August 7, 2021
Record your observations to the following questions in your journal.
- If you pursue your calling with discipline, intentionality, and the help of fellow travelers, what are the chances that your worst-case scenario will really happen?
- If my mind is in the right space and I am working with others, it would be rare that these fears would happen. They are usually a fear because I think I must do this on my own, but that is not nor should not be true. With good people by your side amazing things can happen.
- As you look at your list of fears, what themes emerge? What is at the core of what you really fear? Financial ruin? The judgment or disapproval of others? Physical harm? Endangering the ones, you love? Embarrassment?
- In general, I fear the unknown. I fear taking that leap of fate where I cannot see the invisible path that is there to walk on. I also forget that I have so many people by my side that are more than willing to help me and see me be successful.
- What is the risk of taking no action – not following your calling? How do you plan to deal with fear when it pops up on your entrepreneurial journey?
- If I do not act I risk never growing or finding that joy beyond measure. I risk not meeting wonderful people and helping to enrich the lives of others. When you weigh those against the risk, it would all be worth it.
There is so much that I learned this week from Launching Leaders and how the principles in that can enrich my life. I loved seeing how the things that I have already been working on doing to enrich my life are in fact things that make up a successful person. Being able to reflect on my mission and how the skills I learned there truly are eternal principles was a nice thing as well.
Here is an accumulation of some random insights I found this week and my thoughts on them:
“Don’t work for mankind, live for mankind.”
I love this quote because it brings such a positive view on life. It also motivates me to action. I am someone who loves to serve. If you are asking me to do a task for myself I will begrudgingly do it, but if that same task is a service to someone else I will do it happily. It may be more because I am getting out of my own responsibilities, but it still is a good fact to know about myself.
“Integrity is a priceless commodity.”
I know that this is true as I have seen it in my jobs, I have worked in. Back when I worked at my local movie theatre one of the questions, they asked me in my interview was what integrity meant to me. I was thrown off a little because this is a principle, we learn in young women’s and now here it was being applied into the real world. I am happy to say I lived with integrity while in that job. I know that based on the things people said about me, such as how they could trust me to be sent to do jobs on my own as they knew I would get the job done and did not need to be babysat.
“Build a company around a thousand ideas.”
I loved this concept of not making a company that is based on just a narrow view of products or services. I mean I should have understood this already, but with this quote it finally clicked. So many companies, especially the big ones, have their hand in multiple things. Such as the movie theater I worked at also owned the land the theatre was on as well as the land the restaurant next to it was on. That means that during the covid shut down they were able to continue to make money even though the theatre itself was closed. That and they sold their amazing popcorn, I challenge anyone to find a better tasting popcorn. That is an excellent example of not having all your eggs in one basket.
I enjoy watching a series on YouTube by Bright Sun Films called Bankrupt. In the series he analyzes why different companies went bankrupt throughout the years. A common theme from them is their unwillingness or lack of adapting to the ever-changing market. Places like Blockbuster who even at one point had the chance to purchase Netflix and turned them down. All in all, it is important to be flexible and learn from your mistakes and the mistakes of others.