Journal Entry

I am going to try and post everyday. I have been trying to write about once a week.  However, I get distracted and the posts are farther apart than that.  So,  I thought if I try and post every day then I will get the hang of doing this quicker.  I am sure there is going to be a bunch of drivel, but in the end I believe I will get better at writing and other stuff I am trying to do.  And with that everyday writing I am going to try and get to 1000 words.

Here is a synopsis of the books I am reading.  The one I have been reading for the longest, and haven’t picked up for over 6 months,  is a speed reading book.  Break Through Rapid Reading  I think I have been working on this book for a couple of years.  I get bogged down in the practice.  However, some of the tips I have learned have really help me get through books faster.  I just finished a book The Voice Book and How to Say It With Your Voice  I read an article in the Wall Street Jornal that addressed that many times people are not taken seriously because there voice is lame.  So I looked up a few books.  I choose the ones that were the highest rated and then tried to find them at my local library.  I was able to get two books at the local library.  The Voice Book talked about posture and breathing.  It had a few exercises, but not much in the book seemed to make much of a difference to me.  However, the How to say it with your voice had a ton of exercises, then about 3/4 of the way through the book there is a chapter with a 12 minute daily routine of practice exercises.  I have been doing these for a week or so and they seem to be making a difference.  I have noticed I am able to keep peoples attention longer because my voice has more power.  It’s great because I can practice on my way to work.

I have been trying to get back to the Innovators DNA  I read a paper about the book on the Harvard Business Review about a year before the book came out.  The premise of the book is that there are innovator skills that everyone can learn.  After reading a couple chapters of the book it invites the reader to take a test online to see how innovative we may be.  After I took the test, I discovered I am not that innovative.  This was a bit discouraging.  However, they have some great instructions in activities that will make me more innovative.  So I need to get back to that.

Also from an article in the Wall Street Journal I discovered a book about relationships for married couples.  I like this book.  I am also trying to get my wife to read the book.  Before I read this book I read another book by the author.  It had some good ideas, but it wasn’t something that really spoke to me about my relationship with my wife.  This second book did a much better job presenting me with ways to understand why things were happening in my relationship and then gives guidelines to improve our relationship.  I have only gotten to chapter 5, because I am waiting for Amanda to catchup.   I think she is satisfied with our relationship and so I have to find a more effective way to motivate her to move forward on the relationship.  I’ll wait until after I have finished to the second book to see if it’s worth mentioning to future generations.

Roman is out selling in Kansas and requested I send him a book.  The Psychology of Selling  I sent this book him and looked it up at the local library.  They don’t have a copy, but I can check out the ebook.  The ebook is a new experience for me.  But I thought I would give it a try.  I am readying scriptures on my phone.  So guess I have been reading ebooks for a while.   I’m only 30 pages into the book.  But I like it so far.

My job status is UNKNOWN!  For now I have one.  But that could change any day.  I am actively looking and I am getting better at marketing myself.  I’ve gotten a few interviews and I have one really good lead.  We’ll see what God has in store for me and my family.

I am having fun with my little electric car.  I’ve put about 1700 miles on the car in a month.  I am going to have to scale back my fun because I should be at about 1250 right now.   I am hoping that I find a job that is closer and it will cut down on my miles.

I am also trying to help my brother Mike get his video business going.  I think we have some good ideas, but it is going to take some work and executing to get these things in place.  My favorite idea now, is the one where we get a bunch of people together, feed them lunch and pitch them on the idea of video for real estate.  I will need to keep pushing Mike to get that done.

Roman is doing well with selling alarms, however, he only has three more weeks before he comes home to get ready for his mission.  I wish he had more time to figure out the selling thing.  I would like to figure out the selling thing.

I am also working on my speaking at Toastmasters, I think I am going to be giving a speech this week about my first pay for performance jobs.  I still need to work on it a bit because I am going over the time limit by a minute or two each time I have practiced the speech.  Maybe I will write it down just to see how long it will take.

Wandering through life I have often observed people in search of what I believed was happiness. My view has changed, ever so slightly. This week I was reading a talk given during General Conference by Elder Quentin L. Cook Personal Peace: The Reward of Righteousness.   People are in search of happiness, however, I think more fundamentally they are in search of peace.  As Elder Cook stated, “I have been impressed with the difference between universal or world peace and personal peace.”  Elder Cook gave some examples of specific where events in the United States distress people because it disturbs people view of their own peace.  He gave the example of September 11th and the Sandy Hook elementary shootings. He may have included the Boston Marathon bombings in that list also.   With these events many can not find, nor do they know where to find peace.  He then began talking about agency.  Because he wanted to show that personal peace can be obtained by correct choices.  It is interesting to note, in a book I read a couple of weeks ago called Proof of Heaven by Eben Alexander, he is a neuro-surgeon that had a near death experience that turned him from an atheist into a believer in God.  He states in his book the overwhelming feeling of love he felt as he was involved with his heavenly experience.  He made the statement that in that place the influence of God would not allow evil to be present, and only on earth could evil exist.   It was interesting that Dr. Alexander made the observation that agency required there be evil present so we could make choices.  Dr. Alexander, not really knowing what to do with his experience,  doesn’t yet realize that making choices that bring us closer to Jesus Christ and ultimately our Father in heaven is where we can find that overwhelming sense of love and peace he felt during his near death experience.  However, it is surprising his new zeal to try an convince others of the realness of his new beliefs.

Making the correct choices and doing what is right and good is not easy and will probably never be popular.  People like to say, write and show that there are easy ways to find happiness and peace.  Sadly, the lasting peace and happiness that all of us seeks will not come in this life.  At best we are only going to catch glimpses of these things here on earth in this life.  The religious, where I count myself, believe that what we do here in life will affect how our existence will be after this life.  I also believe living the best life we can will bring us more happiness here.

Another fascinating thing I listened to this week was on NPR TED hour called, What is Beauty, This program patched together TED talks about beauty.  They hypothesized that beauty is something we need to survive and to happiness.  Nancy Etcoff believes that beauty is what we see ,that subconsciously, we interpret will help us survive.  I want push a bit farther and say that beauty in this world is a bit of the glory from heaven that is shining through to our world to help us remember what is was and it will be like to be with God.

I believe we are all attracted to beauty because it helps us feel that peace we are all looking for.  When we make good choices we get closer to that peace.

The only thing I ask is that people continue to find those things that bring peace into their lives.