ManilaTao - Our Social Sabbatical Experiences: Linggo 2

Personal Growth:

While going on the Social Sabbatical I thought long and hard on the things I hope to gain from this experience and had noted "improve patience" as one of the items. It was ironic that at Messy Bessy we were asked to share our experiences on patience. I am glad that this was the value on which we had to do some research and I do take-away a few learnings.

Vince shared his journey through pain, perseverance and commitment to complete the Great Wall Marathon of 2014. He talked of how after running 30+ kms the marathon, runners had to climb 5000 steps before continuing to run to the finish line. He explained the training and the personal sacrifices he had to make - before being in a physical and mental state - to be able to complete a marathon of this size and scale.I found a study by Stanford Researchers that explained how patience relates to success. And also a found a guide on how to cultivate patience which I shared with the learners. DJ presented what instances in his country test his patience and how he overcame them.

Work :

Messy Bessy asked us to look into their supply chain and inventory processes and suggest recommendations so as to improve their operational efficiency. We talked to Mira from Supply Chain, Santa from systems, Jeff from production, Arjay from purchasing,Glenn from Inventory, Ms. Soc from Finance, Analyn and Domnique from sales to understand the nuances of each process. We then documented the flows and played it back to ensure we understand correctly. We also worked a little bit on their IT wishlist and recommendations.Was overall a pretty structured and productive week. We hope to keep the momentum going next week as well.

Play:

Lesson learnt:
When given a helmet to wear while rafting, check if the size is ok before heading out! Successfully wore the helmet for 2 hours, but the minute I went under the waterfall, it flew away!

We did some travelling on Chinese New year and the weekend. We went to Intramuros, the oldest and historic part of Manila. Also did a trip to the Pagsanjan waterfalls in the Laguna district. This needed us to go upstream in snake boats and then raft underneath a waterfall into a cave. Was a spectacular ride and is the kind of place where natural beauty silences you and you soak it all up! Also visited the Legsapi Sunday Market and saw the Messy Bessy store doing brisk business.Here are some pictures from the weekend escapade: