What I learned:

This was a long week. Physically there were not anymore hours then any other week, but relatively it felt like this week I accomplished twice as much. On top of a busy schedule I spent most of the sick with some kind of cold. That's my rant for the week. Now what learned is that you can't trust a 12 year old to accomplish anything on their own. This seems like this should be a law of nature, written in stone. This is not a bad thing, it's just what it is. Today, my coworker Levi and I spent 8 hours teach scouts about Robotics. We do this every year at the Boy Scout STEM University. This year we were impressed to say that we had the most scouts complete the merit badge. I think this is because we paid our dues. We applied what Guy Kawasaki said about building success through trust. This may seem contradictory to the first natural law but it's not. This year we set out to get as many scouts to complete the merit badge, to do this we designed a low cost kit. Typically we put out detailed instructions, but we didn't with this kit. We gave them a box a parts and said use your imagination. Dozen's of scouts came back to class with creative, and impressive designs. So to rephrase my "law" I would say that it is more accurate to say that if you give a 12 year old the right tools, inspiration, and resources, and a few reminders they can accomplish anything. 


What I have yet to learn:

What I have yet to learn is taking it a step farther. How can we further challenge and inspire these scouts to not only excel in the robotics merit badge but then to go on even further inspire them for the future?

A few things I learned this week

The video Good Things to Come was a powerful inspirational video. After watching it I didn't realize that Elder Holland was the young father in the video until I took the quiz and found out the hard way. The one thing I learned from that video it to keep pressing on. I felt like I related very closely to the young father, not so much in the specific instances of a car breaking down on a long road trip, but in the fact that I know that there is a long road ahead of myself and my family and I've often struggled with the idea of getting there, or even to keep on going. I've taken a lesson out from the lesson from Taylor Richards, "you can do anything you can set your mind to." Just today I studied and passed my exam for a Ham radio technicians license. Up until the point I got my results back I questioned and doubted that I had completed it. I went so far to say the exact number of question I know I had missed, marking each of them. According to my guess I would be one short of passing the exam, where I had thought I got a 25 and I needed a 26. To my surprise I got 33 out of the 35 correct, and passed, going on to answer correctly an additional 20 correct answers on the general exam which was the next higher (although I didn't pass it, I would have needed 26.) In both cases though it shows that my own self perception greatly underestimated my actual knowledge. Today I've learned that I can actually do anything I set my mind to because I took the ham radio course and passed. 

What I have yet to learn.

This is the hard part, recognizing what I have yet to learn, is ultimately my potential. This may be something that I doubt every day but taking a note from 'Mastery' by George Leonard he says "Whatever your age, you upbringing, or you education, what you are made of is mostly unused potential." My hope is one day I will have a better knowledge of my potential, but today I am satisfied that I can become it or anything I set my mind to.

What I have learned:

1. Be Proactive
2. Begin with the End in Mind
3. First things First
4. Think “Win-Win”
5. First seek to understand, then seek to be understood
6. Create Synergy
7. Sharpen the Saw

“That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has become easier, but that our ability to perform it has improved.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

What I have yet to learn, a few thoughts from mastery:

Good Horse, Bad Horse

In his book Zen mind, beginner's Mind, Zen master Shunryu Suzuki approaches the question of fast and slow learners in terms of horses. “In our scriptures, it is said that there are four kinds of horses; excellent ones, good ones, poor ones, and bad ones. The best horse will run slow and fast, right and left, at the drivers will, before it sees the shadow of the whip; the second best will run as well as the first one, just before the whip reaches its skin; the third one will run when it feels pain on its body; the fourth will run after the pain penetrates to the marrow of its bones. You can imagine how difficult it is for the fourth one to learn to run.

    When we hear this story, almost all of us want to be the best horse. If it is impossible to be the best one, we want to be the second best.” But this is a mistake, Master Suzuki says. When you learn too easily, you’re tempted not to work hard, not to penetrate to the marrow of  a practice.

    “If you study calligraphy, you will find that those who are not so clever usually become the best calligraphers. Those who are very clever with their hands often encounter great difficulty after they have reached a certain stage. This is also true in art, and  in life.” The best horse, according to Suzuki, may be the worst horse. And the worst horse can be the best, for if it perseveres, it will have learned whatever it is practicing all the way to the marrow of its bones.

    Suzuki’s parable of the four horses has haunted me ever since I first heard it. For one thing, it poses a clear challenge for the person with exceptional talent: to achieve his or her full potential, this person will have to work just as diligently as those with less innate ability.

