True Happiness Uncovered

I found out what the formula to true happiness is and I totally agree with it, it makes sense. The challenge now is to apply my findings thus far into my life.

- Get up Early
- Work Hard
- Get Your Education
- Find your Oil
- Make your Mark
- Get Prepared to be of Service.

I love that one needs to get up early to find true happiness. I taught seminary for a couple of years and that was the challenge but it started my day off well and I appreciated the extra time taken to enjoy the day and get more things done. I also believe that when people gain success, then to be truly happy you do need to give back. To be of service to others is a blessing that comes back around and blesses you more.
The top ten things you must have for a start-up was very informative and I remembered helping to get my families company doing better. Some of those things were, "it doesn't matter how you look, its what you do." Trying to look the part isn't profitable at all, and its the customers that are the most important. Get a good partner and be loyal to them, he/she will be the one who is there when you really need them. They should also complement you and your ideas, which in our family company we need to work on. I gave this list to my brother and he looked at it and said "I think we do most of that," I smiled and moved on, he didn't like my idea of sharing and so he loses out on the many things that I am learning in this class.
Last of all, I love this motto "Being True Blue Through and Through" I believe that when you have a standard that you will always follow, it doesn't matter what other people will do, what matters is that you will always do that which is right. Integrity 101! "First, take an inventory of your integrity by asking yourself these questions. 

-Are you worthy of trust?
-Do you diligently seek His help?
-Do you make and keep covenants?
-Do you stand up for what you believe in?
-Expect your integrity to be challenged
-Don't Give Up
-Renew your covenants with the Lord to do what you were sent here to do.

 Look for cracks that may have started to form. Be honest with yourself about your past dishonesties. Second, for the next 30 days take time every night to assess how you did that day." I think I will make a goal to try and do the second one for the next seven days and see how I did. I'll keep a daily note to challenge myself and then report back next week.

It has been an enlightening week and I love the opportunities to learn new ways to become a better person. I had the opportunity to write a book report on 'The Ministry of Business' and I am grateful that I am taking this class. This is a great book, and I have learned a great deal from the ideas shared on those pages. I highly recommend this book and I have suggested to my current employer that he should read it. Here are a few principles I loved.

-Know who you are and have the courage to stand for what you believe. Integrity is key in every aspect of life, and though the author faced some trying litigation, he learned to trust the Lord and focus on the only thing that he could control in his life at that time - his personal actions. The process taught him to forgive his enemies.

-One plus God is enough. Hintz shares this insight, “The key is to make and keep covenants with God. When we uphold our end of the promise, we can trust that God- who is perfect- will most certainly uphold his.” (Ritchie, 2012, p. 65) We are never alone and God is the best business partner that we could ever have, so you working with God on your side is enough!

-The Six Step Formula for Happiness and Success. This is an important formula that will bless your life. I have lived it in part and have gained various blessings from doing so but I have pondered over the success that will be achieved if I lived ALL six of those steps? They are as follows, get up early, work hard, get an education, find your oil, make your mark, and get prepared to be of service. This formula has proven very helpful for the author and his mentor and can be incorporated into the lives of anyone willing to make the changes. Personally, I believe that you must get up early and make the most of the day that you been given. A strong work ethic is a blessing in any area of your life and especially helpful when trying to complete your education goals.

To find your oil, you must figure out what you like to do. It is better to do a job that you love, than to go to work each day because you must. It will soon turn into the thing you hate and you won’t be successful and you will not make your mark in this world. You can make a mark in the lives of those around you when you are excited to do what you do. Lastly, remember to give back to help others to learn the concepts and principles that have made you the success that you are today.

-My Personal Constitution. I loved this principle the most, the author defined it like this, “A Personal Constitution is a single document outlining who you want to be and what you are going to do to accomplish this objective.” (Ritchie, 2012, p. 133) I had to look inwardly in search of governing values that I wanted to develop and found that this is a work in progress that takes time to evaluate. Starting with a small number, then prioritizing those values into short or long term goals, then breaking them down into daily tasks that will develop those values within. As you learn, governing values may change but you will become the person that you want to be and find the success and happiness that you seek.

Have you ever wondered why the Lord puts you in situations to learn things? Is there a reason that you are studying this subject at this time? If so what do you think you are supposed to learn? This week I have had the opportunity to reflect on some things that need to change in our family business and also the work ethic of those that I do work with. I had a feeling that I needed to understand the formula for success and the Personal Constitution so that we could apply it into the family business that I work with.

We have meetings with our in house staff this coming week to review their goals for the year, and what we can do to make our business better.

