Last Day in the Philippines (January 18, 2026)
What we do every day shapes our destiny. That’s why I’m such a fan of Brendon Burchard’s MEDS-RX. No matter where I am in the world, I begin my day the same way:
Meditation: For the first 30 minutes of my day, I meditate. I’m partial to Insight Timer, but this can be done with or without an app — guided or unguided. Since I started, that 496 days totaling more than 17 thousand minutes (and 386 days consecutively).
Exercise: The next 30 minutes are dedicated to exercise. This used to be mostly running, but now I alternate between weight lifting, yoga, karate, swimming, biking, kayaking and anything that gets my heart pumping and muscles moving.
Diet: I’m mindful what I put into my mouth. “We are what we eat” is more accurate than I at first realized. In my 20s and 30s, I could eat Snickers, Cool Ranch Doritos and all the Fat, Sugar and Salt I could find. In my 40s I hit 265 pounds and was forced to change my eating so that I could live to 100 at 185 pounds. Protein, vegetables and intermittent fasting has helped extend my life.
Sleep: I never used to value getting 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night. Only once I began prioritizing sleep did I finally begin to see the real and devastating impact of sleep deprivation. It’s not about when I choose to get up in the morning, it’s about when I choose to go to bed that has been the game changer (and life extender).
Relationships: Not a day goes by that I don’t deepen a relationship with someone who matters to me. Some times this is my wife and kids. Other times it’s my own parents (or in-laws). Still other times it’s my closest friends. And others it’s a new relationship … planting a seed that will continue to grow in time.
X-Factor: Whatever is most important to me. This is the “one thing” that will impact everything else. This could be writing my next book, working on refining my purpose, adjusting my financial freedom, or whatever is the top of my priority list and likely impacts every other part of my life in some measurable way.
Every day? Yes. What we do every day determines our destiny. This is why my daily habits are critical to me. No matter whatever else I have planned in a 24 hour period, you can trust that this comes first. And there’s often variety because of where I am in the world. For example, today I meditated to an incredible sunrise on the Philippine Sea … from a boat house (thanks to Sarah Medilo). It looked like this:
After my meditation, I decided to go for a swim in the Philippines Sea … for 30 minutes. According to my Apple Watch, I swam half a mile (at a moderate pace). Mind you, at my peak in 2017, I swam 2.2 miles in just over 80 minutes, but that was part of my 140.6 mile Ironman. This was an exploratory vacation swim. I used a fishing line as my swim line and swam out from the boat house for 15 minutes, then turned around and swam back. By 6:30am I had completed my meditation and exercise (and got a full 7.5 hours of sleep).
Breakfast with Sarah Medilo and Apa Alviar
What a great start to my day. Breakfast satisfied Diet, Relationships and X-Factor as we each discussed where we are in our lives and what we see as possible in the future. So, to be clear, by around 8am, I had completed my daily ritual of MEDS-RX and I still had a full 12 hours before I needed to be at the Manila airport to fly to Sydney, Australia. What shall we do with the time?
This is a near perfect day for me (the only thing missing is not being with my wife and kids, of course). Even though I’m not “working” per se, I’m using my natural gifts and talents to be in service to my fellow coaches. As we dream into our collective futures, beautiful things begin to emerge. And then we must take the banana hat picture:
Banana hat picture for the Philippines. Check!
And so the banana hat lives! What started as having fun in real life back in the UK on July 19th (see related post) continues some twenty odd countries later. That’s just a guess, of course. The original plan was to travel to 52 countries in as many weeks. But I’ve lost count once we left Europe and began Southeast Asia.
What is still left to do, however, is pack up and travel north to Manila. Remember how we left at 5am yesterday? Today (Sunday) we are going to drive in the middle of the day and need to leave time for regular traffic (as well as those who are headed back to Manila after a get away weekend). But since we didn’t leave at the break of dawn, we can enjoy the time we do have.
When we do end up heading out, there’s one important stop we need to make …
Stopping at a local fruit stand to hand pick the best of the best.
Above, Mik (Sarah’s husband) enjoys fresh coconut milk as the rest of the fruit is examined and purchased.
This is the essence of the “road trip” isn’t it? Rather than speed running to get to where we need to be, this is about taking the time to connect with what’s important … like family businesses we want to support.
And this was also an opportunity to meet Apa’s wife, Kathy, who sings in a professional choir (which is why she couldn’t join Apa and the rest of us on the boat house). Kathy is also a coach in addition to raising her children and home schooling them. They live in a town called Santa Rosa. I love this because Santa Rosa, California is where I grew up. Look mom, I’m back in Santa Rosa … Philippines.
Taking a picture in front of the Santa Rosa (Village) housing complex
Meeting Apa’s wife, Kathy, in their home along with their kids & mom
Dakila (pictured above) received a really cool formal jacket and was modeling for us. We gave him a cane so that he could really give us a bit of the runway show. Then, Alpa, Kathy, Sarah and I took a group shot as we were all together in one spot.
And after that, Mik, Sarah, and Dakila dropped me off at the Manila airport so that I could fly to my next stop, Sydney Austrailia. What an incredible journey in the past 48 hours. As I was getting my bags checked-in I saw the sunset through the airport window.
Catching the sun set through an airport window
It’s rare for me to catch a sunrise and sunset in the same day. Even through an airport window, I take a moment to slow down and practice gratitude for the wonderful day I’ve had (and continue to have) as I wrap up my time here in the Philippines. Just over a week here and it feels like I’ve been living here for months. Time has a way of doing that when we manage to live life to the fullest. I’m leaving with some incredible memories of the Philippines. I’ve truly enjoyed my time here and know I’ll be back for a return visit.
