Gratitude

I feel very blessed to be born at the time I was born to a wonderful family that supports me in everything that I do. I have been blessed with being taught the gospel of Jesus Christ at a young age. I have been blessed with every opportunity to succeed. I have been blessed with a an education. I have some many thing to be thankful for that I cannot number them.

Mosiah 2: 20-24

 20 I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another—

 21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.

 22 And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.

 23 And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him.

 24 And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?

 I feel to be my charge that if I have been blessed with some much that I need to give back and serve others and help the succeed. I wish that every person could be given just as much opportunity that I have been given.

A Balanced Life

This might be one of the most important things that we can accomplish in our life. These can be hard decisions we will be faced with in our lives, the decision "of how much time do I put into this?" Making this decision can be as simple as being able to control and mange our time. In "the Ministry of Business" book there is a quote by Hyrum W. Smith that I have found very insightful, it says,"Controlling your life means controlling your time. By mastering this, you will have taken complete control of your own life, your own destiny, and you will have a right to this magnificent thing that no one can take away from you called inner peace." I believe that if one has control over their time they will have a happy balanced life. I know having control of my time will enable me to spend more time with my family in the future.

Becoming and Helping Others Become

 I came to understand more this week that life is not all about wins and loses but its about what we become in the long run. Realizing this can help one to cope with mishaps and tragic events that happen in their life. Dallin H. Oaks shared, "Jesus’ challenge shows that the conversion He required for those who would enter the kingdom of heaven (see Matt. 18:3) was far more than just being converted to testify to the truthfulness of the gospel. To testify is to know and to declare. The gospel challenges us to be “converted,” which requires us to do and to become." The world thinks that knowledge is really all one needs. Knowledge can be wasted if one does not act on that knowledge, reason why becoming more then what we were yesterday is so important in our progression in life.

Another way we can become more then what we are today is by helping those around us succeed. We need to be willing to share our knowledge with others and make connections with them. When we helps others we will be able to keep and have an increase of knowledge. We will find that there is greater joy in helping others.

Loyalty

I wanted to remember the story of the man who delivered "A Message to Garcia."

“there’s A Fellow by the name of Rowan...”

 

It was 1899. President William McKinley needed to deliver an urgent message to

General Calixto Garcia, the leader of the insurgents in America’s war against Spain.

But Garcia was lost somewhere deep inside the mountain vastness of Cuba.

“There’s a fellow by the name of Rowan who will find Garcia if anyone can,”

someone told the president. So McKinley summoned Colonel Andrew Rowan.

Rowan took McKinley’s letter, “sealed it in an oil-skin pouch, strapped it over his heart, in four days landed by night off the coast of Cuba from an open boat,

disappeared into the jungle and in three weeks came out on the other side of the island, having traversed a hostile country on foot, and delivered his letter to Garcia.” Notice that Rowan didn’t equivocate. He didn’t ask McKinley for detailed instructions. He didn’t hire a consultant or assemble a task force. He simply took the letter

and delivered it to Garcia. 

 

When I read this I contemplated how loyal am I? Am I loyal to my employer, friends, family, wife, church, and to God?  I want to become "Rowan" and want to be that person that doesn't ask question and just goes and do. I desire to be the one who can be depended upon. Most of all I hope that God does not have to ever question my loyalty. A question that could be asked on a daily basis is where does my heart lie?

Don't Be A Quitter

This week really opened my eyes to another new concept of understanding myself and my future. I understand that there will be Dips in anything really worth doing and instead of doing what I normally do when I'm confronted with a struggle or roadblock, I will push through and get through the Dip in order to be successful. I think by learning this concept, I was able to really see in myself that I have given up because of a Dip and I will be holding myself to a higher standard to push through or know to give up before too much of my valuable time is wasted.  I learned an important thing about myself is that a tendency of myself is to quit early rather than pursue the difficult course.
I found too that it's okay to quit. By that meaning that if I should quit things of worth that waste my talents, efforts or time.

