A Life Well Lived

I really enjoyed the insights I gained this week, from the videos we watched and the articles we read.
 
One thing I was impressed came from "How Will You Measure Your Life?”
by Clayton M. Christensen. He said, "People who are driven to excel have this unconscious propensity to underinvest in their families and overinvest in their careers—even though intimate and loving relationships with their families are the most powerful and enduring source of happiness." It was a great reminder to me, being a driven person, that I need to be sure that I am balanced. I shouldn't put too much into my job, and to always keep the perspective of Heavenly Father's plan and that my family ultimately matters most.
 
Another part of Clayton Christensen's talk that I learned a lot from said, "Ultimately, people don’t even think about whether their way of doing things yields success. They embrace priorities and follow procedures by instinct and assumption rather than by explicit decision—which means that they’ve created a culture. Culture, in compelling but unspoken ways, dictates the proven, acceptable methods by which members of the group address recurrent problems. And culture defines the priority given to different types of problems. It can be a powerful management tool. Families have cultures, just as companies do. Those cultures can be built consciously or evolve inadvertently." I have noticed that this is exactly what I do currently in my job.  I like how he called this a "culture," and how he said that culture is what defines the priority given, and can be a powerful management tool. I love how he talked about families and how they can have culture do. It's important to create our "cultures" for good.
 
Something else that stood out to me from this week's lesson, comes from the video, "
Do What You Love”. In this video, Tom Kelley shows a diagram that has 4 components to it. 1-Good At, 2-Born to Do, 3-Pay You to do and 4- Who work with/for. All 4 parts are important when it comes to choosing a career, and need to be thought about in depth. It really will make a difference when you are not only doing something you are good at and born to do, but it is important that it is something that someone will pay you to do, and just as important, in my opinion, you need to be happy with who you work with and for. My current boss is one of the greatest people I have ever worked with and for. Because of  him, I happily work each day, and actually consider my job my hobby. I also feel like I am good at what I do, and I obviously get paid for it too!
 
One last thing I learned this week is from the talk, "Little Things Are Important" by Elder Wirthlin. In this talk, he talked about different relationships we have with different people. He talked about our relationship with ourself, our relationship with others, and our relationship with God. My favorite part said, "I believe that the little things are very important in our relationship with ourselves, in our relationship with others, and in our relationship with God. The question is not one of managing time, but one of managing ourselves with the time we have. Each minute is a little thing and yet, with respect to our personal productivity, to manage the minute is the secret of success."
We truly need to manage ourselves with the time we have. Every minute (little things) add up, and it is important to remember that in these relationships we have. This can also apply to the "business world." I feel that when people take this advice, is when they, and their companies succeed.
  

Honesty and Business Ethics

This week's lesson was on Honesty and Business Ethics, which to me are extremely critical in life, but especially in the business world.
We read a talk given by Sheri Dew, titled, "True Blue, Through and Through" which I really enjoyed and got a lot from. She spoke about integrity, and one part I really liked, and hope to remember is this. She said, "
Integrity is the foundational virtue upon which all other virtues are dependant. It is the first rung on the character ladder. Where there is integrity, other virtues will follow. Where there is no integrity, other virtues have no chance of developing." Integrity is so crucial. If we do not possess it, we basically have no chance of developing other virtues. And integrity is important in every relationship we have. Also from this talk, Sheri Dew gave us seven things that will help us be men and women of integrity. They are:
1. Decide today, once and for all, that you will be worthy of trust

2. Have faith that the Lord can and will help you, and then diligently seek His help.

3. Make covenants and keep them.

4. Stand up for what you believe.

5. Expect your integrity to be challenged.

6. Don’t give up.

7. Covenant–or perhaps I should say, renew your covenant–with our Father and His Son to do what you came here to do.
I feel that all of these truly will help us become a person with integrity.

We also watched some videos that gave great insight on how important it is to be honest and have integrity, as well as good ethics when it comes to the business world. Great information all around! A good example of a person who posseses honesty and business ethics is my boss, Brett. In our discussion board this week, I talked about him, and how he has been successful, in all aspects, because of the way he conducts his business.
 

My thoughts

This week, I really enjoyed the things we learned and got a lot out of this lesson.

One thing that really stuck out to me is planning ahead in life, and planning life backwards. It has been really neat to reflect on what I want to have accomplished when I am old and ready for the next life. I have been able to think about this multiple times, as my Grandmother and husband's two grandmas have passed away this month. It really is important to plan for the future and set goals to accomplish to ensure we become what we hope to be. It gives life more meaning. I loved this quote from the reading, "Stars and Stepping Stones," which says "The most successful and fulfilled entrepreneurs are always advancing toward a vision that gives meaning to their life." I feel this is so true.

Another part of this week's lesson, that I hope to remember always, and that really impressed me, is the transcript and video of Randy Pausch's last lecture. He talked about childhood dreams and how to achieve them. From him, I learned that we should work hard to accomplish the things we have dreamed of. That keeping a positive attitude is key. And to not let fear hold us back.

The last thing that left an impression on me, is the "You can do anything" video we watched where Taylor Richards talked about the Lord providing a way. When we let the Lord into our life, and ask for His help, we can do great things. He will help us accomplish our worthy goals. He wants us to become our best selves.

I am grateful for this knowledge and for the opportunities and experiences I have had and will have in my life, which allow me to progress and to better myself.

One week down....

So far, this class has been, I am not going to lie, a bit overwhelming, but overall a good experience. Looking through the syllabus, I am excited for the things we will be learning throughout this semester. I am especially excited that what we learn from this class, can very well apply to life in general. I am also excited to see what the 5 books have to offer. Even though I am not much of a reader, their titles appear to have some good information. I also love the idea of the case studies. I feel like I learn best from this type of activity. At my current job now, real life situations are how I learn about business best, and that is why I love business!

Although it has only been one week, I feel like I have learned quite a bit in the short amount of time. I loved reading the DPC talk by Elder Bednar. I feel so blessed to be going to school at BYU-I, and am thankful to know that my whole life is designed to be a disciple of Christ.

I am grateful for the advice Mr. Kawasaki gave in the video, where he talked about doing what you love, what you have passion for, then the money will come. I feel like that is what this life is about. Doing the things we love, especially when the focus is on bettering ourselves and our progression, and things of eternal value. Heavenly Father wants us to be happy. He wants us to enjoy what we do. He wants us to be successful. He cares about us.