Mastery & Habits

This was a full week of learning for me.  Not only did I increase my learning in my coursework, but I increased my learning at work and both made me feel good.  I have always liked to learn new things even though the learning hasn't always come from an academic setting.  I suppose that qualifies me as a life-long learner and I like that. 

Here are some of the things I learned from this week's course materials:

"Stand True and Faithful"   Gordon B. Hinkley

No matter how much the world around us changes, we must always remain true to ourselves and those around us and remain faithful in the gospel.  President Hinkley said, "The truths of this gospel are everlasting and eternal.  Philosophies change.  Customs change.  Culture changes.  But with all of these changes, there are gospel fundamentals that have never changed and never will change." 

The current social and political climate in the United States is a perfect example of philosophies, customs and culture changing yet the gospel truths will never change.  That was an important reminder for me this week.

"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People"  Stephen R. Covey

I have never taken the time to read this book so I thoroughly enjoyed reading this summary and listening to Jim Ritchie's overview.  Here are the seven habits:

• Habit 1 - Be proactive
• Habit 2 - Begin with the end in mind
• Habit 3 - Put first things first
• Habit 4 - Think win/win
• Habit 5 - Seek first to understand, then to be understood
• Habit 6 - Synergize
• Habit 7 - Sharpen the saw

The habit that hold the most meaning for me in my life right now is to put first things first.   I struggle with time management and prioritizing my personal and work tasks.  Part of that struggle comes from things outside of my control at work that interfere with my feeble efforts to make lists and prioritize.  But as I practice and implement the four quadrants, I hope to better be able to handle interruptions as they come up and get back on track. 

There were several quotes in this book summary and my favorite was from Albert Einstein.  "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them."  I hope to change my level of thinking as I continue to learn and grow. 

Family Time

I really liked that this week's lesson materials included the importance of spending time with our families.  This week I found myself needing to make some difficult choices and the determining factor for those choices ended up being time with my family, so this week's content couldn't have been timed any better. 

Here are some things that stood out to me from this week's materials:

"Success is Gauged by Self-Mastery"  N. Eldon Tanner

I really enjoyed reading this talk by N. Eldon Tanner and found it interesting that his counsel from 1975 was very relevant and applicable today more than 40 years later.  I liked his simple explanation of the important elements in self-mastery.

"The first is to determine your course or set the sails, so to speak, of moral standards; the other is the willpower, or the wind in the sails carrying one forward."  He goes on to say that, "Character is determined by the extent to which we can master ourselves toward good ends." 

I could easily identify which element I always fall short on and it has something to do with having trouble finding my willpower when I'm trying to master a difficult thing.  I suppose that I need to spend a little more time on discovering my winds when I set out to master a piece of myself!

Another thing I really liked from this talk was the simple reminder to "Be a hundred percenter."  While he was referencing home teaching, I think this is a good motto to have in every aspect of life, especially when pursuing a business endeavor.  If you aren't willing to give everything one hundred percent, there is always a fissure for failure to creep in. 

"Loyal to to God and Family"  Jan Newman

I liked the advice given in this lecture by Mr. Newman.  He explains that your approach to business shouldn't be to run and grow your business at all costs.  That approach will lead you to compromise yourself, your family and your devotion to Heavenly Father.  He explained that there are two things you should never compromise on:

1. Never compromise your loyalty to the Lord.
2. Never compromise your loyalty to your family.

No matter how many businesses we create and impressions we leave in the world, our greatest legacy will be our family and our service to the Kingdom of God.  As a result, we should always have a willing heart & mind and never be too busy to take a calling in the church. 

"The Entrepreneur & the Family"   Steve Blank

This was a short video with a simply yet powerful message to "Make rules or the start-ups will take over your life."    Mr. Blank shared some of the rules he and his wife set for their family in order to make sure that his start-ups didn't steal valuable time meant for his family.  Here are some of his rules:

• Dinner every night at 7:00 pm with the family.
• Put the kids to bed together with his wife.
• Spend weekends with the kids.

While these rules and guidelines ensured time with his family, it didn't mean that he wasn't working.  Sometimes his kids would go to work with him on the weekends and sometimes he would work for several hours into the night after putting the kids to bed.  The main thing is that he determined that family time was important to him and he set rules and guidelines to make sure that happened. 

