W07 - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

The first time I read about the 7 habits I was 20 years old and preparing to go into the mission field. I still remember it. I was fascinated by the simplicity and directness of Stephen Covey’s words. It answered a very specific question that was on my mind and my heart, why can’t I seem to get things done?

See, if you were to use three words to describe me from the ages of 12 to 18, those words would have been: Athlete, Lazy, and unaccomplished. If it didn’t happen on a baseball field, I didn’t care about it. But after high school, I was lost. I had no plan, no direction, and way too much time to think. It’s not that I didn’t have ambitions, it was that I had no idea how to get myself together. So, a month before I put in my mission papers, I read a book I saw on my dads’ desk… 7 habits of Highly Effective People. Then I read it again (I’ve always been a very fast reader). In fact, I read it 3 times the first week. Then… I went out and bought a notebook and made my own planner.

It was the only book I read, other than the scriptures, for more than three years, and I’ve read it many times during the last 25 years. If I was going on a trip to the moon and I could only bring 5 books with me, 7 Habits would be on the list.

For me, the habit that I have been most aware of in my life is number 5: Seek first to understand, then to be understood. The more I’ve applied this habit in my life, the stronger and better relationships I’ve developed. A more recent development is that I've been able to listen to the spirit more effectively than I ever have before. I think it’s because I am trying to be an active listener to the Holy Ghost and God recognizes that. I’ve learned that people have different perspectives and ideals and that it’s far easier to learn empathy when we truly practice habit number 5. I’ve also learned there is no point in arguing with someone that is just listening to reply.

These 7 habits have helped my on the journey of becoming a better person. While I believe that habit number 5 is the one I have had the most positive change with, every single habit has helped me improve myself in individual ways and when I focus on putting them together. I’ve learned the power of proposing mutually beneficial solutions (think win-win), on partnering with diverse people (synergize), and, most recently, learned the value of sharpening the saw during a period of where I simply focused on showing more gratitude in my prayers.

Perhaps I’m looking at things too simply, but I will testify that the 7 habits were inspired of God for all mankind. That they are a way for use to develop ourselves in this life and become the best we can. I believe God reaches out to his children in many ways, not just in obviously spiritual ways and the Steven Covey’s book is evidence of that.

W06 - The correct use of time

     The theme that stood out to me during this week has to do with time and the valuable use of time. For an entrepreneur, time is critical the success or failure of meeting your goals. But time is also critical in the Lord’s plan of happiness. Time is the great constant in everyone’s lives. IT don’t stop, it doesn’t change, and it’s not repeatable, time is time.

     One of the major themes that stood out was understanding the value of time and how to prioritize the use of time in our lives. Several speakers spoke about the value of time. Several of them spoke about spending time the right way. But one speaker spoke specifically about the purpose of our lives and how time relates to it.

     Jan Newman, in the video “Loyalty to God and Family”, talks about time and how we spend it correctly through all the different parts of our lives. He talks about family time, time for church callings, work time, time for diversion and hobbies, etc. Then he explains the biggest mistake people make with time is pertains to times. When life gets really full, and there’s not enough time, we tend to compress and crunch down our engagement time in really important areas like family and church, so that we have time for work and hobbies.

     Jan refocuses us on the eternal perspective by explaining that there are two areas we can never compromise on: loyalty to the Lord, and our loyalty to our families. A specific example he gives is that we should never be too busy to take a calling in the church. He even goes so far to call rejecting a calling because are to busy at work, “the biggest mistake you will ever make”.

When talking about life, he clearly puts the components of our lives in the correct order with a single sentence. He says “Think of this a thousand years from now, no one is going to ask you what company you built, how much money you made, your greatest legacy will be your family and your service in the Kingdom of God.”

     Legacy is a powerful and precise word to use there.  A legacy is literally a gift or a bequest, that is handed down, endowed, or conveyed from on person to another. I asked myself would I want to hand down a company or a testimony to my children. The answer is obvious. Luckily, I am able to hand down both to my children is I manage my time well.

W05 - The Hero's Journey

I found the video “A Hero’s Journey” to be very inspiring on many levels. But the most significant things said, in my eyes, was very early in the talk. The speakers said something that I kept coming back to over and over again…

“I believe you have a very special mission to perform on this Earth, a mission that will succeed beyond your wildest dreams, but ONLY if you have the faith and the courage to find your entrepreneurial calling”

This really struck a chord with me… that being an entrepreneur is a calling.

You see, I never viewed the entrepreneurial spirit as a “calling” but more of a desire. For me, I’ve always likened callings to opportunities and mandates given to each of us from God. A calling as an opportunity to serve and it results in more opportunities to learn and grow, to serve others, and come closer to Christ.

I’m afraid I had a very limited view of what being an entrepreneur really is.

