week 10

One of the greatest realizations that I have taken from this weeks reading was from the talk that Dallin H. Oaks gave about the challenge to become. He said, “ In contrast to the institutions of the world, which teach us to know something, the gospel of Jesus Christ challenges us to become something.” This really made me think about how we are children of our heavenly father. I liken that relationship to that of myself and my earthly father. He wants me to be happy, he wants me to succeed and he wants me to always make sure that I am stretching myself so that I can continue to grow. This is exactly what our heavenly father wants for us as well.

From a presentation entitled Think Big, Taylor Richards encourages us to do just that. Thinking big is a form a challenging yourself to become something or someone that is successful, reliable, honest, and respected.  His example of how his boat dealership was listed in the very top of the best 100 dealers in the nation for multiple years shows that he was following his own advice. When he filled out the application to be ranked, he was not planning on making it. He was a new dealer at that point in time, but wanted to create a goal or a path for his dealership.

I really enjoyed the readings this week and invite anyone who would like to follow the posted links and check them out.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2000/10/the-challenge-to-become?lang=eng&query=challenge+become+(name%3a%22Dallin+H.+Oaks%22)

https://vimeo.com/27928168

week 9

In this week’s readings on that stuck out to me was called Message to Garcia. It spoke about the rarest of all skills, the ability to execute. I feel that this is crucial to any success. If one cannot execute in whatever capacity they are in, they cannot find success. I see this in my current career. I am in a buying position for the company, if I do not make sure that I execute the needed purchases for the company, the product is not available for sale in our store. As a result of not having needed product, the store does not make the sales needed to turn a profit. Along with the ability to execute comes the ability to designate jobs/tasks. Often, because you just want to make sure that things that need to be done ultimately get done, you do them yourself. This will hamper success. You need to make sure that you have people around you that are competent and that you can delegate tasks to.

I also feel that my enrollment in BYU-Idaho and the classes that I have taken thus far have truly been a benefit to me. Elder Bednar says that this university is a disciple preparation center. The oxford dictionary says that a disciple is one who follows or attends upon another for the express purpose of learning. That is how we find success, we learn from others and then we become good at executing what we have learned. 

week 8

This weeks material couldn’t have came at a better time for me personally. My wife lost her mother this week unexpectedly. I had read a talk from Elder Holland (a leader of the LDS faith that I am a member of) about never giving up no matter how long it takes to achieve something. I am not going to speak about my family other than to say the material has helped me cope this week with the loss of a loved one. Throughout my career as a business leader, I will experience challenges that will make me want to quit, or to step back. Taking those actions will never bring me happiness, success, or growth. No matter how long the challenge or task takes, I need to see it through. There probably will be challenges that I might never overcome, but I need to keep trying. I need to never give up. That is the only way to truly find reward in life. I remember a quote from my mission president from years ago that I feel pertains to this weeks material, “coasting is not progression.” Coasting in life and or business will never lead you towards growth.

Eric Reis’s 5 whys were also very helpful to me this week. He said the 5 whys are so important to development and I whole heartedly agree with him. I feel that the example of a server going down and everyone felt that the server needed attention, while in the end it was actually a manager not doing the proper training because he didn’t believe it in. 

This week I spent a great deal of time discussing mastery and how to achieve it. For me it helped me realize the importance of prioritizing and remaining energized. Having a 10 month old sometimes makes it really easy to be lazy when she is sleeping or is out shopping with her mom. I need to make sure that I stay active so that I have the energy to be a good father and succeed at work each day as well. 

For me, the most important habit would be to seek to understand, then be understood. I am a problem solver. Quite often, my wife wants to talk about something, and all I want to do is fix whatever she is struggling with. While this is not a bad thing, sometimes the easiest fix is to just listen to her. Most often, she just wants to vent and tell me about whatever is troubling her. She knows that by me listening, the problem will work itself out. This is where I tend to go wrong as well and why it is the most important of the 7 habits discussed in this weeks reading. I feel that this is where I need the most improvement currently.