The Mark of Courage

The Mark of Courage. Have the courage— To dream the impossible dream, To fight the unbeatable foe, To bear with unbearable sorrow, To run where the brave dare not go. To right the unrightable wrong, To love, pure and chaste from afar, To try, when your arms are too weary, To reach the unreachable star! * And you will thus become a finisher. From Thomas S. Monson's talk "Finishers Wanted"

Gratitude

Gratitude is a huge part of success in anything. Why? I don't think that it is really because if you are grateful you get more and accomplish more of what you want. I think it is because through gratitude for even the tough things we do or the challenges, we learn and are strengthened. Heavenly Father gives us opportunities to learn lessons in life, and sometimes it is necessary that we learn them through unpleasant experiences, but I think it is important to make a habit of living gratefully in every stage of life. I have had a really difficult few years where I have carried a lot of stress and had a lot of hard lessons to learn. There have been many times that I have felt sorry for myself and have wished my circumstances to be different. Through this I have learned many lessons though. I was thinking about how I would change my circumstances if I could create anything I want in my life, and after reflection on that, I realized the truth is that I already have what I wanted. I am already on the path to reaching my greatest dreams. The path is a lot harder than I wanted it to be, and I am constantly challenged on it, but would I really take the change at getting on a different path?? Absolutely NOT! I am where I want to be and where Heavenly Father wants me to be, so I need to be happy and grateful daily for even the hardships that are bringing me closer to my dreams.

Changing the World

Wanting to have money is not enough reason to become and entrepreneur. There is so much to it, but one of the biggest reasons to become an entrepreneur is because you want to change the world. We can all change the world in our own ways, but I want to leave my mark for good on the world and society. I want to create and develop ideas that will help others to better their lives and inspire them to want to change the world too. You can change the work right in your own community or you can do it on the other side of the globe, it is your choice and the life on entrepreneurship offers so many options. It really is about what is important to you, and what you can do to help others. I would like to help others to set personal goals and see their personal worth. I would like to help them progress personally and along side of their families. I want to help women to be strong and young girls to see the vision of how wonderful they are and how wonderful they can become. It is really important to help my family and extended family with these things too, and I think that there are a lot of ways that I can do that.

Dream big Dreams

This week I thought a lot about my dreams and if entrepreneurship is really the way to accomplish what I want. Here are some things that I want to have and do with my life: First and foremost I want to be a wonderful wife and a fabulous mother! I want to spend precious time with my children when they are small and I want to teach them and learn with them. I would love to be the one to teach my children to read, even though I know they can learn that at school, I would really love to be the one to teach them. I want to be able to take my children on learning trips and to be able to see the things in the world that we have been studying. If we learn about butterflies, then I will take them to see a butterfly migration, or if they like geology I want to take them to visit some caves. I know a lot of this can be done with any occupation I choose, but money and time are essential to accomplishing some of the things I would really love to do with my family. I also want to spend time with my extended family and have my children get to know all of their cousins and really build strong relationships with family. I think that with a big family like I have this will require a lot of traveling and so I want a business that I can sometimes work on the go. It doesn't have to be all the time, but if I can accomplish a business that will offer me the time and money to do these things I will be happy. It is also really important to me to have a safe, comfortable home to raise my children in and even after they are gone, that they will want to come back often and bring their friends and future families to visit. These are some of the goals and dreams that are most important to me.

Week 10 - Journal

This week I learned a lot about the value of money and how it can be used for good in my life. I think that money is only a tool and it can be used for good or bad, so managing my money is important to me. I want money to bee a tool that I use to better my life and those who are around me including my family, friends, and all those I know who are sick, hungary, captive, or needful in other ways. These are some of the things that I learned this week that have most impacted me: So if you want to prosper: (from Brother Gibson's talk at BYUI) Rule 1. Seek the Lord and have hope in him Rule 2. Keep the commandments, that includes the temporal ones, tithing and fast offerings. Rule 3. Think about money and plan how you can become self-reliant. Rule 4. Take advantage of chances for learning so you will not be ignorant of these matters. Education, as President Hinckley has taught us, is the Key to Opportunity. Rule 5. Learn the laws upon which the blessings of wealth are predicated. Rule 6. Do not send away the naked, the hungry, the thirsty or the sick or those who are held captive. Also this scripture about the talents: 29. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. I also thought this was important to note: Brigham Young said. "...if we are the people of God, we are to be the richest people on the earth....I am ashamed to see the poverty that exists among the Latter-day Saints. They ought to be worth millions and millions." JD 17:43-44 I think that money does not buy happiness, but what can bring happiness is a life of helping others, personal learning and progression, and creating something meaningful that will help others. This is what I enjoyed about the Life Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness article: "finding the Hero’s Journey you were meant to live requires you to lose your preoccupation with yourself. There are at least four ways to do this: First in overcoming challenges; then in relationship; next in gratitude; and finally, by connecting to the transcendent." "A calling is finding that special place where your most precious gifts allow you to do something you love, in service to others, in a way that changes the world." “How can I create something meaningful for others?” is the right question because it helps others and will change you in a profound way." (LLPH - Actonfoundation.org)

Week 8 - Getting the job done.

This week I learned a lot about myself and I know exactly where I need to focus my attention in order to move to the next step of becoming a great entrepreneur. I need to work on getting the little things done. Sometimes the little steps in a process seem to feel like an annoyance to me and I really have a hard time getting them done. I like to be the big picture person and come up with great ideas that then other people work on the little steps. I learned this week that the little steps are really important and I need to stop asking questions like "why should I do this" or "is this really important", and stop making excuses to myself and allowing myself to procrastinate the unpleasant things in my business. I just t=need to jump in and get them done. I have realized this week that even if I don't do those little things, they do not go away. They will sit there and hang over me until I complete them, so why not just jump in and get them done as quickly as possible? I know that as I start doing this that I will feel less of a weight on my shoulders because I will have less things to think about on my "to do" list, and I may be able to find time to relax more often.

Week 7 - Challenges

One thing I have realized through the process of owning my own business the last 5 years is that owning my own business is never without problems. There is always something that needs attention and improvement. Owning a business is not just about having other people work for you and make you money, and you get to sit back and relax while the money rolls in. I believe that your business will bring in money according to your efforts. There is always improvement to be done and employees to train and new ideas to develop. So, how do you find the best ways to spend your time and efforts, and get the most out of your resources and time? This week I watched a video called "the five whys" found here: http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=2296 The ide this video shared was to examine where the root cause of your problems are and then start there and work all the way back up to the evidence of the problem. I liked this concept because it does more than just create a huge list of little things to fix about my business. It helps me to have a real understanding of the problems, and then to be able to choose the best and most effective places to work on. I think this will be really helpful to improve many small things by focusing on a few root problems. Another thing I have been learning about this week that really stuck out to me was the idea that as an entrepreneur I should be asking for help. I have been resistant to this idea in the past and I have wanted to solve my own problems. I am starting to see that I can progress so much faster with a little mentorship and help from others. I had an experience recently that forced me to ask for help in my business. I had resisted this for a very long time, but eventually it came down to a situation where I felt I had no other choice. Luckily I had a family member that was the perfect mentor for my problem and was very willing to help me when I asked him. The problem was not an easy solve, but my mentor put in many hours of his time, and much effort and thought into helping me solve my problem. In the end we got things worked out, but I have learned from this experience that asking for help is a wonderful tool, and I can't let my pride hold me back from progressing.