Self-Mastery

Being an entrepreneur is not an easy task. It's one that takes dedication, lots of hours, and hard work. That's why we read so often that being an entrepreneur is not for everybody. There's a certain skill set that being an entrepreneur requires and it also requires a lot of sacrifice. That's why when embarking on this endeavor it's very important that you're prepared to do so and aware of what you're getting yourself into. I think from the lesson this week I learned that one of the most important ways to prepare to be an entrepreneur is to learn the art of self-mastery. In the talk by Eldon Tanner shared a quote from Plato in his talk that said-

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

This quote really hit me because it made me realize that if I want to pursue entrepreneurship, develop the necessary skill set, and be able to balance it all, I first need to learn self-mastery. I must learn how to conquer myself. One who has self-mastery has the ability to really do anything they put their mind to because they've learned the self-discipline necessary to make it happen.

Another entrepreneur talked about how he and his wife set rules that they would have dinner every night at 7 PM and that he would be there to help put the kids to bed. After that, he would go back to work for many more hours. Without self-mastery, it would be easy to make exceptions and miss dinner or bedtime in order to finish your work earlier but this entrepreneur was able to balance because he knew how to be disciplined. With discipline and self-mastery, it isn't hard to work long hours, manage your time effectively so that your family doesn't fall to the way side, or make sacrifices for the sake of your family or moral values. The most important thing any person could do for themselves is develop self-mastery because it will then in turn bless you in every aspect of your life.

The Reason Why

This week we watched a talk given by Jeff Sandefer entitled "A Hero's Journey". This talk was very impactful to me because it talked a lot about the "why" behind entrepreneurship. When thinking about pursuing the difficult and challenging, yet rewarding course of entrepreneurship, we need to self- assess why we are doing it. If we are doing it for the money or personal gain then that's not the right reason to do it. Having money as the only motivation when things get rough, makes it harder to carry forward. However there are many wonderful reasons that we can decide to pursue entrepreneurship. Whether it's a passion, your family, or for me, my desire to make a positive difference in the world we must have something bigger than money as our reason behind why we pursue entrepreneurship. 

One thing that really struck me that Sandefer said was that at the end of our life we will look back and ask ourselves three questions- Did I accomplish something meaningful? Was I a good person? Who did I love and who loved me? 

At the end of the day, those are the things that really matter. As I pondered these questions I realized how important it is to go on this entrepreneurial journey living by my personal code of conduct and with those questions in mind. Sandefer and people who knew learned this the hard way but we have the privilege of having this knowledge to guide us as we begin this journey. If anything I'm doing in the world of entrepreneurship is not meaningful, makes me a worse person and compromises my standards, or takes me away from my family and damages my relationships, then I'll know that I need to redirect my course. It's so important that we always examine the why behind all that we do so that when this life comes to a close, we will have no regrets and we will know that our life had impact for good. 

My Personal Constitution

Whenever I see a homeless person on the side of the road, or hear a story of someone who lived a perfectly normal life then ended up in jail, I always think to myself- "how did they get into that position? How did their life come to that?" Granted, for some people who end up like that, it is not always their fault. There are many different scenarios and circumstances for each individual. However, one thing each of those people, and every person in the world has in common is that they never planned to end up like that. As a child we all dream of success. We dream of money, jobs, and a happy family. We never see ourselves in jail, or living in poverty, so why are there so many people who do end up in circumstances that they never imagined themselves in? This unit really gave me a fresh perspective and opened my eyes as to why that might be. They neglected to set goals and ultimately lost view of what was most important to them.

A personal constitution is something that keeps us on track. It establishes goals, non-negotiable values, and daily things we can to become the people we hope to be. My personal constitution includes things like putting my family first, being charitable and honest, becoming financially stable, and more. Now that I have that personal constitution, I have a point of reference that I can always turn to in order to self-evaluate and see how my life is progressing. Everyone in life wants to be successful and happy and I truly believe that each person has the potential to do that. I know that because we have a loving Heavenly Father who wants our happiness and is willing to help us achieve that if we simply do our part. The little things that we do each day develop our character and our character ultimately develops who we become which then influences how our lives turn out. Whenever things start to get rocky, we should take a step back and do a self evaluation. Am I happy in what I'm doing? Is it fulfilling? Am I developing the personal attributes I want to possess? Am I progressing towards reaching both my long and short term goals? If the answer to any of these are no, then I know there's something I need to change. We all have a great potential but reaching potential takes discipline and planning. By establishing guidelines, we are able to keep our lives moving in the direction that we want them to go and can achieve a happy and successful life. We will never have to look back on our lives with regret and wonder how we ended up where we are. We will look back with satisfaction knowing that where we got to was not easy, but worth it. 

Stay True to Who You Are

In the world there are many voices now-a-days. Many of those voices are misleading. They tell us it is easier to lie and cheat to get our way. They tell us it's more important to have immediate gratification rather than to have patience and self-control. In the world of business there are many people that listen to those voices. They compromise their standards, or even don't set standards in the first place because of self-interest. However, this week I learned that cutting corners is only a temporary fix for things. While being dishonest and having poor businesses practices may seem like the best way to do things in the moment, it always ends up causing more grief and pain in the long run. So many businesses suffer because of poor decisions made by those in power. Loss of jobs, money, and even entire businesses being shut down can be the result of compromising your moral code of conduct. Sheri Dew said that integrity is the one characteristic that can either make or break us and I whole-heartedly agree with that. A person who has developed the attribute of integrity will never have to worry about losing their job because of dishonesty, hurting their family, or being caught in a web of lies because they live their life in a way that keeps them out of those situations. 

This week we had to develop our own personal code of conduct and as I made my code of conduct, it was a time of reflection for me. As I thought of things I will never do and things I will try to always do, I examined myself to see what standards I sometimes compromise and areas I need to improve on. If everyone had their own personal code of conduct, and relentlessly stuck to that, the world could be a much different place. Businesses have the power to do so much good in the world. By incorporating good ethics right now, and staying true to who we are, when entering the world of business we can be a force for good and help change the way business is sometimes viewed.