Last Lecture

Brothers and sisters, it has been a great semester.  This has been my favorite college course thus far in my scholastic journey.  The fact that I loved it so much, reinforces within me that I am on the right path in the journey of life.  This excites and comforts me.  Why did this class resonate so much within me?  It taught me some different pathways I can pursue to reach my dreams of entrepreneurism. Since I am able to now, leave you with my last bits of advice upon entering this entrepreneurship program, let’s get to it! First, take the time to do all the readings.  Sure, you can skim the information and get the idea, but you will learn and digest the material so much better if you read, highlight, and take notes.  I feel like the readings were so interesting and they held my attention.  I challenge you to go the extra mile, print out each reading, and devour it.  The things you will learn in school, specifically this class will help you be strong and confident and succeed in the business world.  Second,  keep up with your blog posts.  I have enjoyed rambling on in my posts.  I reread them all the other day and really enjoyed the review of the semester and what I thought would be the most useful to me.  As you continue on this degree path, remember your priorities and motivation.  Go the extra mile.  Never settle for the bare minimum.  I feel like this plan in life will only result in success.  Third, my advice for you is to never give up.  This applies to your education and your dreams, your family and your business aspirations.  Never giving up on any of these things means that you will have to conquer work life balance.  True happiness and honest success at anything is the direct result of balance.  One cannot be happy conquering the business world, without first finding peace and joy within the walls of his or her own home. Fourth, never forget what motivates you and fuel that motivator, yet don’t forget who you are in the process.  Use those guardrails to know your limits and protect you from yourself.  Setting the guardrails and goals in place before you face the temptations and problems of life is the smart thing to do.  Then when you are stuck in a tough spot and are tempted to make a bad choice, that will not even seem like it is an option.  I hope you all success and drive and happiness in this chosen career path. Please ponder the advice of the rookie before you!

What Makes a Good Leader?

This week we read a lengthy case study on Randy Haykin.  I feel like out of everything I read this week, this resonated with me the most.  I especially enjoyed and pondered his thoughts on leadership.  He shares with the reader his strengths and weaknesses.  I felt like I had parallel strengths and weaknesses.  We are very similar.  Strengths of his are the ability to recognize potential in people and businesses and relationship building and seeing the end goal.  His weaknesses were forgetting to thank people in real time (which is almost impossible to do), learning to relax (this is me) and often being a little judgmental.  This is me to a tee.  Mr. Haykin said, "To me, a leader is someone who sets the creative direction for a concept and can then harness the human resources to turn that concept into a reality: a product, a market or a company.  A leader is someone who creates something from nothing."This is a statement I would like to remember as I enter the career field. How will I utilize creativity, human resources, and productivity to produce something magnificent from very little? Another aspect of leadership is seeing the future before it happens.  No one has a crystal ball that can predict whether a business will live or die but a good leader can do a decent job at assessing the situation and righting any wrongs.  Haykin does not forget to include that a leader can only truly be successful if he finds balance in his life.  Work/life balance is difficult to achieve but success at home is just as important if not more than success in business.

Entrepreneurship and Consecration

I felt like I was in Sunday School this week as I sat and listened and watched the video assignment this week.  A great entrepreneur and leader in the church Elder Gay shared his testimony and life experiences with a group of students and we were able to partake via technology.  I was amazed by his credentials as he was introduced.  I was not expecting such genuine humility as he spoke.  How does one remain so humble when they are such a success?! I felt his strong testimony and sweet spirit come across the pulpit as he taught about the business world and service and how we can consecrate our lives in the service of the Lord.  He discussed our attitudes towards wealth.  I often find myself impressed with others wealth and then, coveting it.  Elder Gay warns us of this.  He shares a quote that his father always focused on.  It is a Chateubriand principle ."In the days of service all things are founded; in the days of special privilege they deteriorate; and in the days of vanity they are destroyed.” Service keeps us humble.  This is how Elder Gay has kept his motivation and attitude and desires pure. He talks about our divine responsibility and how it should be different from the world.  Our responsibility should be inward driven with an outward focus.  I feel like the great spiritual leaders of the LDS community demonstrate this balance between between success and consecration.  They can be achieved together and examples such as Elder Hales, Elder Nelson, Elder Maxwell prove the possibility.  

