Journal to Success

This week we learned about 7 Habits for Highly Effective People by Steven R. Covey.   I haven’t read this book before, but I’m going to purchase a copy and read it in its entirety.   The first 3 habits have to do with self-mastery – they create a foundation for the other habits.   These habits are being proactive, beginning with the end in mind and putting first things first. The next three habits are associated with how we interact with those around us. These habits are thinking “win/win”, seeking to understand before seeking to be understood, and synergizing.   The seventh habit is basically keeping up all of the good habits that you’ve acquired by taking care of yourself and it’s referred to as sharpening the saw.   The first 3 habits are considered private victories and habits 4-6 are public victories.   And, you can’t have public victories until you’ve had the private victories.   Any change needs to start with the individual.   The habit t...

Reading from “So You Want to Be an Entrepreneur,” by the Acton Foundation was very enlightening for me.   One of the main points that it brought up in the end of the paper is that you need to use each position that you have as a stepping stone and use each experience to learn more skills that you help you reach your goals.   It also said, “Always keep your ultimate goal in mind.”   I’ve looked back on my experiences and am evaluating how I’ve used those experiences and opportunities to help me reach my goals. My ultimate goal for a career would be to have my own business designing residential landscapes.   Before I had my family, I was able to study landscaping and work in the nursery and landscape industry to familiarize myself with plant and hardscape materials.   After I had a few children, I still was able to freelance and design on the side.   However, as my family grew, I wasn’t able to be in the professional field and hone my skills.   How hav...

  I loved listening to “A Hero’s Journey” speech that Jeff Sandefer shared with BYU-Idaho students.   His words were really inspiring. My takeaway from his speech can be summed up in something he said at the beginning of his remarks, “So what does it mean to choose a hero’s journey? . . . It means to live as if you have an important mission, because you do. It means seeing struggles as adventures, and setbacks as lessons.”   Anything worth doing will require great sacrifice, but it will also require us to remember what the purpose of our life is in order for us to have the strength to make that sacrifice.   Just this week I received a less than expected grade on an assignment that I thought I had done well on.   I was very discouraged and wondering if I had what it took to be in school right now.   Moments like these make me pause and consider what my purpose is for pursuing my educational goals, especially when they coincide with other aspects of my life. ...

  I was really impressed this week by Clayton M. Christensen’s talk , “How Will You Measure Your Life? ( Harvard Business Review, July-August 2010 ).   It was highlighted in this talk how essential it is to measure what is truly important to you, not just what you want to accomplish and do in your career.   He gave an experience of when he was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford and was really busy.   He decided to dedicate an hour every night to “reading, thinking, and praying about why God put [him] on this earth.”   He spoke about how relevant this was even though he was pursuing incredibly vigorous university studies.   He later stated, “I apply the tools of econometrics a few times a year, but I apply my knowledge of the purpose of my life every day.”   Knowing why we are here and where our focus should be will help us to find meaning in our lives no matter what our academic or career pursuits may be.   He also explained how important it is to contin...

Magdalena Yesil's case study was very inspirational.  Learning about the journey of her studies and career helped me reflect on how I let things hold me back.  She didn’t let gender, ethnicity or not knowing something hold her back. I’ve noticed that there are things that I might hide behind because I don’t think I’m good at it or I think I don’t know enough.  It also helped me reflect on the times that I did move forward even when I wasn’t sure how things would turn out.  I gain confidence from those reflections to move forward and try new things. For example, when I made the leap to start school again, I noticed that it gave me more confidence in other parts of my life.  It used to be that when my children would come and ask help on difficult homework assignments that I would send them on to my husband.  However, this past year I have had the confidence to help them myself, even when I wasn’t familiar with the material myself – subjects like physics, eng...