People I admire. People I chase after. - Kai Elmer Sotto & Dado Banatao
05/17/24
My mentor, kai elmer sotto, who I deeply admired for years and who i havent spoken to in half a decade for fear that I wasn’t worthy yet to reach out taught me something the other day.
I reached out to say thank you for putting me on this journey .
For telling me I have no excuse not to dream bigger as a 17 yr old kid from the PH.
"If Dado Banatao can do it, what the fuck is your excuse!?"
WIth just a few conversations in 2013, he altered the trajectory of my dreams, my actions, and my values.
At 28, I reached out to say I realized what he was doing to me 11 years ago as I started doing it to the younger generation.
He was testing my willpower & strength of character by asking me to do simple things.
I wasn’t expecting him to respond - I just wanted to say thank you for the amazing life I've had so far. It's been a wild ride full of love and excitement. I simply wanted to say "Thank you for your kindness".
The most I hoped for was “You’re welcome!” or “Keep it up!”
He gave me advice instead.
The most powerful one was:
State > Story > Strategy
Having the best state of mind & heart gives you better stories for the self which in turn gives better stories for your family and team.
And when you have better stories, better strategies are thought of and executed.
11 years ago if someone told me this, I would have rolled on the floor laughing.
But it is true. I’m seeing it happen as I write this.
I worked hard on my state over the last half decade and more so in the last year
But what unlocked it for me is when I worked hard on my story again.
I reflected and journaled intensely (slept 3 hours a day writing for a weekend ).
I wrote my story from the point of view of my best state of mind and heart.
Then my story became our story.
I’m excited by my story and Expedock’s story and now the team is excited again by our collective story.
We will fail at times but we will never fucking stop trying.
The narratives we tell ourselves becomes the narratives of our companies and our communities.
I went from "I'm afraid to burn out again" to "I love the burning" in a weekend.
I went from "I'm afraid to work until 5 to 7am again" to "I know I can pick myself up and laugh about it. I have the willpower and courage to do so. I've done it. My wife, brothers, parents, and friends love me and I love them" in a weekend.
And with better collective stories come better strategies - both in thought and action.
I see the narrow path through the storm again.
My sight is back. My will is stronger than ever.
It’s fucking wild. It’s powerful.
I leveled up. My team is leveling up.
I promised Kai that i'd pay his kindness back by paying it forward.
It will be the best ROI of his time.
A few stories, belief, and kindness will lift all the boats.
I'll make sure of it and Expedock will make sure of it.
Holy shit. We’re unstoppable again.