Work/Life Balance

I feel like , in my life, when I have heard the phrase, "work/life balance" I think of men.  When this became a complete male gender problem, I don't know!  Maybe because my father worked and my mom stayed home and now my life is the same.  I found it so refreshing to see women in the videos this week struggling with this same issue.  It is no longer a male gender problem for me.  My mind has been opened to the weaknesses of we women also.  We all (male AND female) can have issues with our motivation and priorities.  This week I jotted down some short notes and ideas on this topic to remind me that this is a common problem and that I too can fall short in balancing my life.  Here are my thoughts/notes:

 

Ask "is it worth it?" when decisions arise.

Balance is not a static question, but more dynamic like a swinging pendulum.

Never put yourself in a situation where you can't say no.

Ask yourself the hard questions to find your true motivators.

We owe the world something!

Have regular family meetings where the family is kept informed of business ventures.

Engage your spouse in the business.

We are not in this crazy busy life alone and we all face similar problems.  By determining our motivators and focusing our priorities we can have and achieve a better sense of work/life balance.

License to Pursue Dreams

This week I watched a video for class of Marissa Mayer who works for Google.  She shared that Google started a 20% initiative where employees get to work on personal creative projects for the company on at work.  She shares the success of this initiative.  Half of their new projects submitted came from the 20% initiative.  She says when you give smart, hard working people time to work on what they want to work on, the results would be amazing.  This made me think, what if I gave myself 20% of my time to work on my entrepreneurial dreams?  I have so many little businesses going, what if I had scheduled work time each week to focus on these dreams?  I could make this happen if I turned off the T.V. or turned down one social outing a week.  And the results would be so rewarding. I am almost always not productive with my little bits of free time.  What if I was?  What kind of dreams of mine could I see come real?  I think this 20% initiative in my personal life could be the boost my businesses need.  What if everyone started pursing their dreams and ideas 20% of the time? There would be new innovative products produced, more medical cures discovered, and more success all around.  I am pretty busy with my preschool business and with college classes and being a mom of four.  But this time is NOT spent actually pursuing my dreams.  The time is there....will I embrace it?! First, I will work on my event planning business ideas.

Becoming Rowan

I loved the story I read this week called A Message to Garcia.  It is an ancient story of a man named Rowan during America's war against Spain.  An important message needed to get delivered to a leader, Garcia. Rowan was the man for the job.  He was handed the letter, asked no questions, needed no help, and set off to accomplish the task at hand.  Why are men such as Rowan so difficult to find in this day and age?  Am I a Rowan?  Will I deliver it?  Or will I ask a million questions and need to understand "why" and "how".  We have all worked with someone who is given a task;  they accomplish the task with little to no questions or help.  They do a great job because that is just who they are.  Sometimes I feel like I can be a Rowan.  If I am excited about a task and knowledgeable on the subject, then I am one to do the task well, on time, and with little micro-managing needed.  However, if it is something that I am not interested in (like cleaning the bathrooms) I need a lot of encouragement and constant reminders and micro-managing.  How do we find Rowans to work with?  How do we become a Rowan in all tasks that we encounter?  I think it is an inner gift that we are blessed with but I do think we can train ourselves to become a Rowan.  We can work on our self-reliance, dependability, self-motivation, priorities, goal setting, and time management.  We can be a do-er. When given a task to complete, we are one of action.  People know we are responsible and someone who takes pride in their work.  I want to become a Rowan in ALL tasks I encounter.