(George Leonard, Mastery, p 66-67)

Thoughts from 23 October 2015

What I learned?

From the ‘The Entrepreneur and the Family’ by Steve Blank, that “If you’re starting a startup stay single” he joked. But he made the valuable point that “You must be able to balance your life with the startup. For example working with your family. Make sure that you include time for your family and your work.”

From ‘Three Lessons About What It Means to Be an Entrepreneur’ by Wences Casares. He said, “I’m stuck with being an Entrepreneur.” He outlined three things: 1) Entrepreneurship is a calling that chooses us--it is inescapable, 2) Time is our most valuable asset and 3) Entrepreneurs create the most value by doing the same thing for a very long time.    

What I have yet to learn?

From ‘Loyalty to God and Family’ by Jan Newman I learned a few important things. He mentioned the people who aren’t wise crunch down the important things to make room for other unimportant things. Always make time for these two things the Lord, your Family, and the third if you added one your Career.

A profound statement he learned from his calculus teacher, he said: “I want to give you a bit of advice, a lot of you in this room are going to make a lot of money in your careers, and you are probably think that is what the Lord wants you to do, he’s putting you in this situation where you can go out and make lots of money to help build the kingdom, but you are wrong. Do you know what the Lord needs from you? He needs you to do your home teaching.”  D&C 64:34 says,  “Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind.” The only thing that will matter in a 1000’s years is your service in the kingdom of God and your family. Lastly he said “Honesty and integrity will help you to stick out in the world.”

This points I note are things I have yet to learn because I want to make sure that I set my priorities and I can do that by placing God and my family first. Though I may already understand this topic it is one that is not yet learned because I must apply it everyday for the rest of my life.

                                                                           

                           

17 October 2015

This week was busy! I felt like I had to do lots of work so it's nice to be able to take a look at everything that I accomplished. When I took the quiz I noticed that there were a few questions that I struggled on, so I thought I would take another look at them.

What I learned:

When President Gordon B. Hinckley was introduced to the press as the President of the Church in 1995, what did he say his focus would be?

This was found in the talk by Elder James E. Faust. He said "At the first press conference when President Gordon B. Hinckley was introduced to the press as the President of the Church in 1995, he was asked what his focus would be. He answered: “Carry on. Yes. Our theme will be to carry on the great work which has been furthered by our predecessors.” ⁷ This is a great theme for all of us. We need to carry on and endure to the end."

Combined with the theme this week of mastery I thought that of how important this principle is the need to master a subject or skill and carry on.

Another question I had was: Which of the following is not a skill that was mentioned to be a successful entrepreneur?

This was found in the article "Are Successful Entrepreneurs Born or Made?" The list of skills were:

• "The ability to find good salespeople and manage a sales force.”
•  “Having a firm grasp of which numbers are important.”
• “Knowing how to put together an assembly line or service delivery process.”
• Being able to communicate clearly.”
• “Listening and questioning customers.”
• “Being a problem solver; thinking."
• “Being curious enough to uncover and unravel the strategies of competitors. 

According to President Faust, "____________ is usually earned by persevering and not becoming discouraged when we encounter challenges."

The answer to this was success. 



What I have yet to learn:

I wasn't able to answer this question:

In the interviews conducted with people over the age of 60 in a Hero's journey, they all came to a conclusion that only a few things will matter. Which of the following was not one of the questions mentioned?

Just a few thoughts...

It's been a busy week this week. I gained some great insights from making my own personal constitution and enjoyed writing my book report on the subject. I also found that I could overcome my fears just by considering the worst of them and making a plan on what I would do if we in that situation. Talking a little bit more about my personal constitution I found that setting up a role module and noticing where I am in relation to that may seem like a daunting task. However I found that just by writing "I am" statements is a great motivator. I found that setting both long term, short term and daily goals can be so much easier when I set my values and what matters most in my life. 

I admired this quote by President Thomas S Monson:

"Vision without effort is daydreaming; effort without vision is drudgery; but vision, coupled with effort, will obtain the prize."

Here are few notes I took as I studied the lessons this week.

From: How Will You Measure Your Life by By Clayton M. Christensen.

First, how can I be sure that I’ll be happy in my career? Second, how can I be sure that my relationships with my spouse and my family become an enduring source of happiness? Third, how can I be sure I’ll stay out of jail?

“Doing deals doesn’t yield the deep rewards that come from building up people.” How Will You Measure Your Life by By Clayton M. Christensen.

