My bunso is the new Myx VJ! (Mom’s excited article with FQ & other life lessons)
A couple of months ago our youngest, Anton, informed the family, “I’m joining the Myx VJ Search. And I’ll put my 100% to win this!” We all asked him more about it - what it is, what it took to win, what’s the outcome, what if he doesn’t win, etc., etc.
He answered all our questions but what struck me most was his answer to the question, “What if you don’t win?”
In gist he said, “I don’t want to think about ‘What if I don’t win?’ and ‘What am I going to do if I don’t win?’ yet.”
The risk analyst in me thought that one should always have a Plan B in the event that Plan A doesn’t work. I was expecting him to say that he might take that job offer he turned down last year who just came back to him with a higher monthly income offer. But as I listened to him, I was being enlightened. He said, “Ma, I really want to be a Myx VJ. It fits well with my current hosting, choreo, podcast engagements, and with my long-term career path. You see, I don’t want to think about ‘What if I don’t win?’ at this point. I don’t want that in my mind right now. Anyway, I still don’t have major responsibilities like dependents who will get hungry. I’ll just cross that bridge when I get there, and hopefully, I won’t get there because I will win. 
”
Focus on the goal
As we went on with the conversation, I was admiring my youngest son’s philosophy in life. He’s right! Why use energy, time and attention on something that could just take off his focus from the goal at this point when it is not necessary, and in fact might even be detrimental to winning?
And so, with this philosophy Anton went on with the Myx VJ 2019 challenge. From hundreds of applicants, he got in as one of the 12 finalists (6 males, 6 females). At least twice a week for over a month, he would go to ABS-CBN studio or other venues to do the different challenges. He did all these with gusto, sharing his adventures and misadventures with the family.
I was so thrilled that in his first vlog challenge when they were asked to talk about what’s unique about themselves, he included a discussion of the three basic laws of money! Here, watch this. Show it to your millennial and Gen Z kids, it’s a fun way to understand the laws of money!
Another vlog challenge was to interview someone relevant. He also showed his creativity by going beyond the usual sit-down interview but engaging his subject in an activity. In this video, Anton interviews another Anton – Anton Asistio, the ADMU UAAP basketball team captain!
Their other fun challenges are all in the Myx Facebook page and You tube channel.
Useless worries
Anton’s explanation of not thinking about “What if I don’t win?” reminded me of what French Renaissance philosopher Michel de Montaigne said 500 years ago, “My life has been filled with terrible misfortune; most of which never happened.”
Today, there’s a study that gives proof to this as discussed by Don Joseph Goewey, author of “The End of Stress.” It turns out that 85% of what the subjects worried about never happened. Moreover, with the 15% that did happen, 79% of the subjects discovered either they could handle the difficulty better than expected or they learned lessons from them that they wouldn’t have learned. So if we sum this up, it means that a huge 97% of what we worry about is just self-inflicted punishment to our mind and health! From an investment perspective, you wouldn’t put your resources when you know that you will lose with a huge probability of 97%! But how come we do this all the time?
What a great reminder for me. In the past few weeks, I have been thinking, more like over-thinking, about some unfavorable events which are more accurately described as some of my expectations not being met. I’m suspecting that my recent bouts of spinning dizziness could really be stressed-induced. The irony of it all is that, I ended up missing the finals of the Myx VJ Search, an event our family has been looking forward to, because of another dizziness episode. 
Here’s what I missed.
After the announcement of VJ Anton, two ladies were also announced as winners – VJ Dani and VJ Aya. Congratulations to the three new VJs!
It pays to raise your children with high FQ
In a previous article, I discussed the challenges of parents whose children are artistically inclined. (Click The Dilemma... to read article). Most of the time, we redirect our children’s career choices to the ones we’re familiar with, and those with steady income because we’re afraid that they may suffer financially. When Anton announced to us his chosen career path, it was something new to all of us. My husband and I, and our two older boys Martin and Enrique, went through the usual career path of graduating from college then landing the best first job with a steady income and good training.
It was both challenging and exciting to see how our youngest would fare in life once we cut his financial umbilical cord upon college graduation. We experienced his “Yes! I signed another hosting/choreo gig!” and “Oh wow! I’ve only booked ___ gigs and it’s almost the end of the month!” through his stories.
But the one thing that gave us, his parents, courage to let him pursue what he wants to pursue is his high FQ. And I cannot overemphasize the importance of this to parents out there. In fact, this goes out to all parents, even those whose children are not artistically-inclined. Times have changed and the way our children pursue their careers is so different now from the way we did ours. During our time, we didn’t leave our job until we found another job. During our time, we preferred employment with large and stable companies that offered the best compensation packages. Today, young employees leave their jobs once they don’t see the meaning in them. They prefer to join start-ups that have something to do with their passions.
In all of these instances, wouldn’t it be great if our children had already built a decent emergency fund that can sustain them while they’re in between jobs, or while their new venture is not yet giving them stable income?
Come to think of it, instead of just saying, “It pays to raise our children with high FQ,” it should be “It is now imperative to raise our children to have high FQ!”
I leave you with these two quotes with a wish that someday, we will all raise our children to have high FQ!
Cheers to high FQ! 
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. Mom and Son Podcast - Season 2 Episode 8 (MYX VJ SEARCH 2019)
From the bunso:
THE MYX VJ SEARCH 2019 IS DONE! I’m speechless. Our next episode (vlog-style once again) is an attempt to summarize and narrate how this rollercoaster journey has been. Thank you everyone for your support and thank you Myx for this opportunity!
#MyxVJSearch2019 #MomAndSonPodcast
You can also stream an audio version through the following links:
Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5NLY6UdOfbOFABNfmmQyp2?si=CPqbcUmZTlibpVwvHL023A
Apple iTunes
https://podcasts.apple.com/ph/podcast/mom-son-podcast-episode-1-bullying/id1449688689?i=1000427744572
Buzzsprout
https://www.buzzsprout.com/241447/1169777-mom-and-son-podcast-season-2-episode-8-myx-vj-search-2019
2. Thanks to those who already bought the FQ Book, especially to those who took the time out to send me their feedback. Your feedback is food for my soul. To those who have not gotten their copy yet, here’s a short preview of "FQ: The nth Intelligence."
You may now purchase the book in major bookstores, or if you want autographed copies, please go to FQ Mom FB page (click SHOP), or FQMom.com (click BOOKS), or email us at FQMomm@gmail.com
3. Want to know where your FQ stands? Take the FQ Test Challenge now! Click link. http://rebrand.ly/FQTest
Rose Fres Fausto is a speaker and author of bestselling books Raising Pinoy Boys and The Retelling of The Richest Man in Babylon (English and Filipino versions). Click this link to read samples – Books of FQ Mom. She is a behavioral economist, a certified Gallup strengths coach and the grand prize winner of the first Sinag Financial Literacy Digital Journalism Awards. Follow her on Facebook&YouTube as FQ Mom, and Twitter&Instagram as theFQMom. Her latest book is "FQ: The nth Intelligence."
Photos from canva.com, MYX PH Instagram account, PNGio.com, VectorStock.com and txtgroup.com modified and used to help deliver the message of the article.
