Confidence through Failures

This last week has flown by. There have been some great things I've heard and read that I want to share. Through school assignments I get the chance to review some great business professionals' words of advice. I think it is wise to listen and learn from those successful people who have gone before us and are learning similar things we are or want to learn.
One part of my studies included watching clips from successful business persons. Here are two excerpts. These are in regards to brainstorming and being creative to work through problems.

"Often we're so fixated on what we want to do or what we think we know that we tune out the       noise around us. [All else is a distraction and we focus on what we know best.] But that noise contains great information. Be conscious of the ways that your focus can breed it's own myopia. Remember the "thought problem", not just the answer. You need to work in your working, finding, figuring stages because that is often where the most discovery comes from." Richard Pascale, Oxford University

"Diversity in experience breeds creativity"  Julia Cleverdon, Google.

Don't you do that too?!? Man there are a lot of times I am so fixated on what I want to happen, or the way I think things should happen, and it gets really boring waiting around for the world to work how I expect it to. Life is often predictable and about the same each week. But who says it has to be. We need to stop focusing on the result, on the end, on what we want... and figure out the why, how, and where to get it. The JOURNEY is why I am here, and I forget it every day. I rush through homework assignments every week to get them done because I want to do other things. But how are we supposed to learn anything if we can't pay attention to what we need to do- to get to where we want to go. We need to learn how to be comfortable with uncomfortable things. Then maybe we can learn from within our problems and issues. We have trials, we are challenged every day by the adversary and that is how it will always be. Every day we will be faced with something we don't want to do.

I spent four years of my life struggling back and fourth with school. I knew it was something I wanted to finish and accomplish but I was scared. I was scared to fail. I knew it was going to be hard and I tried so hard to go the easiest rout, and time kept dragging on and on and on. Thankfully, now, I have a year left and I will have my BA. But it was my fear of the challenge, my fear of the fight that kept me from just jumping in and pushing through it.

It is not arriving at our destination that proves success. It's the knowledge, the character, the faith, and the Trust in not just God, but in our selves that successfully empowers and improves us. SJH

There are some very important points I want to share which combine principles from last weeks post, what I've said thus far this week, and all of which is embodied in this talk. I'm referring to "Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence" a talk given by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, BYU devotional, 1999. 

Please read this talk and think of the ways it applies to your lack of courage; increase of doubt, fear,  and procrastination; and the ability we all have to use the Saviors sacrifice to push through trials. Please think of how these things work together to effect positively and negatively our ability to grow. We are creatures of growth and change. We need that to feel happy and our Heavenly Father wants to help us increase in all aspects of our lives. I will leave you this week with that talk, and two quotes I found. Enjoy, take notes, and re-evaluate what the truth in the way you live your life is.

“Decisions are constantly before us. To make them wisely, courage is needed—the courage to say no, the courage to say yes. Decisions do determine destiny.”(Words of a Prophet) Thomas S. Monson, November, 2010.

"You will come to know that what appears today to be a sacrifice will prove instead to be the greatest investment that you will ever make." Gordon B. Hinckley

Cast Not Away Your Confidence. J.R.Holland 1999

Loving faith

"Love is a fragile thing, and some elements in life can try to break it. Much damage can be done if we are not in tender hands, caring hands. To give ourselves totally to another person, as we do in marriage, is the most trusting step we take in any human relationship. It is a real act of faith—faith all of us must be willing to exercise. If we do it right, we end up sharing everything—all our hopes, all our fears, all our dreams, all our weaknesses, and all our joys—with another person.
No serious courtship or engagement or marriage is worth the name if we do not fully invest all that we have in it and in so doing trust ourselves totally to the one we love. You cannot succeed in love if you keep one foot out on the bank for safety's sake. The very nature of the endeavor requires that you hold on to each other as tightly as you can and jump in the pool together. "
~Jeffery R Holland

So I've spent a lot of time the last year or so thinking of the importance of commitment, of relationships,  and of being one with someone. What does it take, how do you know when to commit completely- even if it's just to date. What didn't I do right the first time, every time, and where do I go from here. 

Well that's a lot of questions. Fortunately though, I know how to get the answers! It takes time and patience, give and take, and a lot of faith. But when we feel like we're trying to have faith in the Lord and his timing. When we're trying to decide what to do and when and with whom it's right to jump in with... I think our Heavenly Father is right there with us. Waiting to see what we decide. Waiting to see when we'll figure out that He's waiting on us- so why do we keep waiting on Him. 

Well, going back to my first thought... we know in our hearts what is right. I feel like I spent so much time trying to figure out how and who and what to be that I almost forgot how simple it really is. I'm supposed to just be me. Because that's the person I'm best at being, and nobody else is gonna do it. And no one else can pull it off quite like I can :)

We have been born with the ability to reason things out. To find the faults in the reasonings of men and the adversarial influences that are all around us- even in the way we ourselves think. The father of lies is everywhere and in everything. So stop looking everywhere else for answers and focus on you, and the Lord. We all have the light of Christ in us to guide and direct us. The choices we choose need to be based off of those things the spirit confirms to us are good or best for whatever circumstance we may be in. Have faith in YOU and trust that you are all grown up, and you know what's right. Then choose to do it. 

The love that Elder Holland speaks of can only be had with faith. Faith precedes the miracle- and the miracle we're talking about is mainly a solid, committed, growing relationship. But faith has so many more applications than just that. So go ahead and practice a little everywhere else just to make sure you get it down. Trust in yourself. Have faith in and trust in your Eternal Father in Heaven. He has known you the longest and knows you the best. And as His child... He not only wants it for you more than anything- but you deserve the best. And He has provided a way to have ultimate pure joy. 

Don't be afraid to commit, be afraid not to. Because in not challenging yourself, in not committing, in keeping away from heartbreak and change, hurt and pain, you are totally trying to avoid the plan of salvation. You're trying to win the race when you haven't even trained for it.