The Last Lecture

I started attending college in April of 2009.This class in all honesty has been my favorite course I have taken in my entire time going to school. Today is the last day that I will be doing homework probably for quite some time as I will be finishing up my bachelors. This in fact, is the last assignment that I will be turning in to complete my bachelors. I feel that this class and the things I have learned have not only helped me to have the courage to go after my dreams but they have enlightened my understanding on alot of life's most important lessons. Often I find that the lessons we learn not only apply to a business setting but also to us a children of God striving to prove ourselves herewith while here on Earth. To try to write all of the things that have impacted me throughout this course would take me all through the night, but to sum it up. This class has helped me to have greater vision, greater passion, self confidence, and it has helped me to embrace the fact that I am young and even naive at times. I feel now at times that being naive about some things is a great thing, I have nothing in my mind telling me I can do this or that. I feel like I can do it because I can see no reason why I cant. This class has helped me also to learn about having smart courage and that being an entrepreneur is not about making big risks and sometimes getting lucky, but making smart calculated risks that can turn out good no matter what happens because you can will things to turn out good. The will the succeed and conquer is ultimate in this challenge to overcome fear and actually put your foot down and start walking the path of entrepreneurship. I thank those that put this course together and the authors of the wonderful books we have read for helping to set me on a course for my life.

Week 12

This week has been a really big week for me. I feel like this whole semester I have been learning so much from this class. This week has really helped to solidify my feelings about owning a business and being an entrepreneur. I loved reading the book because it helped me to think about the skills that I have that can help me to be successful and also those things that I need to work on. I liked the perspective that it helped me to gain about creating a business when it talked about the myths that exist or that people often think of that prevent them from being an entrepreneur. All of those things helped to contribute to giving me the confidence to create a business and to have the knowledge of the things I need to do to be prepared.

One thing that really stood out to me was analyzing your fears and breaking them down so that they are not fears anymore. There are so many things that can be done in owning a business to minimize risk and that's what I am going to do. Most of what scared me was taking risks and losing everything, but that's not how it needs to be. This book helped me to see a healthy approach to being an entrepreneur and to consider what its going to take to be one so that I can mentally and financially prepare myself for it.

Week 11

I really enjoyed the story we read about Mohammed and the life lesson he learned concerning economics and their application in real life. I took some time today to tell my wife about the things that I learned because I was so impressed with the article. I love the perspective that he has on our potential as human beings and how we should all be able to improve our circumstances and we should never forget our inherit creativity that we all have as human beings. Its something that is overlooked and maybe forgotten about. I also liked how he helped us to see one of the world views that are incorrect. Namely that the world sees us as laborers and there are only a select few that are the entrepreneurs. He helped to point out that this is simply not true and that we do not have to be a laborer unless we want to. Each of us has within us that innate creativity and the ability to create success. We just have to decide how much we are willing to put into it in order to be successful.

I think my favorite part of President Monson's story was about the father that was planning on spending time with his kids when something came up, he chose to spend it with his kids because he said there will be more opportunities for work but kids only grow up once. Its something we cant miss. Right now I have been so busy in my life that its been easy to miss time with my little girl and its been good to remind myself that nothing should be more important than spending time with my wife and my little girl.

Week 10

I think that one of the activities that I enjoyed the most were the cases that I had to determine how I would react in the situation. What was great about it was the introspection that followed and I was really able to see what kind of a person I was based on my decisions. Well, I also believe that there was alot of logic in my decision as well not just on feelings alone.

I loved that we talked about money and how we should think of it and how we should treat it. Its something that needs to be important to all of us and valued but never something that is more valuable than our families or those things that are valuable in our lives, the relationships around us. If we were to grow old and have all the money in the world but no family to share it with and to enjoy it with what good would it be? I am grateful for my perspective on money and that I understand its importance but I do not allow it to be the biggest determining factor in my life.

Week 9

I liked the mentor session this week because it helped me to analyze where I am at with my concerns and to think about possible solutions. Thinking about your concerns and writing them down is surprisingly helpful when it comes to being able to have the courage to overcome them. I was able to write out my thoughts and see the flaws and also to see what concerns were valid. Thinking about ways to reduce the risk and to make being an entrepreneur more realistic and less risky it helps you have the confidence to actually try it. I liked how in the book it talks about the fear of becoming an entrepreneur and it talked about the benefits of being young when starting a business. It was encouraging to see that some of the most successful people started companies when they were young.

I absolutely love the way that Google works with their employees and encourages employees to spend 20% of their time pursue whatever they want. I think this would be a good philosophy to carry out on my own and to try to set aside time to make sure I pursue dreams of my own and to try things out. Putting time aside and not worry about what I do with it can help me be more creative and inventive. I hope that I can create a company someday that I would be able to employ ideas like that and afford to create an environment of creativity like that.

Week 8

What I loved about this week was the reflection that I did in the Mentor activity. I loved the introspection and to think about the future as well. This idea of having a business one day fascinates me and excites me. I love the knowledge that we are gaining in the process because it helps me feel like I have the confidence to go out and to be successful.

I enjoyed the article that we read because it helped me to have a perspective between entrepreneurs and the government. Why we need each other. I thought about the idea of growing organically and I know its something that is good to do but you have to have your mind made up and be smart. I also want to make sure that my roots are deep and that I build a strong foundation for my business because I want to be able to last through the hard times and that is part of what having deep roots does for a business.

Week 7

Because I am seminary teaching right now the Good things to come stood out to me this week. The imagery it provides and the inspiration is great. Right now I am taking a full load for school and working two jobs. One of those jobs is seminary teaching. I am in the last phase of hiring and it has been grueling and difficult. The thing that they expect from seminary teachers are wonderful but they require alot of work and effort on our part. Its great for the kids because it means that they are only going to have the best teachers available for the kids. Its comforting to look forward knowing that good things will come.

Also going through the mentor activity and realizing the things that I know and the much greater list of things that I dont know was humbling and eye opening. I saw that there were so many things that I do not have a very good knowledge about and that I need to educate myself better if I wish to be a business owner. However, I feel that I have a great friend base and some excellent connections for the future. I feel that networking is something that comes naturally for me and that is one of the most important aspects of business.

I also enjoyed listening to Heath Bradley when he talked about wanting to go to school to better his future and how its a lonley road. I feel like that is something I can relate to in my life. I spend all week working and doing homework and then it just starts over every week. I spend about 12 hours doing home work on saturdays and it never ends. But I am preparing myself for the future and my sacrifices will soon pay off.