10.30.2014

I wish I was younger when I took this class. I feel like I have a timetable and it is running out.  I also wish my husband would have taken a class like this so he could have maybe implemented some of it in his career now.

this week learned about entrepreneur lifestyle
Great things about being an entrepreneur
1. You make the rules
2. It's your baby -- oh yea
3. no more politices - oh yea
4. time flexibility
5. work where you want
6. work with who you want
7. run your life how you want to
8. leverage your dreams and imagination
9. money flexibility
10. a sense of pride and satisfaction

Totally agree with all of above.

Hinckley's talk was excellent on being true to yourselves and your associates.  Today it is so hard to find honest reputable companies.  They seem to only be out for the bottom dollar and hide their problems.  The world is becoming more and more dishonest.  Hinckley said "honesty is the best policy" and in the end that is true.

Be True to yourself and the best within you. Be true to yourselves. Be true to one another. Be true to your friends and associates. Be true to your parents and your heritage. Be true to our Eternal Father and His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Carly Fiorina said that leadership is about three things
1. capability
2. collaboration
3. character
and she also said that those that are vibrant in life, us old people, it is because we continue to learn.

who know what I will do but it will probably be something that will benefit other people, especially the old.

Friday October 24, 1014

I enjoyed the reading on Personal finance: Introduction and another perspective.  I think this would be excellent for my kids to go through. They owe me rent money. It would be worth it for me to take off rent money in exchange for them reading and doing exercises with this program.  Their budgeting skills really lack. It mostly comes down to commitment and achieve. They are not willing to sacrifice yet.

I loved this:

1. Personal finance can help bring us to Christ

2. Personal finance can help us accomplish our divine mission

3. Personal finance can help us return with our families back to Heavenly Father's presence

4. Personal finance can help us become wiser stewards.

Five Step Process

I especially enjoyed learning about the five-step process of decide, educate, commit, believe, and achieve.

I had never thought of it that way but when I look back in our lives and our travels financial I can see how each step fits in.

Decide – First, you must decide the ‘why’ behind why you are doing this.  One of our personal reasons for why was we grew up hearing that there would be no social security for us.  My husband is 61 and we can see there will be.  But in our 20’s we really thought there would not be.  We made a conscious effort to save any amount we could in retirement savings plans. Because of that we made decisions such as no cable TV and taking that money and putting it into the retirement plans.  Another why is we wanted to go on a couple mission. We knew it would be expensive because you have living expenses where you are at and living expenses back home.  As we had those two goals in mind it helped us to be OK with budgeting and sometimes doing without something fun because we had a goal in mind.

Educate – Our years have come with a lot of learning.  Some via books and some via hard knocks. When I married I knew almost nothing about stocks and bonds. I read and read and read so I could make wise decisions in investing our long term savings.

Commit – We have always made monthly goals and yearly goals and long term goals for retirement. With these goals in mind it has made it easier BUT in the end it just takes controlling yourself. When we would get a little out of control we would go to the envelope method.  The amount of cash meant for groceries was put in an envelope and when it was empty there were no more groceries.  Without a commitment to keep my financial goals I could not have done that.  I have a married set of kids, they cannot stick to their goals.  They have no will power. They get no where in life.  The say one day, ok we are not eating out any more because we need to save the money, but then a few hours later, they eat out and they have their long list of excuses.  They make their goals, but then they do not commit hard enough to reach those goals.

Believe – I have vision. My husband does not. I could see we would be fine in our retirement years. It has thought for years we would not.  The other day he did a spread sheet of our ira’s, social security etc.  (He is CPA). He came home all excited and surprised.  We are going to be sitting just fine.  Vision helps you to keep your goals.

Achieve – We must work to achieve the goals.  Well, I think back at my young married kids. They just don’t work at achieving their goals. Oh, my daughter will make some cook fancy colored something to hang on the wall with their goals and an hour later they are already not achieving them because they have a hard time sacrificing.