Good Things To Come

While I was serving a mission in Romania, I had a really tough day.  Elder Baird, my district leader, gave me such a great gift.  He handed me a wrinkled, well-read copy of Holland's An High Priest of Good Things To Come.  I read it and felt so comforted.  I felt like this bad day was just a small drop in the bucket of life.  Things will get better and God helps us through the hard times.  This talk has brought me comfort so many times in my life.  I just sent it to a friend of my in jail and know that it will help give him perspective and a little bit of peace.  There are good things to come!!  This is what Christ wants for us.  This is why he died for us so we can be happy and filled with peace.  How does this talk relate to business?  I think that growing a business or working at a job we don't love can feel hopeless and pointless.  Times might be hard while we wait for our dream train to come rolling in. But, this too shall pass and the good things will come!  This hope and optimism blesses us through our trials.  With patience and prayer, we will be blessed and our lives will be changed for the better.

Seven Habits

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is one of those books that I have seen at work, at home, in the stores, even at the gas station. I have never had the desire to read it as I despise self-help books. I  am grateful for the chance to read a summary of the book this week and it interested me enough to buy the book at the grocery store today.  Although some of the habits were common sense, it is so hard to master them.  I am weak,  Although I keep busy, sometimes the important things don't get done.  I liked habit 3- Put first things first.  It breaks down each task into 4 categories.  I am a total "to do" list girl.  I make one every day and enjoy marking things off each day.  But, often times the non fun but essential tasks keep getting pushed to tomorrow's list.  I like the idea of categorizing the things on my "to do" list into these four categories.  Once all the items in category 1 are done, then I can move to category 2 and so on.  I think I will try this this coming week.  I bet I accomplish much more of the big important things.

The other habit I focused on was Habit 5- Seek first to understand, then to be understood.  I am a good friend and try to listen and care about others.  But, often, I find myself listening to a friend's problem and then telling them what has happened to me similar and how I fixed the problem.  I think that this is focusing the conversation on myself.  If I listen attentively and ask them questions, I can better help my friends solve their problems without bringing the conversation back on me.

Master, Dabbler, Obsessive, Hacker?

In Mastery, Leonard outlines 4 different categories of the way we approach different activities in our lives.  I have always said, "I am a jack of all trades, master of nothing."  Reading Chapter 2 about the different categories made me think of all the times I have said this.  It is true.  I get excited about a alot.  I try new things, crafts, sports, baking skills, cooking, etc. always learning a great deal but really never becoming exceptional at anything.  This is the art and way of The Dabbler.  How can I change myself and join the path to Mastery?  I think focusing on so many things at once, makes it difficult to become a Master.  Maybe if I focus my free time on one of my talents, I could become a Master?  I am looking forward to continuing my reading and learning more about how to truly become a Master.  What should I focus on first?  Baking?  Tennis?  Piano? School?  I have so many balls up in the air yet I am not catching any of them!

Fast Forward

In a Hero's Journey video we watched this week, my biggest take away was about priorities.  In a survey of 60+ year olds, when interviewed how they measured the success of their lives, the responses were humbling. 3 things were mentioned:

1.  Who did they love and who loved them?

2. Did I contribute something meaningful in my  life?

3.  Was I a good person?

Here is what I hope to respond to these three things...

1.  I hope my family loves me to the end.   They love me despite my bad moods and short temper.  They love me when I am lazy or fun.  I am sometimes not very physically affectionate.  I feel like I need to work on this so my children and spouse never doubt how I feel about them.

2.  What do I consider meaningful?  How will I reach this goal and measure my success?  I consider my family making righteous choices as they grow a contribution to society that is meaningful.  I can teach them the commandments and help them stand for the right.  I can make Christ the center of our home.  In business, I want to measure success by being able to financially support my children on their missions, through school and getting married.  I do not need a million dollars to be a success, just enough to help my children reach their dreams.

3.  Was I a good person?  I want to be the type of person who fulfills my church callings whole-heartedly.  I want to be sensitive to the spirit and know when I can help serve my fellow men.  I want to be the kind of friend people can always count on.  I want to be an instrument of the Lord and that is how I know I will be a good person.

