Hello Pangyaos, let me tell you a story that impacted my life.

In college, I took a class called Vector Analysis. It’s a subject in Higher Mathematics that focuses on the differentiation and integration of vector fields (alright, I was a nerd). One day, our professor, Ms. Adecer, told us she would leave for a week. She needed someone to take over the class.

She asked if anyone was interested; the one who took up the task would be exempted from the midterm exam. I was not enthusiastic about writing on the board using chalk, so I passed up the offer.

Some volunteered. Our professor had to pick the right one. She decided on Ferdinand; he was good at maths but not our brightest. Gilbert – the best at maths – also volunteered, but wasn’t picked. He wasn’t happy.

“Ma’am, I’m the best here. I deserve to be the one taking over the class!” Gilbert exclaimed passionately, questioning our professor’s decision. But Ms. Adecer was confident. After asking Ferdinand to leave the room temporarily, she turned to Gilbert and asked, “Do you see that small truck?” Outside the window, she pointed to a truck parked beside our university gate (UST),  “Tell me what’s inside it.”

In our life journey, we cannot overemphasise the value of planning and using time wisely, or the importance of being organised and calm

– Ron

Gilbert scratched his head, but immediately got up and left, running down the stairs (we were on the 2nd floor) and across the courtyard until he reached the gate. After asking the truck driver, he ran back to the classroom and said, “Ma’am, the truck contains ball pens.”

“What else?” asked Ms. Adecer. Gilbert quickly ran back, asked the driver again, and ran back to class. “Ma’am, it has notebooks,” he declared, whilst catching his breath. 

“What else?”  Ms. Adecer asked again. Off he went again. Back again. “Ma’am, they also have bond papers,” Gilbert said, wiping away his sweat.

“What else?”

At that point, the whole class was already having fun. We were laughing beyond belief and amazed at what was happening. Ran again. Back again. “The truck also has… hah… hah… hah (really tired and gasping for air), rulers… hah… hah…”

 “What else?” 

This time, Gilbert just walked and almost crawled back. “Ma’am… hah…hah (almost fainting from exhaustion), the truck has… hah… hah… books”.

“What else?”  Ms. Adecer asked for the n^th time. “Ma’am… can I rest for a while… please?”  Gilbert begged.

At this point, our professor asked Ferdinand to come back into the classroom.“What happened to him?” he asked, seeing Gilbert sitting on the floor, still catching his breath. Ms. Adecer didn’t answer. Instead, she posed the same question to Ferdinand, “Find out what’s inside that small truck.”

Instead of running out immediately, Ferdinand slowly returned to his desk, took a few things, and casually walked out to the truck. The class waited patiently, expecting the same ‘what else’ comedy and drama upon his return. After a few minutes, he was back.

“Ma’am, inside the truck,” he began, taking out and reading from a small piece of paper he had written on (I realised then that he must have taken the paper and pen from his desk before leaving), “are writing tools like ball pens and pencils, pads, notebooks, drawing cartolinas, bond papers, reference books, dictionaries, folders, envelopes, measuring tools like rulers and protractors, small batteries, and calculators…”

He paused. “In short, Ma’am, that small truck contains school supplies and materials.” 

“Thank you, Ferdinand,” said Ms. Adecer. 

We looked at the scene silently with eyes – and in some cases, mouths – wide open. He did it in one go. WOW!!!! Ang galing!! And he wasn’t even tired.

 “How did you do it?” Ms. Adecer asked Ferdinand. “I requested the driver to open the truck to see what was inside. Saved me a lot of time!” Ferdinand smiled.

This happened many years ago. I’m not sure where Ferdinand and Gilbert are now (maybe both in the school supplies business), but the lessons we all learned from that moment were outstanding.

One can be the brightest and the best in their field, but if they do not plan their activities and manage their time, they will accomplish only the minimum using maximum effort.

In our life journey, we cannot overemphasise the value of planning and using time wisely, or the importance of being organised and calm.

In any endeavor that we take, or in anything that we do in life, we will get the best results by:

• Making a plan
• Developing the best use of our time
• Being less impulsive and instead becoming a thinker
• Being calm and organised
• Asking the right questions
• Knowing and understanding the expectations of a task
• Starting a task with the end result in mind

 And there might be some more. Can you think of what else?