W03 Reflection: Entrepreneurial Journal

A Hero’s Journey Takeaways

I loved the video of “A Hero’s Journey”.  I’m not sure the name of the speaker, but a lot of things stood out to me.  I love the advice and insights from older people.  They have been through so much and have so many wise thoughts that are sometimes shared with us.  I find myself being friends with those who are 55 years and older in my ward, instead of people in my own age group.  I learn so much through them. 

We are all sent here for a reason, and do we know what that reason is?  I know in my Patriarchal Blessing it tells me to seek out those things that I am passionate about and to seek through learning what my talents are.  “The Hero’s Journey is all about you, but it’s not about you at all.”  I found that sentence to be thought provoking.  I have one child who is very self-consumed.  We are always telling him, “it’s not all about you”.  So, with that said, my ears perked up and I was interested and ready to learn.  Maybe I’m saying the wrong things.  This speaker goes on to say that every minute that we spend matters, and every mission that is unique to all of us matters as well.

I love his point of learning to live a life of meaning.  He advises to find great role models and to ask great questions.  As I was listening to this, I was wondering what kind of example I am setting for my children. Am I a good role model to my children?  My boss is a great example of this point that this speaker makes.  I hear him say to me all of the time, “At the end of this life, what will have mattered?  It won’t be this job.”  I am very fortunate to work for the bosses that I do.  They do not want me coming in if I have important family obligations.  They do not want me to miss any type of school performance, award ceremony, or the opportunity to help in my children’s class.  Two years ago, I was able to take weeks off at one time in order to go on a road trip.  They really do live by this motto and want every employee to put their family first, because at the end of the day family is what matters.

This speaker advised to ask five people that are close to you what you do better than anyone else.  I am going to do this and see what is said.  It will be interesting to see what others see as things I do well.  I always seem to be hard on myself and I think this will be great to see myself as others do.

This speaker goes back to his saying of “It’s not about you, but it’s all about you” because it’s all how you use your gifts to change the world.  This is something I will take away and use with my child.  It is about him and how he decides to react to situations and how he chooses to spend his time.  It’s not about him, but it really is all about him.    

It really stood out to me when he mentions the fleeting moments are when your children were young and how precious those moments are.  I first had twins and remember crying when we left the hospital because they were “three days old”.  I felt like the time was already going by too quickly.  I know people said that the kids will be gone before the blink of an eye and I knew it myself.  I always had a hard time “growing up”.  I remember crying when I was a little girl because I didn’t want to grow up.  I didn’t want to turn 16 and get my drivers license, I didn’t want to move out of the house, I didn’t want my parents to pass away, I didn’t want to face whatever the future held and I just wanted everything to stay as it was.  This rolled over to me being a parent, I didn’t ever want them to grow up and I think I wasted so much time thinking about that instead of living in the moment and making every moment count.  Worrying about the wrong things is something I still struggle with and do today.  All I have really done is wasted time.  I read a quote that said, “what worries you, masters you” and I have found that to be true.  Like the speaker said, worrying about the wrong things is the most expensive mistake you will ever make.  I definitely don’t want to be waking up when I’m 50-60 and realized I’ve wasted my life.  I loved this talk.  It is one that I will go back to and I will hear something different every time.