My Personal Constitution

Interestingly enough, I did not think much about ethics when I declared my major to be business.  I did not think I would be pondering much about Christlike characteristics and integrity or such things in my studies.  How refreshing attending BYU Idaho is!!  I am loving the optimistic, moral approach to business that our studies have taught the last two weeks.  It makes me want to stand out in my future business endeavors.  I want to be different.  I want to follow in the footsteps of mentors like James Ritchie or Clayton Christenson and be successful, yet Christlike.  They are bold in their beliefs and attribute their success to the Christian way they live their lives.  Family is important.  Religion is important.  They let that be known.  I want to be a humble example as I pursue my business dreams. I liked what I read from Elder Christensen in the Harvard Business Review  that people should "keep the purpose of their lives front and center as they decided how to spend their time, talents, and energy."  The purpose of my life is to return to my Heavenly Father.

Integrity and The Formula

This week our readings were quite informative.  I soaked it all up like a sponge.  I have always tried to be honest in all my doings.  I have been focusing this semester on doing my best work and working my hardest.  I think that this is part of integrity.  The mastering of this skill can benefit all areas of my life.  It can make me a better mother, a better ward missionary, a better wife, a better student and a better business woman.  From Frank Levinson's Top10 Must Haves for A Start Up, my favorite was a supportive family.  It is true.  If my kids and husband are not up for helping me with my adventures, I do not do them.  I have always been my only financier.  I like the list of best places to get your money from : customer first, then use your own money, then bank money , and last VC investors.  I am enjoying reading from The Ministry of Business.  I like to hear the author's personal stories.  I like the list they came up with especially "get an education" (since that is where I am at in the process) and "get up early" because I have always been an early riser.  I get more done before 10 a.m. then I do the rest of the day...easily!  Grateful to have one thing on the Formula List that I am already a master at!

Will I hear the Call?

This week the lesson was a constant repeat of heeding the call, don't let it pass you by, and living your dreams.  Some of my favorite quotes from the videos were "Fail forward" and "Brick walls are there to prove how badly you want something."  Also, from Randy Paush, "If you live your life the right way, the dreams will come to you."  Then the lesson went into the idea of a bucket list.  I can see how compiling a list like this can help you achieve your dreams. As you pursue your dreams, your calling is likely to come hit you in the head.  I enjoyed making my list.  I looked at a few different websites and blogs and jotted down some great ideas.  At first I thought that 50 was too much.  But, before I knew it I was at 70+ items on my bucket list.  I better get busy!  I have things ranging from travelling to Greece to learn to play tennis to bear my testimony to my parents.  If I start working now, I feel like my list is manageable.  First to conquer....a marathon.  Then, I am going to face my fears and hold a snake! In my reading of The Ministry of Business this week I enjoyed reading how the author found his calling.  It was during a time of trial and he had to grow his business somewhere else.  Before he knew it, the business was spreading across the US.  He was a success all because of a hiccup in his path.  As I read his career journey, I wandered if I would have the courage to heed the call or follow the spirit when I reach this road.  I hope, with confidence from my education and by following the spirit, I will be!

Musings of a first week Business Student

As a small business owner for 10 years, I have felt the excitement and freedom of owning my own business.  I opened my preschool Grasshopper Garden Preschool 10 years ago and it has been full ever since, usually with a waiting list.  It has been the perfect, part-time business for a busy mom with four kids.  I love calling myself a business owner but have so much to learn to build my business and better prepare myself for a business career on a larger scale.  This weeks readings excited me...and overwhelmed me.  There is so much to learn, so many ways to build what I have already begun or so many new ventures to try.  I was impressed with the talk by Elder Bednar about doing our best, being diligent in ALL areas. I felt like this was a challenge for me last year in Pathways.  I took the easy road on most assignments.  I did the bare minimum that was expected of me.  Since my grades were awesome, I figured this was enough.  Not anymore.  My goal this semester is to do each assignment WELL.  I want to walk away from this semester having gained the knowledge and confidence that this degree is the right path for me.  I need to put forth 100% to make this decision. How can I track this goal?  Last year, we learned about S.M.A.R.T. goals.  I think this blog will be a great place to report to myself each week if my efforts are full or half-hearted.  I think measuring the time put in each week will be a good way to track my efforts.  I think it I honestly work my hardest and do my best I will be giving my whole soul as an offering unto him, and not just part of me.