Begin With the End in Mind

This week we went over the seven habits of Highly Effective people and the second habit has been on my mind lately. "Beginning with the end in mind," how does one do that? I find it hard at times to plan and set goals for the next month let a lone 30 years from now. I have always been shoot by the hip kind of person. I know goals are what can stretch us and help us achieve the unthinkable, or that's what I have been told. I guess what I am trying to say is that I flat out stink at setting goals period. Its a problem.

As I was sitting in class I pondered about the predicament I was in about the lack of direction in my life. It hit me and this concept became so clear to me now. "Begin with the end in mind" is like having a map with a clear destination on it. Even though this map does not have any clear roads or signs the destination is set. If I have a destination set and in place I can make my own road or path as long as I keep my eye on the prize.

I know this might seem like a no brainer, but it made some much more sense to me now. I now have a destination in mind. My first destination will be figuring out where I want to be 5 years from now. I thought it wise to discuss this with my wife because her opinion means everything to me and its pretty smart to involve your spouse when it comes to setting life goals.

Sound Advice

Every once and a while I will get that feeling of being lost within my own mind when it comes to what I'm going to do later on in life. This happens even if I already have an idea of what I want to be when I grow up. I will get really excited about an industry that I want to get into and I will learn a whole bunch about it, but then that certain feeling happens.

I currently have had a lot of interest in Real Estate and becoming a realtor and becoming a real estate investor. I feel excited and invigorated when I learn about things in that field of work and learning about real estate makes me want to learn more and more. About a week ago this all to familiar feeling of being lost came back to me. It was kind of annoying. Maybe apart of me doesn't want to settle with doing just one thing or having just one field of work. I want to be a web designer, a app developer, a videographer, one who works on start up businesses, and then a whole long list of a bunch of companies I would love to build. This is great thing, I've got a whole bunch of options, but its hard when you go to school and they are bushing you to be industry specific. How was I going to be able able to over come this feeling? The answer is mentors.

I was able to have very inspiring talks with a couple of my mentors this week. This is what has kept me grounded. I was able to learn more about the real estate industry and  possible job opportunities were presented to me. What I believe was the most sound advice of it all was the fact that I need to get my hands dirty. The best way I am going to accomplish this is to go do internships after internships. This will give me the best idea of what I really want to do in life and it will give me the hands on experience. It will ultimately put the learning that I am doing now at school into action. Building a network of support was one of the greatest things I could have done for myself. Now I can learn from other people that what I haven't learn myself.  

The First to Rise

I've been working really hard this past week to set a schedule, plan my days out and know when I have time open for my activities. I've really been struggling on waking up early and going to bed at a reasonable time. I have been working on time management because if I don't have set times, I stay up late finishing my homework and projects, sleep past my alarm, and the cycle starts all over again. I know that rising up early is so important and that it's the perfect way to jump start your day and already be on top of your work/life already.

Hyrum Smith said: "Controlling your life, means controlling your time. By mastering this, you will have taken complete control of your own life, your own destiny, and you will have a right to this magnificent thing that no one can take away from you called inner peace."

Understanding that I have control to change my life, my goals and my time will propel me wherever I want to go. By being better on my time management will help me be a better me and that's what I want, a more better me.

My Constitution

I have thought long and hard about the person that I want to become. I thought of what kind of job I could have, or what kind of family that I would raise. How might I become who I desire to be. I will not be able to see into my future, gather up all the information of mistakes that I have made, and simply make a list of want not to do's. What I can do is set a goal of who I desire to become, put it on paper and work at it, and work at until I am gone. I am convinced that progression can only happen when one reflects and records what they have done. This recording will be considered my Personal Constitution. It is a list of things that I desire to obtain both physically and spiritually. This list will never be finished completely, for I will constantly be changing and adding goals to it. As I was looking up definition of what a constitution is I came across this little quote that I thought was interesting, "So think of a constitution as how a body (yours, the government's) is set up. If you have a strong constitution, it means you don't get sick very often." If I abide by my personal constitution and strive to achieve the goals that are within it I will have a strong foundation to live my life upon.

Here is my most current Personal Constitution.