The choice and successful pursuit of a profession

is but one tool for achieving your purpose. But with

-

without a purpose, life can become hollow

“If you study the root causes of business disasters,

over and over you’ll find this predisposition toward

endeavors that offer immediate gratification. If you

look at personal lives through that lens, you’ll see

the same stunning and sobering pattern: people al

-

locating fewer and fewer resources to the things they

would have once said mattered most”

Tom Kelley “Do What You Love”

What are you good at? What are you born to do? What will people pay you to do? Who will you work with?

Think about this intersection?

Jim Collins told his story of finding what he was “born” to do. Working at HP he wasn’t happy so he started keeping a journal and then found that he should go into systems thinking.

Jeff Hawkins “Effective Choices, Not longer days.”

You can be effective without working hard, make one decision every day that is better than its competitor. Any company can do better by making better decisions, not necessary working really, really hard.

Sharon Mays “How can one Woman’s individuality cause the fast food industry to turn a new leaf?”

“either do it or stop talking about it”

“It takes that belief in yourself and your business.”

“The only thing that can stop you is you.” “Find your dream and give it life, you never know where it is going to take you.”

Jim Richie “Take Control of Your Life -Launching Leaders - Lesson 3

Network, Network, Network.

3 Principles for succes

1. The Tri-quation
2. The productivity pyramid
3. A personal constitution

The Tri-quation

Self esteem, productivity, event control

The productivity pyramid

Foundation: Governing Values, Long Term Goals, Short Term Goals, Daily Tasks.

Personal Constitution

Written Description of you

-I am format

Describe the values that make up the ideal you

Prioritize your values. Example, Integrity and financial independance.

“Follow your bliss, follow your blisters, and go forth and serve.” Jeffery Thompson, What is your calling in life,  June 1, 2010.

I took the liberty to watch again the talk by Jeffery Thompson ‘What is your calling in life’ I was inspired by this quote and explanation that he gave “Follow your bliss, follow your blisters, and go forth and serve.” I made the captioned picture above so I could share it with my friend on social media. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so I figure I have already posted the word requirement for this assignment with just the one picture. J

This teaches a simple yet true principle that hard work is necessary. This understanding really lead into the topics discussed this week. The formula for success called the ‘Formula and Happiness’ by Jim Richie left a very powerful impression on the importance of this.

What I learned:

Plan to Happiness:

1.     Get up early.

2.     Work hard.

3.     Get your education.

4.     Find oil.

5.     Make your mark.

6.     Prepare to serve / give back.

Regarding this plan Richie pointed out that you could “conquer the world with these principles,” and that was in regard to the three-step plan from the oil tycoon J Paul Getty. Get up early, work hard, and find oil. He then adds three additional points he gained through missionary service from David B Haight. Get your education, make your mark, and prepare to serve /give back.

Richie describes finding oil as a “product, idea, or service that multiples their skill set in such a manner that it truly becomes their oil of success.”

Jim Richie leaves is promise that if we follow and apply these steps they will work for each of us. He shares his inspiring story, and it leaves me with the hope that I could also apply these things.

What I have not yet learned:

There still remains in me doubt and skepticism.  I’ll work it out as I apply these principles in and day out. I’ll leave with one last thought on integrity from the talk by Sheri L. Dew, she shares this story of President Joseph F. Smith. In the recent shooting in Oregon, the man asked the college students their religion and then killed them if they responded that they were Christians. A few comments have been put up what would you do if you were in that situation. I think I’ll take some wisdom from President Smith here as follows:

An incident in the life of President Joseph F. Smith bears out this point. In the fall of 1857, the nineteen-year-old Joseph F. was returning from his mission in Hawaii, and in California he joined a wagon train. It was a volatile time for the Saints. Johnston’s Army was marching towards Utah, and many had bitter feelings towards the Church. One evening several hoodlums rode into camp, cursing and threatening to hurt every Mormon they could find. Most in the wagon train ran and hid in the brush. But Joseph F. thought to himself: “Shall I run from these fellows? Why should I fear them?” With that, he walked up to one of the intruders who, with pistol in hand, demanded, “Are you a Mormon?” Joseph F. Smith responded, “Yes siree; dyed in the wool; true blue, through and through.” At that, the hoodlum grasped his hand and said, “Well you are the [blankety-blank] pleasantest man I ever met! Shake hands, young fellow. I am glad to see a man that stands up for his convictions” (See Gospel Doctrine, 518).

And so the gospel stands with me, “Yes siree, dyed in the wool; true blue, through and through.”