Passionate Opportunities

This week I have had to learn a difficult lesson on my educational journey.  I have been very fortunate so far to have instructors that care about their role as an instructor and care about my success.   This semester, I have ended up with an absent instructor and I haven't known how to deal with that.  It's been frustrating and discouraging and left me questioning several choices.  I finally had to come to the conclusion that I can't change his level of involvement but I can definitely change what I get out of the class.  I might have to spend extra time with a tutor, Kahn Academy, YouTube, and Google, but I will learn the information in this class.  While it's disappointing, I wont let this one teacher undermine my educational path.  This has also made me appreciate even more the excellent teachers I have had so far. 

Here are a few things I learned from this week's material:

"How Do You Find Your Passion & How Do You Pursue It?"  Randy Komisar

Two things stood out to me from this video.  The first was, "Rather than thinking about the passion, allow yourself to think about a portfolio of passions."  I have often struggled to find my passion in life.  But now I can look at myself as having a true portfolio of passions, because there are a lot of things that I love and am good at.   The second thing that stood out was to "Marry your portfolio of passions with the opportunities in front of you."  Now I will consider my passions a portfolio of passionate opportunities!

"A Hero's Journey" Jeff Sandefer

I really enjoyed watching this talk and came away with some great insights. 

What does a Hero's Journey mean?  It means:

• Living every moment of your life like it matters.
• Seeing struggles as adventures.
• Seeing setbacks as lessons.
• It isn't the prize at the end but how the hero is changed in the journey.  

At the end of life, only three questions will matter.

1. Have I contributed something meaningful?
2. Am I a good person?
3. Who did I love and who loved me?

In the quest to find your true mission in life, I liked his suggestion to ask five people what you do you better than anybody else.  Sometimes we forget that others observe us and can offer us insight that we might not be able to see.  I also liked his reminder to have good ethical guardrails and to surround ourselves with people of character. 

One thing he said that really stood out to me was, "Failure seen in reverse will make you stronger."  Last week I had to make a list of fears and make contingencies to face those fears if they were realized.  I think it's easy to allow our fear of failure to keep us from trying.  But jumping in and risking failure definitely provides us with the opportunities to grow and become stronger.  While I would never wish for failure, I know that I can overcome it and end up stronger because of it. 

Fears

This week forced me to do a lot of self-reflection.  Some of this was in conjunction with an assignment and some of it was out of necessity.  Both resulted in decisions that will benefit me in the now and some in the future.  It was a painful and difficult process to make those decisions but I feel like they were the right choices.  

The assignment that forced me to self-reflect was "Deconstructing Your Fears."  I had to list my biggest fears associated with a particular action, in my case, starting a business.  I then listed some strategies to overcome those fears and a way to recover should those fears become realized.  Below are my fears.

Here are some observations:

1. If you pursue your calling with discipline, intentionality, and the help of fellow travelers, what are the chances that your worst case scenario will really happen?   

Anything is possible, but the likelihood of my worse fears being realized are greatly reduced as I seek the help of others, create a solid plan, and have the support of those who matter the most.

2. As you look at your list of fears, what themes emerge?  What is at the core of what you really fear? 

I believe that the core of my fears comes from disappointing people around me and disappointing myself.  As I learn more about myself and my abilities, the only way I can disappoint myself or others is either by not giving forth my best effort.  As long as I give 100% and continue to progress, I will be successful.  

3.  What is the risk of taking no action - not following your calling?  How do you plan to deal with fear when it pops up on your entrepreneurial journey?   

The risk of taking no action is by default a failure.  While it seems safe to not take a risk or to put yourself out there, it also guarantees no chance of success.  As these fears creep into my though process, I have to remind myself that it's okay to be scared.  It is by overcoming our fears that we learn and grow the most.  I am ready for that growth.  

The other situation that required me to self-reflect and make some difficult choices was my educational path.  As I have taking classes toward my chosen degree of Business Management, I realized that it wasn't really what I wanted to do.  I didn't really have a desire to dive deep into financial accounting, statistics and economics.  While I want to be a business owner, I have no desire to run a corporation and determine preferred stock dividends.  This realization has led to a change in majors and course of study.  The end goal is still the same...get a degree.  

This week has been exhausting with all of the self-reflection and decisions that were made, but it was a good one.  I feel good about my choices and the discoveries I have made.