Top ten myths came out of “So you Want to be an Entrepreneur?” by Joh Gillespie-Brown

1.     Entrepreneurs are born, not made

2.     Entrepreneurs are well educated, rich and young

3.     Entrepreneurs are big gamblers

4.     Entrepreneurs are loners and cannot work with others

5.     Entrepreneurs only care about money

6.     Most successful entrepreneurs start their companies with a break through invention or technology

7.     Fail at your first business and you will never get a second chance.

8.     They couldn’t get a good job so they work for themselves

9.     Entrepreneurs have to sail very close to the wind to succeed.

10.  You will have no life as an entrepreneur

What makes an entrepreneur?

1.     They want to exploit a perceived business opportunity (opportunity entrepreneurs)

2.     They are pushed into entrepreneurship because all other options for work are either absent or unsatisfactory. (necessity entrepreneurs)

perseverance

 This week I learned about perseverance, are successful entrepreneurs born or made and whether I want to be an entrepreneur.  There is a lot of learning but what I got out of it most was perseverance.  I don't want to forget the talk so I have included it into my blog.

Quotes and ideas from the two talks I especially enjoyed.

 “entrepreneurial success isn’t about money; it’s about freedom. The goal isn’t to make more than you need, it is to spend less than you make, because that way your free time belongs to you.”  

successful entrepreneurs have skills such as character, courage, and perseverance and how you deposits assets into each of those areas 

 some assets are built during competitive battle or built during the daily struggle of making decisions.   

 Success is usually earned by persevering and not becoming discouraged when we encounter challenges.

 

What is the secret of success? It is when you get up when you fall down

Perseverance is demonstrated by those who keep going when the going gets tough, who don’t give up even when others say it can’t be done.

quote from "so you want to be an entrepreneur"  An entrepreneur "they work hard and are driven by an intense commitment and detrmined perseverance; they see the cup as half full, rather than half empty; they strive for integrity; they thrive on the competitive desire to excel and win; they are dissatisfied with the status quo and see opportunities to improve almost any situation they encounter; they use failure as a tool for learning and eschew perfection in favor of effectiveness; and they believe they can personally make an enormous difference in the final outcome of their ventures in life." Timmons & Sinelli

At my age I may never open up my own business, then again maybe I will, who knows. but all of this learning will go for naught.  I can use the skills in my daily life so i can persevere in making it to the Celestial Kingdom.  I can use these skills in my church callings to do them the best I can do.  I can use them in my civic activities to help my community be the best it can be and i can use them while I am on my mission so my mission will be very successful.

I loved one of the fellow classmates quotes - get up off of the couch ----

The successful people I have met in my lives, they rarely sit and watch TV night after night, they are up and doing constantly.

 

Perseverance

James E. Faust
Second Counselor in the First Presidency

---

Perseverance is demonstrated by those who keep going when the going gets tough, who don’t give up even when others say, “It can’t be done.”

I wish to welcome those Brethren who were called and sustained this afternoon to be members of the First and Second Quorums of the Seventy. Each one is a man of faith and ability and commitment, and we certify to you that they are worthy in all respects to hold these offices.

My dear brethren of the great worldwide brotherhood of the priesthood, we commend you for your faithfulness and your dedication to the work of the Lord. We thank you for your commitment and your devoted service. You contribute much to the strength of the Church.

It is wonderful to be in this meeting with all of you who hold the Aaronic Priesthood. When I was your age I used to wonder, “What will be my place in this world, and how will I find it?” At that time about my only firm goal was to serve a mission. When my mission call came, I served, and my mission became like the North Star to guide me into the other pursuits of my life. One of the important things I learned was that if I faithfully persevered in my Church callings, the Lord would open up the way and guide me to other opportunities and blessings, even beyond my dreams.

