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.