I believe that if I can understand how to put my personal constitution together for myself, I can help them to develop the same for themselves in relation to the business. I also enjoyed the exercise of analyzing and overcoming my fears. This also may be something that we can use with the staff in our next reviews.

Learning is great but I have a feeling that I need to share these ideas with my co-workers, and in turn help them to learn as well!

A time to learn

I have decided that it would be smart to write in this blog the things I have learnt from my readings as I read them, the test of getting older is trying to remember what you read a couple of days later. I generally remember the gist of the story but that doesn't always help when it comes time to write about it.

I have found that if I can do my readings in the mornings when I'm on the treadmill I can kill two birds with one stone, and on Monday I read through to chapter as was required for class. What a great book, the lessons learned are great, I believe that the author was blessed to have a great spouse who supported and encouraged him during the trying times that they went through and was the strength to keep pushing forward. Even though the lawsuit was a great challenge good things came from it and his business grew regardless. I loved the thought that 'covenants are our personal pipelines to God', if we keep them then he will bless ALL aspects of our lives.

The thoughts on duplicity I liked a lot and believe them to be very true, "To maximize your entrepreneurial and career potential, it's crucial that you decide what type of person you want to become (remembering your relationship with God and the power of making and keeping covenants with Him should help define this person), and then strive to become that person everywhere you are."

As I have pondered on the various readings that we have been asked to read, and the task of having to think of 50 things for a bucket list, I have been surprised at just how unsure I am of what I really want to do? The question posed by Jeffery Thompson is "What is your calling in life?" Perfect question, and one I have never really thought about. What is my calling in life? What is it that I want to achieve? Thats a tough question, but one that I seriously need to think about. So I appreciated the exercise given to figure out what you want to become and work backwards, filling in the chart.

-Why do you think Randy Pausch was able to achieve so many of his childhood dreams? 

Randy Paush had a great outlook in life, he addressed the elephant in the room right from the start and did not let his battle with cancer slow him down. He lived his life to the fullest and loved and enjoyed his family and friends to the max. I believe that he set goals and tried his very best to achieve the goals that he set for himself. He was also unafraid to do what was needed and was able to see beyond the mark.

-Do you feel that dreaming is important? Why or why not?

Definitely, dreaming helps you to envision yourself achieving the goals that your want to achieve. Setting goals that can move you in the greater direction that you want, and lifting you higher when the challenges come and you lose sight of what you hold true to yourself. The saying is dreams are free? Yes they are but one must act to be able to achieve.

 -Discuss at least one of your childhood dreams. Explain why you believe you can or cannot achieve this dream.

One of my childhood dreams is to buy my mother a home that she can live in and enjoy, as she gets older in life. I know it will be hard but I believe that I can achieve this goal because my little sister has the very same goal and we can work together to fulfill it. She lives in NZ with mum and so she is the number one caretaker. She has been looking at homes, comparing prices in various areas, and keeping me updated as to what she finds. We will achieve this goal and my wonderful mother will get what she has always wanted.

It's A New Beginning...

I have never been one to write a Blog but this is an opportunity to learn and to share thoughts that will be helpful as I start learning about being an Entrepreneur.
After the various readings that I have had to do this week, as well as the many video's that I have had the opportunity to watch, I have gained some important insight that should be very helpful as I start this current journey of learning.
An introduction to the course states, "...Course is designed to help you know yourself, your strengths, your passions, even your dark side -- and to help you chart a course forward and blueprint those extraordinary things." then its asks: are you ready?
Truthfully, I'm not sure what to expect, but to the wise authors of these articles who have lifted my spirits to greater heights thus far, I'll ask myself the questioned posed by Jeff Sandefer at the end of his article "Living Life as an Entrepreneurial Hero. "Do you have the courage to take that first step, to fight that first battle, even if you don't know how the story ends?" My answer is yes and I'm ready to take that step and take the challenge.
I started reading 'The Ministry of Business', I'm excited to see how this story unfolds and the lessons learned by these authors that can be shared with us so that we can apply those lessons in our own lives. I am hoping that these lessons will help me to make some great suggestions to family members who currently run their own business. I work on the financial side of the business and I believe with the things that I will learn from this class I can help make the family business a much better one.
We work in the healthcare industry and thankfully we have the opportunity to help and bless the lives of an older generation. Guy Kawasaki's video was very informative and true, do what you love and it wont seem like work. This is how we feel about the work we do, and as a family we feel blessed to be able to help and honor the mothers and fathers of our clients.