Serving a mission can do this for all you young men. A young man recently shared with me how much he had learned from his perseverance as a missionary. I draw from his experience some of the things you can learn that would bring opportunities and blessings to you:

1. 1. How to organize and use time wisely
   
2. 2. The importance of hard work—that you reap what you sow
   
3. 3. Leadership skills
   
4. 4. People skills
   
5. 5. The value of gospel study
   
6. 6. Respect for authority
   
7. 7. The importance of prayer
   
8. 8. Humility and dependence on the Lord ¹
   

When I went to Granite High School in Salt Lake City in the 1930s, I had some friends who excelled in athletics, drama, music, and speech. Some of them went on to achieve success in life, but too many of those gifted and able young people did not persevere and failed to achieve their potential. In contrast, several less visible young men and women at the same school worked diligently, persevered, and continued with their education and became outstanding doctors, engineers, educators, lawyers, scientists, businessmen, artisans, electricians, plumbers, and entrepreneurs.

Success is usually earned by persevering and not becoming discouraged when we encounter challenges. Paul Harvey, the famous news analyst and author, once said: “Someday I hope to enjoy enough of what the world calls success so that someone will ask me, ‘What’s the secret of it?’ I shall say simply this: ‘I get up when I fall down.’” ²

An outstanding example of perseverance is Madame Marie Curie, who worked together with her French physicist husband, Pierre Curie, “in an old abandoned leaky shed without funds and without outside encouragement or help, trying to isolate radium from a low-grade uranium ore called pitchblende. And after their 487th experiment had failed, Pierre threw up his hands in despair and said, ‘It will never be done. Maybe in a hundred years, but never in my day.’ Marie confronted him with a resolute face and said, ‘If it takes a hundred years, it will be a pity, but I will not cease to work for it as long as I live.’” ³ She was eventually successful, and cancer patients have benefited greatly from her perseverance.

Perseverance is demonstrated by those who keep going when the going gets tough, who don’t give up even when others say, “It can’t be done.” In 1864 the First Presidency assigned Apostles Ezra T. Benson and Lorenzo Snow, along with Elders Alma Smith and William W. Cluff, on a mission to the Hawaiian Islands. From Honolulu they took passage on a small boat to the little harbor of Lahaina. As they approached the reef, the surf was running high and a heavy swell struck the boat, carrying it about 50 yards and leaving it in a trough between two huge waves. When the second swell struck, the boat capsized into the foaming sea.

The people on the shore manned a lifeboat and picked up three of the brethren, who were swimming near the submerged boat. But there was no sign of Brother Snow. Hawaiians accustomed to the surf swam in every direction to search for him. Eventually one of them felt something in the water, and they pulled Brother Snow to the surface. His body was stiff, and he looked like he was dead as they hauled him into the boat.

Elder Smith and Elder Cluff laid Brother Snow’s body across their laps and quietly administered to him, asking the Lord to spare his life that he might return to his family and home. When they reached the shore, they carried Brother Snow to some large empty barrels lying on the beach. Laying him face downwards on one of them, they rolled him back and forth to expel the water he had swallowed.

After the elders worked over him for some time, without any indication of life, the bystanders said that nothing more could be done for him. But the determined elders would not give up. So they prayed again, with the quiet assurance that the Lord would hear and answer their prayers.

They were impressed to do something rather unusual for that day and time. One of them placed his mouth over Brother Snow’s in an effort to inflate his lungs, alternately blowing in and drawing out air, imitating the natural process of breathing. Taking turns, they persevered until they succeeded in inflating his lungs. A little while later they perceived faint indications of returning life. “A slight wink of the eye, which, until then, had been open and death-like, and a very faint rattle in the throat, were the first symptoms of returning vitality. These grew more and more distinct, until consciousness was fully restored.” With their perseverance and the smile of merciful Providence, all four of the Lord’s servants survived and were able to complete their missions. ⁴

Elder Snow went on to become the President of the Church. While serving in that office, he stabilized the Church’s funds by urging the members to pay their tithes and offerings.

