I truly appreciated President Monson’s talk “Attitude of Gratitude” from April 1992. I think it’s easy to be thankful but to be grateful, we may need to reach deeper within ourselves. I think being grateful carries with it a sense of love as well.
As President Monson spoke about plagues of today and how they linger, debilitate, and destroy, I was thinking about things that make us physically sick. However, he went on to say that, “They are to be found everywhere. Their pervasiveness knows no boundaries.” When he talked about these modern plagues of today, I pondered about where I am when it comes to each of them:
- Selfishness
- Greed
- Indulgence
- Cruelty
- Crime
- Criticize
- Complain
- Blame
- Slowly but surely, to abandon the positives and adopt the negatives of life
While there are some things wrong in the world today, there are many things right, such as teachers who teach, ministers who minister, marriages that make it, parents who sacrifice, and friends who help.
Some other takeaways that I got from his talk are:
We can lift ourselves, and others as well, when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues. I loved the story he told and pulled this advice from it:
- The past is behind . . . learn from it
- The future is ahead . . . prepare for it
- The presence is here . . . live in it
- It is more blessed to give than to receive
Be Grateful For:
- Mother
- Father
- Teachers
- Friends/Spouse
- Country
- Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ
Other things I appreciated learning and studying in this week came from Larry North, Acton Hero:
- Wake up with a good attitude every day
- Believe in yourself, your family, your community, those around you
- Sometimes things work out and sometimes they don’t; dust yourself off and get back up again
These seem like they should be pretty simple things to do, yet most struggle with one or more of them throughout their life. It is very important for me to keep these in the forefront of my mind so that I can make a conscious effort to remember them and apply them in my own life as well as to teach them to my family.
In the article “Recognizing and Shaping Opportunities,” I appreciated the advice that we need to set ourselves up to be ‘lucky’. We can all make things happen and make our dreams and goals come true when we prepare our minds to recognize and create new ideas and then shape them into opportunities.
I love the advice from Stan Christensen in “Avoid the Wrong Job.” He reminds us to tell our own story rather than doing what you think other people want you to do. There is no way we can outguess other people and we may not enjoy what they think we should do. You may not love everything about your job at the moment, but find even one thing that you enjoy about it.
The case study about Randy Haykin’s entrepreneurial journey was very inspiring to me and my takeaways from that are:
- Little battles are fought day to day
- Know each other before partnering; have some work experience together even if it’s extracurricular
- Choose someone who will complement your own skills
- Leadership evolves as you go through different stages in the lifecycle of a company
- Eventually, you should be able to step back as the leader, and let other people's ideas shape the business
- Leaders have an emotional element – charisma; just naturally having fun in what they are doing.
- Too many people in the business world are disillusioned because their actions and their day-to-day routines do not match their values
- People like to see others having fun, enjoying themselves, and still moving forward
- Good leaders not only have vision, they see an end point
- Build relationships and trust
- Remember to thank/reward people . . . no matter what
- Relax and be less judgmental – even of ourselves
- Have good role models
- Find people who have had similar successes and bounce ideas off of them as you are growing
- Keep work life balanced with family, personal, spiritual, and health – set limits
- Don’t forget the simple things
- Keep your focus
This week was very inspiring as I read and studied about attitude, gratefulness and leadership. I know I can be successful when I remember these key points that have resonated with me.
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