 

 

Personal Constitution

I want to become a better disciple of Jesus Christ. There really shouldn’t be any question why this is on the top of my list. This is what governs the outcome of everything else in my personal constitution. My success in life depends on this. I can acknowledge the fact that no man has obtain perfection at just one moment, but will take the eternities until one arrives at that moment. The Savior was and is perfect. He is the master teacher and the greatest example. I want to become more like him. I can do this by becoming a better disciple. A disciple is a follower and student of a mentor or teacher. What better way of being a student than to take on the traits of the teacher you look up to. When I say that I want to become a better disciple of Jesus Christ I’m not just talking about acquiring His attributes, but it’s my desire to become more loyal. In President Henry B. Eryings words I want my “banner to be clear” when it comes to where I stand with the Lord. Serving is another way I can come to know the Savior and become more like him. 

If I truly love God and if I am a disciple of Jesus Christ I will live a life of service. I want to be able to come to the point where I have master my thoughts, that serving Gods children is the first and foremost thought in my mind. I want to direct my prayers towards others. I want to pray on a daily basis to be able to have my eyes open to opportunities to help those who are in need. I know that the greatest happiness come from uplifting those around me. By doing these things I know that it will build up the relationships that I have with my family. This is best achieved when I correct and get my life in order, so I am focusing more time on others rather on myself.

This is one of my greatest desires to be a master of self-mastery or to be self-disciplined. I want to have complete power over all my appetites and passions. I will do those things that will uplift me spiritually such as daily prayer and scripture study. I will learn from mistakes and become stronger from them. I will get to bed at a decent time and wake up early in the morning to get the most out of my day. I will be productive and use my time wisely.  I will live a life of discipline both physically and spiritually.

I don’t want to live life carelessly or live from day to day. Living a life day to day is one wasted. I want to be a person who is driven by setting goals and achieving them. Goals give direction in a life where no road signs are visible. I want to be able to have the power to set goals and actually consistently try to make these goals a reality.

I want to become better at portraying myself when I speak with others or a more effective communicator. I will constantly work on becoming a more effective communicator by listening to others as much as I speak. I will practice by getting out of my comfort zone and speaking with those around me.   

I want to never settle with what I know now, but live a life of learning. I will be teachable no mater where the learning experience comes from. I will share my knowledge with others freely. I will seek after knowledge through reading the best books. I will study daily from the scriptures and other church literature. I will not settle with learning things that are in my field of work, but have a very diverse plate of knowledge. May I strive for excellence and learn as much as I can in this life, so that I may develop a pattern of learning throughout the eternities.

I will have confidence in my ability to succeed and become something. I need to remember this scripture found in Ether 12:27 it reads, “ And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.”

Integrity

As I think back on life back at home I often think of the memories I had with my older brother. Why these experiences stick out to me so much I don't know, but the lesson I learned from him were very profound. The summer of 2007 my brother and I and a couple of our friends went down to Magic Mountain, a theme park in the L.A. area of California. We had a full day of fun and exciting things to do. When the day was winding down it was time for us to leave. As we left the front entrance my brother stopped and told us to wait there. He then walked back to the gates where you pay and started to talk to some of the Six Flags employees at the front gate. I really had know clue what he was doing. About 5 minutes later he came back and told us what he had just done. A couple years back my brother went to Six Flags with his best friends family. Somehow he cheated the system and didn't pay. It made him feel guilty all these years and he knew that it was not honest of him to do. This is the reason why he went back to talk to the staff. The staff thought he was crazy and even laughed at him when he told them his story and about how he wanted to pay them back in full. They got someone higher up in authority at the theme park and my brother gave him the money. At the time I thought he was crazy, and at that stage of my life I wouldn't let something like that bug me. I would of justified my dishonesty on their high prices. I didn't understand the true meaning of honesty.