To think of Entrepreneurship as a calling that I need to put effort into discovering, made me look at it in a new light. I’m not someone that wants to work for myself so that I’m the “Master of my own destiny” and I have no aspirations to achieve a billionaire status. I already have a career, a successful side business, and a plan for career 2.0. What I want is to work for myself so that I can do the important things that I still feel like I need to do. I want to be able to retire and go on missions with my wife. Not just one mission, but several missions. I want to be able to walk away from corporate America with the knowledge and ability to continue providing for my family but to also be able to spend time with them.

To consider that being an entrepreneur may also be something that God has for me in his plan, is a little difficult to grasp. I always assumed God didn’t really care what career I chose for myself as long as it was honorable, that it didn’t lead me astray of the gospel path, and I worked hard and honestly. But the more I thought about it, being an entrepreneur can be considered a vehicle to obtain the things God has in store for me. I hadn’t thought of it in those terms before.

I still don’t believe God has material riches in store for me that require me to select a specific career path. If there are blessing in store for me, I’ll get them. But now I believe there are different blessings in store based on decisions I make and opportunities I create. I think that is what having an entrepreneurial calling really is. It’s about having faith and courage, working hard, and trusting in God. And that sounds a lot like a calling to me.

W4 - Core Values and Fears

When I was a young boy, I had no concept of the fragility of life and, therefore, no fear of death. As I grew older, I developed a sense of arrogance about myself, believing that I was above such concerns. I was a good person! I held the Aaronic priesthood and “knew” so much more than my friends! I carried that sense of entitlement for far too many years. It took my life, and faith, almost falling apart to realize the true significance of Like 12:48 “…For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required…”. I now understand that having a concrete set of beliefs, principles, and ideals that will guide me to be the best person I can be is a critical step in building a life of discipleship and success.

The process of defining and documenting my core values was a great experience. I’ve had my core values in another format for quite some time, but this exercise really made me focus on how things are going and how much progress I am (or am not) making. I will absolutely plan to review this document for frequently in the future than I have in the past.

I was also inspired by activity where I addressed my fears. It’s become clear to me that, while I do intend to prepare for “career 2.0” in the coming years, I don’t really believe I want to start over from ground zero. For me, that means moving certain objectives up and beginning earlier than I originally anticipated. I think that’s a good thing. I wasn’t really planning on changing my career until my youngest son was out of high school (he’s currently in kindergarten) so I have time to really think and plan. But the fears worksheet got me thinking about risk mitigation and contingency planning a lot more than I have up to know.

Ultimately, I think the biggest lesson I learned this week is that I can’t let fear derail my plans. But instead of just “overcoming” my fears, I need to recognize and address them. I need to use my fears to help plan and prepare myself for the difficulties that could arise as I transition careers and lifestyles in the coming years.

W03 - Honesty and Business Ethics

Week three has been both fun and inspiring. I especially liked the Launching Leaders videos where Jim Ritchie explains the Formula for Success and Happiness. Seeing the three step programs to two men like David B. Haight and J Paul Getty combined into a single formula really drove a couple of points home for me. 

First: Always have a plan, even if the current step of the plan is to wait.

               I love personal productivity tools like processes, apps, websites, books, podcasts, etc. I LOVE THEM. I think it’s because, as a young man, I was incredibly disorganized, constantly late, and a complete underachiever. I was perfectly content to float along in life playing baseball and relying on talents instead of working towards goals. But life (and God) have a way of forcing you to grow up. The book “Seven Habits for Highly Effective People” changed my life. But not because I was inspired or follow the habits. It just made me focus on myself and my shortcomings.

               Now, I teach organization, time-management, and process improvement as part of my job responsibilities. For me, having goals and a plan is a critical step in getting your life in order. No Plan? No Goals? No chance…

Second: Getting up early is wildly under-rated… it really works.

               Getting up early is amazing. It really is. Not because I’m “beating the competition” to the mark. No. for me getting u pearly is my time to decompress. Like many adults, I wear far too many hats to really be effective at any one thing. I’m a husband, father of three, soon to be Grandfather, I work a full-time job, I run my own side company, I serve on the High Council in my Stake, I’m taking several classes this term, and Lacrosse starts in two weeks. I typically go to bed about midnight and I get up every morning between 4:45 and 5am.

               That hour of solitude is time that I really need. I can read scriptures, plan my day, go for a walk or a run, or even just mediate. But this time helps me hit my day running.

Third: Making your Mark requires faith and inspiration.

               Making your mark is something I struggled with for a very long time. Until I sought help from God. As it turned out… I was trying to make my mark in the wrong place. You know the parable of the talents? I was sitting on five coins, but I was working on things that wouldn’t turn them into ten. I didn’t have a phenomenal spiritual experience; I just got an answer to a question and I tried to act on it. That was three years ago, and my life ever since has had more meaning and satisfaction than I ever had before.

               Making your mark doesn’t have to be about putting your stamp of this world. Making your mark can be a something more eternal than that.

