Plans and Preparation

This was certainly a week of reflection! Two of the documents that we were asked to write were our "Personal Constitutions" (as advised by Steven Hitz and James Ritchie in their book The Ministry of Business), and our list of fear to "deconstruct". (That latter one made me feel a little like Charlie Brown in the Christmas Special---"What's Pantophobia?" "The fear of everything." "THAT'S IT!")

Both these documents were helpful, though. Identifying situations I feared and putting some potential solutions to them helped to ease my fear of them somewhat. The logistics of those issues still make me nervous, but I feel that things will be okay.

We also reviewed our reading of the aforementioned book by Hitz and Ritchie in order to report on our thoughts and learning experiences. I am extremely grateful that we were required to get this book--it has done a great deal to ease my fears regarding the future. In particular, reading the experience of Mr. Hitz in being guided by God throughout his career (though an awareness of God's hand in it came much later, after they'd gone through all they'd gone through) helped to assure me that the Lord has His own plan, and as long as I'm doing my best to improve my talents and listen to Him, I will be okay.

A short speech by Tom Kelley on "doing what you love" was also interesting. He brought up a point that I've heard before, but I don't think I can hear it enough. He said that if you are doing something you love (that you're competent at, of course), you will be more likely to sacrifice for that thing. He reintroduced me to another (related) concept, as well. He had a diagram of three circles, and the subject in each was: What you're good at, what you were "born to do", and what people will pay you to do. In the center, of course, is the sweet spot where you want your career to be. Sometimes that sweet spot fits nicely within a larger company, and sometimes its a niche you have to dig out with your own hands.

I'm not sure where my Illustration and Writing skill fit in quite yet, but I hope as the semester goes on, things might become clearer to me.

The Long Road

While much of what I have learned this week in my studies had to do with the ethics and moral guidelines we set for ourselves when contemplating entrepreneurship (which I believe is of the utmost importance), the bits that stuck out to me had more to do with how we operate during this journey called life.

Firstly, we studied the life and career of Magdalena Yesil. A native of Istanbul, Turkey, Magdalena had a fascination with technology that led her to pursue an education as a computer engineer in America. What really stood out to me, though, was how her career began. Her first job after graduating had her drawing logic gates in a lonely cubicle for over a year. It sounded like a miserable sort of job, but after that year plus change, vacancies in the company had her moving into other departments of the company.

After a series of employment changes, Magdalena found that what she really enjoyed was being involved in the start-up of business ventures and companies. While still dealing largely with the technology she was familiar with, it is remarkable that she ended up where she is. The disparity between start and end points in a given career can often be greater than we might imagine. This idea gives me a lot of comfort. It tells me that, while defining life goals and working toward them is a good and necessary practice, the twists and turns of life (through the guidance of the Lord) often lead you to where you need to be much better than even the most careful plan.

However, we as individuals have a responsibility to be self-starting. We will not simply drift into the perfect career if we are not first active ourselves. That is why I found the “Formula” for success, as presented by James Ritchie and Steven Hitz in their book The Ministry of Business (which I highly recommend), to be an excellent guide to get one on the path to be led. Their formula goes as follows:

1. -          Get Up Early.
2. -          Work Hard.
3. -          Get Your Education.
4. -          Find Your Oil.
5. -          Make Your Mark.
6. -          Get Prepared To Be Of Service.

I will not go into great detail here about the meaning behind each of these points, but I would again highly recommend anyone who wishes to learn more to read their book. I believe it will be a keeper for me, and I’m sure it will be for you, too.

The Importance of Goals and Dreams

Much of what I have learned from this week’s studies has helped me to realize that the future is not as scary as I once thought.

Not AS scary, anyway.

There are still many unknowns, and the unknown is always scary. However, it was a comfort to see all the random thoughts floating around in my head about my future prospects coalesce into a semblance of a plan as I wrote them down. More ideas even occurred to me as I wrote down the ones I already had.

Two of the more important things I learned this week were to trust God, and to have a dream or goal in mind. When we trust God and put our lives I His hands, we can be guided, as long as we follow His commandments. We more readily receive inspiration from Him when the spiritual “communication lines” are free of the clutter of sin and disobedience.

However, almost as important is that we have a direction to go. We cannot be guided if we are not taking steps toward a goal, or in pursuit of our dreams.

I believe it is incredibly important to dream. When you don’t have a dream, you tend to wander aimlessly when considering where to go. When you have no dream or no goal in life, the question of where to go turns out very much like this conversation between Alice and the Cheshire Cat in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland:

          "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
          "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to."
          "I don't much care where –"
          "Then it doesn't matter which way you go.”
          (Quote found on Goodreads.)

In his “last lecture”, Randy Pausch, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, describes how he was able to achieve a lot of his life goals. One of the main reasons he was able to achieve his goals was that he was encouraged to be engaged in the pursuit of his dreams while growing up. His creativity was not stifled---and additionally, he did not take failure as a reason to give up. He persevered until he found a solution, or chalked the failure up to experience and used it to achieve other goals.

One of my lifelong goals (not related to any of what Randy Pausch called the “more important things”, aka Family) has been to write and publish a novel. I believe that this is certainly within my abilities and is actually very likely to happen. I love art, and unless something major comes up, I will be sticking to that as my career. I do, however, have a love of the written word, and crafting images through words. I already have an aptitude and love of the craft, and study it frequently.

My biggest obstacle is making the time to do it. I have an idea to combine it with my artistic talents, however, and a pet idea of mine would be to create an illustrated novel. It used to be that books always had art in them, but now it is viewed as juvenile. Now, given my art style, I think that my novel would very likely be targeted at young adults, but I believe that it can still be a mature (yet clean) story. It is a goal and a dream I intend to see fulfilled. 

The Outset of a Journey of Discovery

When enrolling in an "Introduction to Entrepreneurship" course, I believed  I had signed on to learn about business models, finances, and such. What I have discovered instead is a course dedicated to principles even more fundamental than the practical knowledge of running a business.

The course objectives, based on the first reading assignments I have completed, are to instill in its students a sense of what their goals in life are, and determining how best to reach them.

As part of these fundamental principles, the words of former president of Brigham Young University - Idaho, David A. Bednar conduct a powerful message that applies to all people--not just students. He compares an education in which the "path of least resistance" is taken (by way of selecting only "easy" classes, and doing only minimum work) to "an expensive car that has no engine.  The car may look very good from the outside, but inside the real power is missing." (Full address can be found here.)

I, regrettably, feel as though I have been such a student. All the advice given in the articles I have read can be largely summed up in this phrase: "Determine what really matters to you, then be willing to sacrifice for it."

I find myself in awe of these ideas, though they have been expressed to me in various ways throughout the years. Taking the path of least resistance is a sure way to misery and stagnation. For myself, I believe that part of the problem lies in my fear of failure. Yet one of the lessons taught in these articles is that failure is not something to be feared, it is something to accept and learn from.

Taking a risk and failing, yet learning something as a result, is in this case much better than "taking the path of least resistance."

I look forward to the journey of discovery and thorough planning, and hope that much of what I accomplish here will benefit me in the months and years to come.