living the things that matter to me

"What Matters Most" is about the definition of my person and the things that matter to me. It tells about my roles as a family member, friend and student. In order to perform each role, I have personal values that govern me like love for my family, friends and studies. I perform my roles because I have the personal mission of becoming a successful person with a happy family, lots of friends and a satisfying career in business. The book tells that I will have what matters to me when who I am and who I want to be match my perception of reality.
I found the book especially important when it tries to have me define who I really am. It is often frustrating when I encounter this question because the first person I am supposed to know fully well is myself. The frustration grow all the more when I cannot even answer it. Thankfully, reading this book has helped me give more focus on myself so I may define myself as a family member, for instance. It is not enough that I am the first born of my parents. There is also more to being the eldest among three siblings. As a first born, I realized that I have the responsibility of looking over my younger brothers in my parents’ absence. My parents cannot be always there for us because of their respective jobs, so I can take charge in giving my brothers some adult guidance. If not for the book, I will not have felt the essential need to be a little parent to my siblings.
It is important that this little parental role on my part matches my beliefs in reality. Seeing how my mother would go restless and, sometimes, sleepless in fulfilling her duties, I believed that it’s difficult to be a parent. However, every moment she brings the youngest to his swimming lessons, or the elder brother to school, I know that the duty is done out of love. This came to me when I think hard why my parents did not have to hire a driver. They can, of course, but chose not to since they want to keep in greater touch with me and my brothers. That is a reality with parents: they do their duty out of love. When it becomes my turn to look over my siblings, I feel that my role should be filled with love to make the adult guidance more realistic. The book shows that this can be done if my vision meets reality.
As a student, in my personal life and later as a professional, I should match my personal definition and the things that matter to me. As a student, it matters to me to study well in all subjects. This is because I see excellence in subjects as an accomplishment of good education. With good education, I can fulfill my mission of becoming a business professional. My business engagement will be my means to become an agent of social transformation. Also, in my personal life, my social circle matters to me. My relationship with my family is a tie that cannot be cut. Meanwhile, my relationship with my friends is a tie that must grow stronger. These relationships enrich my values and help define myself as a social being. My mission is to reach out to more people, and that is possible if I relate well with the persons nearest me. Later in my career, I see that my aim of good studies will somehow reflect on my aim to become a business professional. My desire to excel in school will hopefully give me enough concentration to carry on until after graduation. I know that if it becomes habitual on my part, it becomes a part of my character. It is important to form the habit of excellence because this is a key to my success as a professional. I can only be realistic with my goal to succeed when my personal values figure well early in my life.
Everyday is a moment to live the things that matter to me. When I am in school (as always I am), my daily goal is to excel in all subjects. I realize that by preparing for the class. This in itself is a preparation to my future in business. When I am at home, my daily goal is to be more parent-like to my siblings, especially when my parents count on me to look after my brothers. I realize this by giving adult guidance, all done with love. I hope to be a good parent soon, and playing an adult role to my siblings is a good preparation. In the company of friends, my daily goal is to spend quality time relating with them. This way, I can enhance my experience as a friend as well as a person. Fun times, petty fights, sharing and caring are important goals that I want to help me when I meet more people soon. Shaping a habit out of these will define the person that I am and that I want to be.