A Woman of Excellence

  

For several years, the Proverbs 31 Woman was one of those women I loved to hate.  She was just TOO perfect and her lifestyle didn’t come close to being like mine.  Then one day I was sitting quietly after putting my small children to bed and thinking about likening the scriptures to myself.  I realized I needed to find out why the P31 woman was included in the scriptures and what I was supposed to learn from her. I set aside my feelings of inferiority and set about discovering just who she was.  I was amazed at what I found.  She was the woman I wanted to be.  She was generous and giving, responsible and capable, industrious, diligent, productive, organized, efficient, inwardly and outwardly beautiful, regal, faithful and blessed.  She was a Woman of Excellence.  I then had to find out how to become this woman of excellence in the modern world and so began a life-long pursuit of learning and growing.  

The P31W is included in the scriptures for more than just me, more than just women.  She is an example of someone who seeks excellence in all she does.  It makes no difference if your years of development happen at home while raising a family or out in the world.  The point is to be excellent in all you do. No matter how trivial or mundane the task, do it with excellence.  We wont be able to accomplish everything perfectly every time we try, but we can be perfect in our attempt.  We can go after everything with gusto using the best of our abilities and practice to improve those abilities.  
 
One part of the P31W has eluded me.  This part is found in verses 16 and 24.  "She considereth a field, and buyeth it..."  "She  maketh fine linen, and selleth it..."   Through my classes at BYU-I, I feel like I am becoming more like her.  I have been able to develop skills, perspective and capabilities I only dreamed of.  I have possibilities in business I never considered before.  This is exciting to me!  I can't wait to put my newfound skills to use.  

Over the years, I have learned that even though excellence is elusive, it is possible.  Excellence takes years, and I am not there yet, but there is good news, I am getting closer everyday!

Excited

I spoke with a successful business man this morning and I am inspired.  He told me about his experiences of going form losing his job and being on welfare to starting and growing a multi-million dollar company.  What started out as a fly by the seat of your pants operation and working out of desperation, changed to a well-structured business with a life of its own.  I was surprised by the mixture of characteristics this man presented to me in our hour long conversation.  He was confident, bordering on arrogant, humbled by the miracles that supported his success, capable of surprise and mischief, a heart overrun with compassion for people, and hard expectations for those around him.

This is what I have learned from him.  One.  Everyone you meet is a person with value.  Two.  Printing a business card is not the same as starting a business.  When the work is hard, live up to the work.  Three.  Avoid analysis paralysis.  You have to do.  Four.  Wealth is given for a purpose and that purpose is not to make more money.  Compassion should be at the root of everything we do.

He seems like he would be a hard person to work for, yet I am intrigued by the idea of doing just that.  I want to work for him, and learn from him.  I am composing a letter of intent in my head even as I write this.  What can be the worst that happens?  He may say no, but, he may say yes and that is exciting beyond words.

Planning, the Big Joke You Play on Yourself

  Some big family events are coming up. I have been working fiendishly to complete assignments with due dates that coincide with these events.  I have a list of what needs to be done and I have been diligent about working down the list efficiently and effectively.  I had it all planned out.  I needed to complete A by this time and B by that time and so on. This would leave plenty of time for preparations and allow for a calm approach to travel and time with those I love.
But, like always, the best laid plans are often the first to be changed.  Everything from health issues and hospitals, to preparing a relief society lesson and sacrament talk back to back, to the necessity of filling the needs of others, has derailed my plans. I am feeling stressed about getting everything done that needs to be done. (Everything on my "want to get done" list has already been set aside.)
There is some potential for panic, but I feel good.  I feel confident.  The stress is driving me forward.  I am sure it is because I know this stress is just for a short time.  Things will settle back down and I will be able to return to normal. 
I have been tempted to let some of my work slack, to let it be just good enough.  But there are parts that are impossible for me to fix.  (Like having no students to teach and so not making the money I needed for a project.)  This is bad enough without purposely choosing to do poorly on other assignments.  It is making me take an honest look at what kind of person I am going to be.  Will I be the one who does a job half-way and calls it good enough, or will I always give my best effort, no matter the circumstances.  Will I be the person who falls apart when things don't go as planned, or will I pick myself up and brush myself off, let go and move on having learned from my mistake?  Will I be able to make my priorities stick and stet aside the fluff activities?
So far, I am proud of what I am accomplishing.  If I can do my best now, with these situations, there is hope that I will choose the best later when things get tough again.  The fluff things can wait. This process is helping to see the difference between the things I see as important and the the trivial.  Some things matter, some just don't.
I am just grateful this experience is not keeping me from making more plans.  Perhaps I am a glutten for punishment!

A Passion for Life

I recently read the book, “Killing Reagan” by Bill O’Reilly.  It was a great read and I learned a lot about a great man.  One thing bothered me though.  It was O’Reilly’s style of writing that introduces characters by the amount of time they have left to live.  “The man with four years left to live entered the room…”  It was unnerving and I am glad we don’t do this all the time.  Can you imagine getting up to give a key-note speech after your introduction included the amount of time you had left in your life?  On the other hand, it would make you take a serious look at what you were about to say.

This week there was a lot of reading which included the teaching of Steve Jobs.  His words are a legacy greater than the products he helped to develop.  He could have said the best thing we could do was to use his products, but no, he said the best thing we could do was to listen to his words.  They are powerful words of wisdom gained through a lifetime of experience.  Seek your passion, live it and share it.

I have been living my passion.  I have been a purposeful mother who said “no” to a 1000 great things which would have distracted me from that passion.  I have grown and thrived.  Now I am seeking a new passion.  I am thrilled with the possibilities before me. 

I have discovered that music, the thing most people know me by, is not the passion I want to follow.  I love it, I love to share it, but not like this.  I am finding myself grateful to have considered teaching music lessons again.  I love that my students are learning something I love to do, but…  This is not what I want to do with the rest of my life.  I feel disappointed by this, but at the same time, it has helped to narrow down the possibilities and this alone is a great thing.  Now I need continue to eliminate avenues so I can discover what it is I truly want to do with only so much time left of my life.

$100 challenge.  I have not done what I set out to do.  I won't have earned the minimum amount due for this project. 

The Best of People

“I always prefer to believe the best of everybody; it saves so much trouble”
― Rudyard Kipling

This was a quote I heard this morning at a Stake Relief Society meeting.  I think it stuck with me because of the Acton Hero Catherine Rohr.  I liked what she had to say, not so much about business, but about people. 

Rohr leads a program teaching prison inmates business principles and helps them establish businesses upon their release.  She spoke candidly about her previously unkind impression of these men, and how she learned to love them.

I have lost some students from my $100 challenge, (a family) to a competitor who will teach them for a longer period of time.  I find this frustrating.  I don't have a contract, so they are free to go, but we did have a verbal agreement to work through the month.   I think they could have easily waited to start with the new teacher until after our four weeks was done.  During the “Interview with an Entrepreneur” the subject of getting taken advantage of, came up.  The owner I talked to said it was one of his biggest frustrations.  He said “People will screw you if they can.”  I didn’t give this statement enough credibility.  I thought it couldn’t possibly be true.  I am finding that it is and I am disappointed.  

I hope to get to a point in business where I have developed relationships which don't require a contract.  I want my word to be good enough, and the word of my associates to be the same. I want to see the best in people and not become jaded by a few bad experiences.