, but essential). Without question the favorite takeaway from the night came from Lynn Pinugu of Mano Amiga, who was amazed to find that they didn’t talk so much about education in their cluster as much as they talked about self-love. She shared:
“A good education is important for a person to reach self-actualization, and sometimes, because schools focus too much on grades and being competitive, it breeds people who are afraid to fail. It breeds people who measure their self-worth based on their achievements in school, and later on, based on their achievements in life. When in fact that’s not where your self-worth lies.”
While measuring knowledge is important, to build resilient individuals, what educators, parents, and friends (this means all of us) really need to do is to teach people how to embrace failure and challenges, and that it is okay to make mistakes, as long as we pick ourselves back up. Simply begin again. 🙂
Join us for the next MUNI Meetup on August 3, 2016 from 6PM-9PM at A Space Makati. Subscribe to our events and sign up for a free membership for our bi-monthly MUNI Mail.