You brethren will be interested to know that the Alma Smith in this story was the boy who was shot in the hip at Haun’s Mill, destroying the hip joint and socket. His mother dressed the terrible wound with some balsam and then was inspired to have him lie on his face for five weeks. A flexible gristle grew in place of the missing joint and socket so that he was able not only to live a normal life but also to serve a mission to Hawaii and give a lifetime of service to the Church. ⁵

Our latter-day prophets are all examples of determination through priesthood, prayer, and work. Joseph Smith’s perseverance made possible the Restoration of all things. All of his life he was treated with contempt and ridicule—from the time he first related the account of the First Vision to a preacher of a prominent religion. But he never faltered and left with us his unwavering testimony:

“I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two Personages, and they did in reality speak to me; and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true; … I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dared I do it.” ⁶

Brigham Young’s life was the very essence of perseverance. He was always faithful and resolute. After Joseph Smith’s death he had the bold determination to bring 60,000 people from the comfort of their homes and productive lands to a barren wilderness. This great exodus was unlike any other in modern history. They came in wagons, on foot, and pulling handcarts. He and his followers made the desert blossom as a rose.

At the first press conference when President Gordon B. Hinckley was introduced to the press as the President of the Church in 1995, he was asked what his focus would be. He answered: “Carry on. Yes. Our theme will be to carry on the great work which has been furthered by our predecessors.” ⁷ This is a great theme for all of us. We need to carry on and endure to the end.

One of the great accomplishments of President Hinckley’s administration has been his extraordinary perseverance in building temples. Since he became the President of the Church, 87 temples have been dedicated, rededicated, or announced. This remarkable achievement in temple building is unequaled in the entire history of the world. Temples have a great effect for good and are increasingly blessing the world. As President George Q. Cannon said, “Every foundation stone that is laid for a Temple, and every Temple completed according to the order the Lord has revealed for his holy Priesthood, lessens the power of Satan on the earth, and increases the power of God and Godliness, moves the heavens in mighty power in our behalf, invokes and calls down upon us the blessings of the Eternal Gods, and those who reside in their presence.” ⁸

Each of us should serve faithfully and diligently in our priesthood callings until the end of our days. Some might wonder, “How long do I have to be a home teacher?” My answer is that home teaching is a priesthood calling. To serve in the calling of a home teacher is a privilege as long as our bishop and priesthood leaders feel we are able to do so. Some of us knew Brother George L. Nelson, a prominent attorney in Salt Lake City who served as a bishop, stake president, and patriarch. He was completely committed to the Church. He was a home teacher at age 100. He said at that time: “I like being a home teacher. I hope I can always be a home teacher.” ⁹ He died at age 101 and was faithful to the end.

Those who desire to be baptized into the Church are required by the Lord to have “a determination to serve him to the end.” ¹⁰ President Joseph Fielding Smith, at age 94, said, “I have sought all my days to magnify my calling in that priesthood and hope to endure to the end in this life and to enjoy the fellowship of the faithful saints in the life to come.” ¹¹ As the Lord said, if we are to be His disciples, we must continue in His word. ¹² The Lord has blessed the Church and its members in remarkable ways because of their faithfulness and perseverance. I testify of the divinity of the holy work of the priesthood and do so in the holy name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Our divine roles on this Earth

Many in society today believe that gender difference is socially constructed.  I didn’t know what I believed when I first started my family 40 years ago but I will tell a story of what I did do and witness and how I came to know what I know today.

