Motivation

I really enjoyed our lesson this week on honesty and business ethics.  I found learning about the motivations we have in business from “Making a Living and a Life” from Elder Robbins to be incredibly insightful.  It was interesting to see the different motivations that people have for business, and how those motivations color their interactions with their customers.  Learning about the different grades and the motivations behind them made me stop and take inventory of myself.  Those who get an A grade are motivated by a love of God and their fellow men.  I would like to believe that I fall into this category, however learning about a B level motivator, money, really got me to reflect on which is my primary motivator.  In the past few years, I have had many difficulties that were threaded with not having enough money to take care of my family.  I go to work to earn money to take care of my family and make sure that we have the things we need, and some things we want.  I am now trying to reconcile if my desire to meet the needs of my family falls in the category of loving my fellow men or money.  I will need to do more studying before I feel at peace with where I stand, as I would like to believe that I put God first.

The second thing I learned about this week that really struck me was learning about Magdalena Yesil and her life.  She had such courage and strength to follow her heart and do those things that made her feel fulfilled.  She did not put money at the top of her need but doing what she felt most suited her.  In fact, Yesil lived a modest lifestyle, and had money to invest in her own ventures as a result.  I will strive to have her level of bravery as I develop my career.  I pray that as I find opportunities to learn and grow, I will not shy away from them, but will meet them with courage, strength, and excitement.

Chase Your Dreams

I was struck by several things that I learned and read this week.  First, I loved the video we had the opportunity of watching on treating life like an experiment.  I found this video to be very inspiring to me and helped me to see one of my major flaws.  I am terrified of failure.  I want to do everything right, and everyone to love me.  I know that this is not a realistic desire, and I am working on conquering it.  I had not thought of my ability to think through things logically and rationally as a tool to overcome this weakness.  I need to be willing to fail, so that I have experiences that I can learn from.  It’s these experiences that help us improve and learn.  At work, I learn from my mistakes all the time, but not without having frustration first for making those mistakes.  Going forward, I will strive to think of those mistakes as a natural part of the learning process, and that I learned the way to not do something.

I also found myself inspired and uplifted by Randy Pausch.  He was so full of life, energy and joy, despite his staring death in the face.  As I listened and read about his experiences, I realized that I had a lot that I could learn from him.  First, it’s ok to dream, and go after your dreams.  If you are willing to put the work into going after your dreams, they are achievable.  My dream is to become the CFO of a company.  I know that if I can keep my focus and work toward that dream, I can achieve it.  The second thing that struck me about Mr. Pausch is how at peace he was with his death.  I could tell that he had led a full life and did not have the regret of not accomplishing enough.  I pray that when I reach the end of my time here on earth, I will be able to look back on my life and have no regrets for the dreams I did not chase.

Learning About Me

I started into this course with one thought in mind, I do NOT want to be an entrepreneur! I don't want to be in charge of starting and running a company, and I certainly do not want the economic insecurity that can come with owning a business. That was my attitude toward this course, and what a poor one! I should know by now that first impressions are not always what they seem, and that there are important life lessons in every experience we have. Luckily for me, I do not rely solely on first impressions, as I know that they tend to be hasty and subject to the mood of the moment.

While completing the assigned reading and video assignments, I began to develop a different picture of what I am going to learn in this course, and the importance that it will have in my life. First, and most importantly, I learned that this course is NOT about learning how to start a business. This course has been designed to teach me how to learn about myself. I will learn how to stop and learn from my experiences in life, then apply what I learn. That is a skill that applies in any venture we have in life.

Second, I learned that it is ok to do what I enjoy in life. Guy Kawasaki had many insights into this point, and I was grateful to hear them. I was taught that, in life, we do what we are good at that will make us the most money. The things we enjoy are to be done in our spare time as a hobby. This is not always the case, we can earn money doing things we enjoy.

Lastly, I realized that I will be learning to have confidence in myself. One of my character traits that I wish to work on is my tendency to second guess myself and question my judgement. I am excited to learn how to be a leader, and how to learn from my life. As I do these things, my confidence in my abilities will grow. With additional skills for evaluating myself, I can learn to have confidence in myself and my decisions and have faith that I can learn from my mistakes.

I’m glad that I did not let my first thoughts cloud my attitude as I get acquainted with this course. I am truly excited for the lessons I have ahead of me and getting to know me.