Ultimately, combining inspired spiritual advice like David B. Haight's with proven business practices like J. Paul Getty's can, and should, lead to a life of ethically earned success. I look forward to seeing what else I learn in this class.

W02 - The Importance of Dreams

When I was a child, we moved around a lot. My father was in industrial construction (power plants mostly) and I never lived anywhere longer than four years. Part of living a fairly transient lifestyle is becoming comfortable with change and a lack of stability. Don’t get me wrong, we were always comfortable, my father was in management and earned a good salary. I just didn’t grow up around my extended family like grandparent or cousins.

I think that lifestyle really impacted me in ways that I am still figuring out. All of my childhood dreams had to do with me succeeding in various ways: Sports, career, etc. Very few of my childhood dreams involved other people or having my own family.

I think dreaming is very important, but I also think our dreams should be dynamic and adaptive. For example, my biggest dream as a young child was to play major league baseball. And I worked my tail off to get there! There were very few times between the sixth grade and twelfth grade that I couldn’t be found on the diamond. I was an excellent catcher, I started varsity all four years and played in college before going on a mission. But I never made the Major Leagues. 

Failure taught me two things:

1. Sometimes we fail, no matter how hard we try.
2. Dreams that don’t help you get where you want to go aren’t worth achieving.

I haven’t played baseball or even softball in more than twenty-five years. Yet my life is full and satisfying. I don’t miss baseball. I don’t even watch it on television. I believe I’ve outgrown my childhood dreams and replaced them with dreams and ambitions that are far better for me than the glory stadiums of fans on summer days. Being a professional baseball player would mean that I don’t have the life I have today, and I wouldn’t trade that for the world.

In Randy Pausch’s “last lecture” he shared his childhood dreams and which ones he was able to accomplish. I think Randy is lucky to have been able to identify lifelong loves like technology and visual arts at such a young age. But Randy also worked hard and put himself in a position to fulfill some of those childhood goals. For example, after gaining education in a relevant field, he applied to be an imagineer and was politely rejected. But Randy still worked in the field and continued to develop his talents. That led to another opportunity and to achieving his dream. He didn’t let one rejection kill his dream. He continued to develop himself and sought more opportunities.

I think that’s the key to his achievements. Not letting the brick wall stop him. He continued and tried again. No, he didn’t meet every goal, but he still learned valuable life lessons from his failures. Then he prepared himself to seize opportunities when they came up later or made his own opportunities, like on the zero gravity story.

Randy achieved as much as he did because he prepared himself everyday and didn’t let his first rejection stop him from trying again. That’s a lesson for all of us.

W01 - The Excitement of New Beginnings

Excitement is a strong word…I'd be lying if I didn't say I was excited about writing more. I'd also be lying if I said I like "journaling". Either way, I do like the idea of regularly capturing lessons, ideas, quotes, and ideas for this class. As someone that lives in his OneNote app and has been following a similar practice for the last 5-6 years, I really appreciate this assignment.

Full disclosure… I didn’t take this class to learn how to start a business. I’ve already done that. Although I think learning new, different, and better ways to start and run a business would be a good experience. I do plan of starting new businesses in the future, but not for a few years.

I really took this class because the description talks about planning and goals, something I really enjoy learning and sharing with other people. I love the different methods and tools available in the personal productivity space. I also love that I’ll be able to study some of these principles through a gospel lens. I didn’t get my first degree from a church school and I have really loved my classes at BYU-I for that reason.

A couple of things stood out to me from the reading:

1.     1. In “Your Whole Souls as an Offering Unto Him” by Elder Bednar, he restated a scripture from Section four of the Doctrine and Covenants. He reworded “Heart, Might, Mind, and Strength” to “a mighty heart and a strong mind”.  I really liked this because it helped me think “Am I approaching my academic endeavors with the right mind set?”

2.     2. Also, in Elder Bednar’s remarks, he speaks of sacrifice and consecration, and that the act of learning is a way of consecrating our efforts and our minds to the Lord. I don’t actually believe that is limited to learning. As a member of the High Council in my Stake, I spend more than a few Sundays and weeknights away from my family. We are often thanked for our sacrifice by the Stake Presidency. But Elder Bednar’s comment made me look at that time away from my family as more than just a sacrifice, but a way of consecrating my efforts and time to the Lord.

3.    3.  In Jim Ritchie’s video from Launching Leaders he talks about the importance of great friends and learning from them. Jim has an unorthodox view on what a friendship is. He considers authors and successful people his friends because he values their opinions and beliefs. I hope to employ that attitude to further develop my personal and professional network.

Overall, I am excited about this class and the focus on both personal and professional development. I work for a very large and respected international manufacturing company and I’ve had a fair degree of success. But my wife and I have plans for what we call “life 2.0”. We want to be in a position to take more control of our time and finances in the next 8-10 years. By then, the kids will be on missions, or close to it, and our situation will have changed. I’m looking forward to planning how to be ready when the time comes.