My oldest is a girl, the next three are boys.  When I brought home the second child, the boy, I also brought home a gift of a doll for the girl.  When I needed to rock or feed the baby I would tell my oldest to run and get her baby doll so she could feed and rock it with me.  It really helped in keeping her from being jealous of the new comer.  When my third child was born, another boy, I brought home a doll for the second boy.  My husband did not like the idea. “You will turn him into a girl.” (Remember I am old, so this is in the olden days). When I would feed the third child I would tell the second child to run and get his baby so he could rock it with me.  Again it helped in the whole jealous thing.  Well, the second child did not turn into a girl; instead he did turn into an incredible father.  My children grew up with toys from both genders. They were free to choose what they wanted to play with.  When my daughter got her baby doll to rock and feed with me she would feed that doll for hours.  Now my son was different, he would feed it for a minute tops, throw it, literally, off to the side and grab his match box cars to play with. His baby doll was thrown into the air, put into the back of dump trucks and dumped out, or became a plane that whirled into the air.

As I watched my 5 children play they would gravitate naturally to toys that matched their gender.  Oh, there were occasions when they would play house and the boys would be the dad’s and the girls the moms and the boys would go to work, then come home and help take care of the baby (dolls) but generally my girls loved ‘girl’ toys and my boys loved ‘boy’ toys. 

               Watching my children play bears testimony to the eternal truths of the gospel. The world began with God making Adam then Eve in his own image.  Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” Next they were commanded to “be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” Genesis 1:28 Adam could not bear children, only Eve could, but on the same token Eve could not become with child unless she knew Adam.  From the very beginning of life on this earth each had their own roles.  From the beginning men and women were created different but equal and the difference is a wonderful compliment to each other.

               We learn in the gospel that our spirits were male or female; each having critical purposes in fulfilling the Father’s great plan of happiness. Sis Naudald said “Every girl was feminine and female in spirit long before her mortal birth.” In the Family Proclamation it says; “All human beings – male and female – are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identify and purpose.

               Latter day revelation emphasizes our roles again: “By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children in these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners.”  Divine design means our Heavenly Father’s design. Our gender identity, our differences in attitudes, behaviors, personality, and nature are eternal and by the design of God and not creations of our culture.

               Can culture shape us some? Of course it can.  I am the oldest of ten with the 4 girls being first in line and the 6 boys being last. I was six when my mother had her 5^th child.  My dad had to quickly add on to our home, in several phases. The first phase, no boys to help; he made us girls stir cement and pull electrical wire. We wined and we cried, we told him it was a boy’s job and we wanted to go and play with our dolls.  Dad told us we had two arms and two hands just like a boys so get to work and quit whining.  I learned as a child the basics of wiring, roofing, and adding on to a home. I learned that women can do those things when needed. Did my cultural upbringing cause me to forget my divine destiny? No.  Today I understand my divine role and have taken it seriously.  When it came between mine or my husband’s education it was more important for my husband to finish. We saw the big picture and it was a mutual decision.  I knew it was the right decision for us. He was to be the provider for the home; he was the one who needed a good career. From the time we had children I stayed home and took care of the kids and the home. When we both did our duties it was a perfect balance. 

Now – with that said, because of my cultural background I have not been a woman to wait for my husband to come home and fix the electricity.  Actually, generally we fix those things together.  I helped roof our house, I wired our new addition and now that we don’t have kids in the house I sometimes mow.  Would I rather bake or roof, hmmmm I would rather bake but I also greatly enjoy being a help meet to my husband, working side by side with him on projects.  Recently I enjoyed laying the wood floor in our back bedrooms. It gave me a change of pace and a feeling of accomplishment. My cultural background gave that to me. Knowing how to do those things did not take away from my divine destiny, my purpose in life, being the nurturer in the home, it just gave me depth.

Heavenly father is wise and knows what he is doing. If we can gain a testimony of the divine roles of man and woman, our gender identity, a testimony that we are equal, and a testimony of our purpose in our life then we can stand strong against Satan, the very being who would like to destroy our Heavenly Father’s plan by confusing man kind of his gender and confusing us of our roles we have as Heavenly Father’s children.

I end with a quote from Russell M Ballard: “When Satan truly wants to disrupt the work of the Lord, he attempts to confuse gender and attacks God’s plan for his Spirit Children.” (”The Sacred Responsibilities of Parenthood”. BYU Devotional, Aug 19, 2003)