Journal of the Month

By:  Miguel Luis Santos Curato

Character Development, a Game Changer

I’m here to share the realization that turned my life around for the better.

Before I chanced upon a job opening with QSS, I was a college student who wished time would fly by so that I could finish school and focus on my band’s musical gigs.

Music and sketching were my passion and creativity was my only tool. I only wanted to sketch animated characters and play the guitar. 

Back home, my band would play in shopping malls, mass events, private gatherings, cultural shows, and of course, universities. I was earning a meager amount from all these engagements and I thought, I was already doing great. 

My parents told me that in order to succeed, I should follow my passion. I lived by that perspective, however, I failed to discern the substance of what they said.  So I went on following my passion without discipline, goal-setting, and timelines. I felt like at the age of nineteen, I had the whole world in my grasp. 

I continued pursuing Fine Arts while spending more time in my band’s paid and unpaid engagements. I would often skip classes and miss school submission deadlines, while my bandmates seriously juggled between the band and their studies. Slowly, I was being left behind.

In 2020, Covid 19 came to rise. My mom who is an Overseas Filipino Worker in Qatar had just opened her Café.  I was a witness to how she struggled to sustain the Café operations between restrictions and the quarantine period. I helped by leading the acoustic band on weekends, but with pay. I didn’t even consider offering free help for my mom. The Café could not sustain its operations and closed down in 2021 while I never returned to school.

Clueless about where I was headed, I ended up drinking and stress-eating with friends. I put on weight and looked much older than I was.  I was living a very unhealthy lifestyle and was unable to get a good night's sleep.  Even though my existence focused on having fun, I defined fun as drinking, eating, playing video games, and getting into trouble.  Music and sketching were the only activities that might be deemed beneficial for me. 

I thought that was life. No matter how my parents tried to fix me, I remained stubborn. Maturity hit me hard and late. I was the epitome of a loser who was squandering his life and all the favorable opportunities that my parents could provide. I was wandering the wilderness of nothingness, reaching nowhere.

My first band “disbanded” in 2022 and soon after, I left my other band. My bandmates became busy juggling gigs and school. I continued to be the person in his twenties without a plan, sitting in the darkness, alone.

Even though, in retrospect, I knew it was all my fault, I still did nothing to try and change it. I was unwilling to take the proper advice from the right people. I relied on my own misguided viewpoint and the delusion that everything would simply go my way.    

In the year 2022, it seemed like everyone else was busy while I was actually sitting around doing nothing.  My parents hardly made their usual daily calls due to work.  My two sisters were engaged in online classes the whole day and night in their own rooms. My bandmates and friends had their own after-school and in-class commitments. Even my cat "Ken" spent each day exploring the entire subdivision.

At that point, I finally told my mother that I was open to moving to Qatar to work.  In October 2022, I landed at QSS and was entrusted the post of IT Coordinator at none other than the largest sporting event of the year, the “FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™”. In the short period of engagement, I learned the value of discipline and taking responsibility as I was tasked to train the Cashiers on how to use the POS, arrange the POS hardware, install the POS software, and coordinate with the bank for the payment system.  

Socializing is an activity that I do in a limited circle, but I learned that once you are in the workplace, you need to be actively engaged as an employee. In eight months since I joined QSS, I have blended well with the head office team and started participating in HR and Welfare initiatives. I am able to utilize my musical flair during employee events and programs. 

I never imagined myself in an eight-to-five office job but I am doing it now with tremendous interest.  When I am sent to do a task that I am not confident to deliver, I would still go for it. I learned that it is better to attempt, fail, and learn than to give up and remain secure and stale. 

My job in QSS is a dream job because I am able to utilize my creativity wherever it is needed.  I have been appointed recently to render creative assistance in the company’s employee newsletter, for which I am now sharing my own tale. 

I have been blessed to be surrounded by QSS employees whose life and work tales radiate a positive influence. I have been exposed to employees of diverse cultures, which has allowed me to pick up best practices from across the world. Remembering that “knowledge is power”, so I am writing down notes.

I must admit that I used the character development of my peers in order to push myself to become better. Call it jealousy, insecurity, or self-pity but it had a positive impact on me.  I could not handle the fact that I had been left behind by my bandmates and friends and that the band appeared to be doing more favorably without me. This helped me realize how much one's character determines success. A degree can put you in the game with relative ease, but success in there depends on your character.  

I have yet to call myself successful in my field, but I have drawn short-term to long-term plans to support my job and my passion.  And yes, I have just started living a healthier lifestyle by losing weight, sleeping on time, and taking work seriously. 

With all sincerity, it was my improved character that turned my life around. Thanks to the opportunity extended to me by QSS, my parents who never gave up on me, and the company of positive and experienced co-workers.