Week 11- Money & Family

Money
1 - My attitude towards money can be best summed up by Mark Cuban when he was asked what advice he had for the potential power ball lottery winner last year, ““If you weren't happy yesterday, you won't be happy tomorrow. It's money. It's not happiness. If you were happy yesterday, you are going to be a lot happier tomorrow. It's money. Life gets easier when you don't have to worry about the bills.” I love that so much and I completely agree! Having money is great, but it is not what makes you happy. Happiness comes from within you and other choices/decisions in your life, not from money.

2 – My view on money will undoubtedly affect the way I live. Money is not the most important thing to me, therefore I place some emphasis on it, but not all of my time and efforts go there. I believe there are more important things and I will live for those things.
3 – The rules recommended for prospering are interesting to me because they are continually putting the Lord first. The emphasis there is to think of God first and then others, before thinking of yourself. I also like how it says to “think about money and plan how you can become self-reliant”. I believe it is a cultural problem that people often put no effort into their finances and just kind of float along. They are never trying to get ahead or improve their situation and that is dangerous.

Family
The videos and readings this week had me thinking a lot about my family. Currently, in my family life, I am the main driver of the home front and my husband is the main driver of the work and money-earning portion. We are a great team and generally are able to get things done.
     But I often feel torn between my little business and my family responsibilities and these case studies and responding to classmates on the discussion board had me thinking a lot more about how to manage all those things. I have learned throughout the class that outside help is often required to make all the ends meet. And I have seen that in use time and again. It has been a helpful perspective and lesson for me as this is something I struggle with.
     Right now, I have the luxury of putting my family first, no matter what. But if my business were to ever grow or my husband and I’s roles needed to change, because my children/family are my first priority I would make sure that I had all the bases covered for their care and support.

Week 10- Finding Joy

I was really interested in the Google 20% thing from this week’s videos. That is something I feel like I could implement in my life as a mother so as to be more productive over all the other jobs I have. I think when someone spends sometime each day or week doing something that they love, they are happier, more fulfilled and better equipped to do the things they need to. I am going to make sure that I put forth some time and effort each week to do a hobby of mine!
     I also really liked the part in Taylor’s boats when he talked about how it takes no more effort to be great than it does to be good. I can totally see that in my own life!
     And lastly I loved the readings this week from Hero’s Journey talking about different companions we have with us. I realized that a lot of my closet confidants are my opposite in many ways and just how much I receive from them because their strengths are my weaknesses. They have helped me more times than I can count and I have learned so much from them. I also liked that it specifically talks about how your spouse is your most important companion because I feel that way so much in all aspects of my life!

Week 9- Gratitude & Ethics

I already talked about this once back in Week 2, but “The Man in the Arena” is a huge inspiration to me, as in is the book “Daring Greatly” by Brene Brown. She inspires me in more ways than I can count, and so did the readings from “Hero’s Journey” this week.
     I loved the question at the end of Chapter 1 about “How does gratitude help on a long journey?” For me gratitude is absolutely essential in my life. It helps me to stay present, focused and helps me keep my anxiety in check. I actively practice gratitude every single day and it has made all the difference for me. Gratitude can help you see how far you’ve come and even when you are discouraged and have a long way yet to go, gratitude can make the path easier. Gratitude is my JAM!

     I also loved the question at the end of Chapter 2, which was “What do you love doing so much that you lose yourself in it? “ This also helped me to refocus on my “dream big”/entrepreneurial goal.

     And because I did my entrepreneurial interview this week, I was greatly inspired by that and her stories and ideas. I feel empowered to chase after my dreams. And she taught a lot about ethics within her business and that was really interesting. I learned a lot there and I plan to write about that in my paper.

Week 8- Getting Tough

Because I do not consider myself an entrepreneur quite yet, I had fun applying the lessons from this week to my regular life. We all experience tough times and this had some wonderful ideas on how to keep going. But thinking about just business…

     I got a lot out of our readings from the book “A Field Guide for the Hero’s Journey”. I loved the idea at the end of Chapter 6 about memorizing something that brings you joy to recite during tough times in the future. That is something that I feel could be useful in all aspects of life.
      And in Chapter 5 the question at the end about asking 10 people if they would quit working if they won the lottery really got me thinking about that. I think I would still want to work a little, especially if I had grown a company from nothing. But I also would really enjoy spending all the time I wanted with my husband and kids and traveling to fun places. That is a really interesting thought.  
     But by far my favorite thing I read this week was in Chapter 8. He talked about making a promise not to invest the profits from his first successful business sell for a year. This was like a revelation to me. I am a big budgeter and I love the idea of if you did come into a large sum of money (in your personal life) to sit on it for a year. I can’t even imagine how much money you would save on ridiculous and unnecessary things. I was so excited when I read it, that I told my husband immediately. That is our plan now if we ever do come into a large sum of money. Anyway, that was by far my favorite idea from this week!