Deciding who you are...

So this week when I was reading the book The Ministry of Business by Steven A. Hitz, and there is an exercise where there is an exercise where you wrote your own personal constitution. This was a fantastic exercise, and really helped me really look at who I am now, and who I want to become as I continue my journey towards business.

What i took from this was what is most important to me is how I treat others, and what my character truly is. This was very interesting to me, because I have always felt that I don't care what people think and I will be who I am without apology. Interesting enough I think that immature stand changed when I had kids. Mostly  because I realized I am not just representing myself but them as well. This is true in business. My character doesn't just represent me but what I associate my self with as well. If I am a man of sound judgment and good character, outsiders might look at the company's I run or associate myself with, as company's of sound judgment and good character.

This is an important step on my way to finding personal success and fulfillment in my business endeavors,

Education = Opportunity

This is the focus on what I am going to say this week.
As I have read this week and watched a few videos the underline them I got from all of this is, being educated brings opportunity in your life. I have always found it interesting when people say you don't have to be smart to go to college. Which I agree with, but collage isn't about being smart it's about being educated, and learning how to educate yourself properly. Let's say I'm a smart guy who wants to open up my own coffee shop. If I know nothing about my clientele, or what I am going to serve to make my product stand out. If I know nothing about simple economics, such as supply and demand. I am not going to do so well. This has nothing to do with smarts, but has everything to do with being educated.

I want opportunity in life. I want the freedoms that come from education. Most importantly I want to make a differences. If I am not educated I can only make a small differences, and possibly the wrong kind of differences. I think the greatest part of education and opportunity is we have the power. We can choose to be educated or not, and we can choose to have proper direction in life, or not, but ultimately we are in charge of ourselves. The choice to be educated will bring the choice to have opportunity.

"If you want the big ship you better build a bigger doc."

I read this quot this week and I can't remember who said it, but this is all about setting goals, and not letting fear dictate your path. All of us have dreams. As children some might say we had outlandish dreams. I think truly we didn't give ourselves limits to our dreams. we didn't have fear. I wanted to be Chuck Norris, in fact I would still like to be Chuck Norris, but It's seeing this dream as it is. I wanted to do Martial Arts, I still can the only thing stopping me is me.

It is important to dream small and big. dreams can be considered goals. If you don't have goals in life what are you really accomplishing? Life is not meant for us to accomplish mediocrity. We are meant for much more than that, it is fear that keeps us from becoming more. The fear of failure is a funny thing. If you don't try then you won't fail, but I see it as if your not trying then you are failing. What is the worst that can happen if you try for your dreams and you come up short. That just means you get new dreams and you keep trying. Giving your beast at something no matter the outcome is always a success on some level, but it's up to the individual to really give there best.

I look at Randy Pausch, and he was able to do some very fulfilling things in his life. This is a man that didn't find success everywhere he turned. He had to deal with rejection and climb walls to achieve his dreams, but he did achieve them. Maybe his path was not what he had envisioned, but the destination was still the same.

The Starting Line

As I start on my path to becoming an entrepreneur I find like in most endeavors what you personally are matters most. Having person ethics and virtues provide a great foundation to weather the storms of life, both in business as well as in your personal life.
I think the greats thing I have learned as I start this path is the value of being educated. Richard L. Evans said "There is no particular virtue in being uninformed, certainly no virtue in ignorance." This is my start, to be informed. It is up to me to be informed, I choose what effort I put into my education, and if I am honestly stretching my limits. If I am not will to do this I may not be will to stretch myself in my business endeavors. 

It is also important to do what you love no matter the monetary out come. Why be miserable?
 President Gordon B. Hinkley said "...life is to be enjoyed not just endured." There is no reason to put yourself in  miserable situation when the ability to have the freedoms of enjoyment are at your finger tips.

I still have much to learn on this Journey like:
The Hows?
The Whys?
The Why Not's?
This is an exciting time I am grateful to be able to learn and grow.