Week 7 Journal Entry

This week's topic was "moving forward with a driving passion". Some things I liked, some I didn't. I'm not a huge fan of the Guy Kawasaki videos. He seems a little arrogant to me, like while trying to explain how money is important, he tells us he's owned Porsche's, and not just any Porsche, top of the line ones. It's hard for me to get past that. President Hinckley's talk I loved. I love that it was directed at Young Women, first of all. I probably heard that talk growing up, and I love the optimism and enthusiasm I always feel from him. He touched on so many important things, but I loved that he talked about the importance of education, and also having integrity in all our choices. That's who he is to me: someone with extreme integrity in the way he lived his life. Finishing "Mastery" and writing the book report was also something I enjoyed. I always seem to want a quick fix for how to accomplish things, but it's the same in life as in the gospel: the same tried and true principles always apply, and it takes hard work and dedication to reach your goals. I'll get there someday, I hope, but that book gave me some really good insights to think about as I embark on the road of mastery.

Week 6 Journal Entry

The readings were so powerful to me this week, not just as a business student, but as a wife and mother and friend. Elder Tanner's talk especially hit me hard. I was at first reading it thinking about "mastery" as in keeping the commandments -- the ones like the Law of Chastity and the Word of Wisdom that I have striven to live since I was young. Then he shared a scripture in Proverbs 16:32 that says "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city." I REALLY need to master my anger. That is something that feels like it has gotten worse for me as a mother with kids who sometimes just won't listen. It doesn't apply to this class I'm taking necessarily, but I just wanted to share it anyway since it was the most powerful to me this week. Also, reading and watching videos talk about how hard it is to have a start-up company as well as make time for family really has me wondering if I'm ever going to make time for a business. Sometimes I think about how I might want to have a career after my youngest starts school, but then I always think about how I want to be able to volunteer at the school often and be able to have lunch with my kids every once in a while, and so many other things that I would miss out on. I still have time to think about it, but I always end up thinking that it's not worth it to me to sacrifice that time with my children, especially as they go through trials and may need me to be available to them more. So that's where I'm at this week.

Week 5 Journal Entry

This week I learned a lot about mastery and perseverance. Creating a "personal board of advisors" for my life was a difficult assignments, considering I could choose anyone, living or dead, and there are so many people to choose from! Plus, trying to vary the people I chose so that I would get different viewpoints was hard, because it seemed easiest just to choose all prophets or members of my faith, and I think it's important to have even different religious viewpoints accounted for, because with the exact same beliefs we may not have different ideas as often. Watching "A Hero's Journey" was enlightening to me. Jeff talked about how the three questions that remain for those at the end of their life are: Have I contributed to something meaningful? Am I a good person? Who did I love and who loved me? These questions are something I want to remember and consider throughout my life, so I can be sure of the answers to them when I get to the end of my life. I loved as well that he talked about mistakes he made in his life that he hopes we will learn now and not wait to make the mistakes ourselves. Mostly, how important it is to spend time with our family, and how that should not be replaced by working too hard. As a stay-at-home mom, I do spend time with my kids, but is the time spent well? Am I making memories with them that they can remember, and teaching them things that will bless their lives? This is something I can improve, now, while they're still young and I still have the opportunity.

Week 4 Journal Entry

Wow, what a week. Doing some of these assignments has been a little emotional for me. While I was trying to write my Personal Constitution, I was struggling with unhappy feelings towards my family, and that was really hard to do. I wanted to write my Personal Constitution with the Spirit guiding me, but I didn't expect to feel the need to repent before doing schoolwork. My Personal Constitution was just that, very personal to me. Defining the most important values in my life was a little bit difficult. I also loved reading "How Will You Measure Your Life?" by Clayton Christensen, again. He is someone I admire a whole lot, and I always love reading things by him because of the Spirit I feel. It reiterated to me the importance of putting my family first. Even though I am not working right now and am a stay-at-home mom and that might seem easy, I need to focus more on my relationships with each of my children and with my husband and make sure no one is neglected.