           An honest person is trustworthy, tells the truth, keeps promises, and people can depend on them. We need to be honest no matter how small or how big the situation is. The honesty of a person reveals much about them. Can I say now at this time in my life that I can be entrusted with something of great importance? Am I honest with my family, friends, employers, colleagues, myself, and the Lord? Dishonesty can destroy our relationships with others. The more we are dishonest the more conditioned and prone we are to be a dishonest person. "Being honest often requires courage and sacrifice, especially when others try to persuade us to justify dishonest behavior. If we find ourselves in such a situation, we can remember that the lasting peace that comes from being honest is more valuable than the momentary relief of following the crowd". See True to the Faith (2004), 84 I will see a greater light, peace, and confidence in my life when I can say, "I am an honest person". If I get noticed for anything in life I want it to be because of my integrity.

My brother John

My Life Portfolio

Code of Conduct

“I will never”

1.     I will never take advantage of my co-workers or my employer.

2.     I will never cut corners. Do the job right and get done.

3.     I will never fudge numbers.

4.     I will never lower my standards.

5.     I will never take credit for work that I did not do.

6.     I will never work below what is required of me.

“I will always”

1.     I will always be honest with my dealings with my fellow man.

2.     I will always be nice and upfront with those I work with.

3.     I will always do my best work even if only God can notice it.

4.     I will always be dependable.

5.     I will always be professional in the work place.

6.     I will always give an honest accounting of money that I am entrusted with.

My Personal Guide

I try to live my life in a way that my Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ are constantly on my mind. He is our Father and He loves us and wants to bless those who diligently seek Him. Knowing the true nature and character of God helps me come to know Him better and know that he is approachable. A scripture comes to mind, its found in the Book of Mormon in 2 Nephi chapter 32 versus 8 and 9, it reads "For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray, ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray. But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul."

To many times in my life I have left out God in my decisions. Since then I have repented, but am I going to Him for all of my needs? Is it wrong to pray for the guidance on what careers I should go into, or what risks should I take? No of course its not wrong to pray for these things. When we pray to our Heavenly Father and ask for his help and ask to be guided by the spirit He will answer us. If I follow these promptings I can be successful in my personal life and in my business life. I know these things are true because God wants me to be happy and have joy in this life. Yet this does not mean that I wont need to make hard decisions in my life because He will make them for me. There will be times where I will have to decide things on my own.

This was the most important thing that I studied this week. I have bee working on listening to the spirit on even the little things, like going up to someone and talking to them because I had the impression to. When I learn to trust the spirit the spirit can trust me to carry out what it leads me to do. This applies both in my personal and in my professional work endeavors.

New Opportunities

Just in these few days of reading for this class I have come to appreciate the words of Jeff Sandefer. His article on “Living Life as an Entrepreneurial Hero” has given me so much to think and reflect on. In this article I learned to not limit myself to a lower standard of life. My options are endless. If I dream big and work hard I can make something of myself. I have become more confident in my capabilities. I learned that the life of an entrepreneur should not be a selfish one, but lived with a mindset of changing the world in hopes of making it far better for my children and for others who will live on after me. I know that there will be challenges along the way, but as I look to these points I will have a clearer view of where my life is heading. 

Four of the hardest challenges will be personal, because you’ll have to

• Accept that life is hard and seldom fair

• Know that you must persevere to develop the habits and character that will determine

your destiny

• Understand that choosing doesn’t mean you are in control, and that real entrepreneurs

learn to fail quickly, cheaply, and often

• Find the right fellow travelers, because you will tend to become like those who

surround you

-Jeff Sandefer

I have stared reading in “the start-up of you”, by Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha. Already I have immersed deeply into it. The underlining theme of this book is how the greatest investment one can make is in themselves. “I” am my own brand!

I have great expectations for this class. I’m excited to learn and think outside of my little bubble of Jay Hancock. What excites me more is to learn from my fellow colleagues and develop good relationships with them. I’ve been taught that it’s good to speak, but its better to listen.

My goals:

·      Start thinking innovatively

·      Pay attention to new thoughts or ideas that come from the spirit

·      Write down these thoughts and ideas

·      Be more professional in the way I dress and conduct myself

·      Take every opportunity to expand my knowledge/ learn something new

·      Ask good questions

·      Share what I have learned

·      Create something bigger than me

·      Manage my time and use it wisely

·      Build the brand of “me”