To Face A Dragon

I do not think there could have been a more timely set of reading assignments for this week. The general theme for this week was working through difficult circumstances and not getting discouraged.

I have had cause to wonder for a long while--but particularity this week--how in the world I am going to make it in life. The immediate future seems to only spell a long time of adjusting to and figuring out life after college.

But the words of Elder Jeffery R. Holland (an Apostle in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints), as well as a quote from our current assigned reading book, help me to feel a little less apprehensive about the future.

Elder Holland, in recounting a personal experience that illustrated how difficult (sometimes absurdly so) life can be, imagines what he would say to the younger version of himself: "'Don’t give up, boy. Don’t you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead—a lot of it—30 years of it now, and still counting. You keep your chin up. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come.'" ("Good Things to Come")

Another quote with a similar message is found in the reading assignment we had this week. A couple of times, the victims of the Holocaust of World War II are mentioned. One victim was said to have scribbled on his wall these words: "'I believe in the sun even when it is not shining, I believe in love even when I do not feel it, I believe in God even when He is silent."  To me, this is a perfect example of faith at it's best. We can be assured that as long as we are doing our best to follow God and the example of His Son, we may be guided and strengthened, even in the "tunnels of misfortune" in our life that seem to go on forever. The bad times will end. We will be able to handle whatever comes our way, if we only put our trust in the Lord.

Refining Habits and Self-Control

I think many of us--if not all of us--could say that we have some habits that we would like to break. I certainly know that I do! I have a tendency to procrastinate and manage my time badly. There are times when I have been motivated enough to manage my time well, and I am really much happier when I do.

But part of what it means to be human, I believe, is that we are in a constant struggle with the natural urge to take "the path of least resistance". We are always making decisions about whether to indulge out appetites and passions, or to do what we know must be done.

I think one of the most interesting things that I learned this week (though there is so much that was interesting to me), was that there is much in those natural desires that can be used to help us achieve our goals.

George Leonard, whose book on mastery our class has been studying for the last couple of weeks, teaches that it is important to acknowledge one's "dark side", or that natural side of our natures, but not to let it be master over our lives. We can access the energy that being frustrated or angry (for example) calls up in us, and direct it toward productive pursuits, rather than simply getting angry or being frustrated. In this way, we do not "suppress" or "hide away" those "forbidden parts of our personality", which he describes as unhealthy, but we do not let them take over, either.

But if we are to achieve this, we must first have our priorities straight. As part of out lesson this week, we reviewed briefly the "7 Habits of Highly Effective Men" established by Steven R. Covey. The third habit is that of putting "First Things First". When I am doing well in managing my time, I know what needs to be done first, and can use my desire to do something else (be it a more pleasing assignment, reading a book, or watching TV) to motivate me to get things done. These principles are things I've already seen at work in my life, but they are things that I have yet to master.

Yet as I've learned from George Leonard, the path to mastery is not one that is a constant slope upward, but one that comes in increments. You just have to keep trying.

A Vision of Self-Mastery

Last week one of the things I took away from my studies was the necessity of being able to be patient while one is "on the plateau" of development. This week, I was impressed by the call to master oneself and proceed with a vision.

An excellent talk given by Elder E. Eldon Tanner, an LDS Apostle from years ago, titled "Success is Gauged by Self-Mastery" contains some wonderful advice on the importance of self-mastery, but the quotes from long-ago philosophers and leaders were especially poignant. He quotes them thus:

"Plato said: 'The first and best victory is to conquer self; to be conquered by self is, of all things, the most shameful and vile.'

And da Vinci once said: 'You will never have a greater or lesser dominion than that over yourself.' Then he goes on to say that 'the height of a man’s success is gauged by his self-mastery; the depth of his failure by his self-abandonment. … And this law is the expression of eternal justice. He who cannot establish dominion over himself will have no dominion over others.' In other words, he cannot be a worthy father or leader.

Solomon in all his wisdom made this meaningful statement: 'He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.' (Prov. 16:32.)"

Self-mastery, as I see it, is a life-long goal. One that certainly becomes easier in some ways over time, but which also requires the utmost diligence. I know for certain that I am happier when I do what I know I should be doing with my time, but I often fall to the temptations that so many of us are subject to in this distraction-rich world.

I believe that self-mastery, too, is easier when one has a vision or a goal in mind. Again reading from George Leonard's "Mastery: The Keys to Sucess and Long-Term Fulfillment", we learn in chapter eight about "Intentionality"---that is, the ability to visualize an action or goal, and doing so until doing that action, or achieving that goal comes naturally to us. This is essentially the practice of lining up the goals and wishes of the mind and spirit with the actions of the body. It is this same sort of idea that drives the practice of teaching children to "say no to drugs", long before they are ever offered any.

When body and mind are united in a common cause, the results of the actions taken in pursuit of that cause are more likely to yield better results. Distraction is the enemy of excellence.

Patience on the Path

This week we covered lots of new material! I thought the messages from George Leonard’s book Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment were particularly interesting. Leonard talks about how the pattern of progress leading toward mastery is not a straight line inclining upward.

Rather, it’s more like a series of plateaus connected by spurts of progress. And so, when we are learning a new skill, or starting a new venture, we must understand the necesity of long periods of hard practice without seeming to get anywhere. We must learn to “love the plateau”, so to speak.

I also had an interesting experience in one of my other illustration classes this week. We were discussing the necesity of becoming good artists, and striving for utmost perfection. Our teacher is a professional illustrator, and so he makes good points. But one thing that I thought about, and felt that I had to share with the class was that even if our work “isn’t good”, that doesn’t give us an excuse to not put ourselves out there. “We have to start somewhere,” I said.

The teacher acknowledged that, and explained that as an artist, you will always be looking back at your best work from years back (that people liked, in fact) and deciding that it was no good. So we are always climbing the path toward mastery of our disciplines, but one of the main differences between those who are successful and those who are not is not talent. It is that those who are successful have known failure, and yet diligently continue to practice and put their work and talents (however meager) out there for people to see. 

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.