The Value of a Name

Well Thanksgiving has come and gone.  This weekend was a much needed break and gave me time to chance up on some homework.  One of the assignments I was working on this weekend was reading the book How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.  It was an interesting book and had some great points.  One of my favorite was highlighting the value of a name.  Carnegie said that most people are more interested in his or her own name than anybody else’s name (pg 73).  The more I thought about this idea the more I realized, how nice it is if someone remembers your name after the first greeting.  It makes you feel special when someone uses your name. Taking the effort to remember a name can go a long ways to make another person feel good about them.  As a result of this little lesson I learned this week, I have made a resolve to remember people’s names better and use their names when I talk to them.  Currently I am really good at avoiding using someone’s name if I can’t remember their name.  Dale Carnegie shared how he remembers people’s names; after he hears someone’s name he repeats to himself several times and finds ways to relate that name to something in the conversation.  Doing this will help people respect me more and be a better leader.  

 

Always look towards the future

I had an experience this past week, where I learned a very important lesson.  I had a giant test in one of my finance classes that I had been preparing for, for a while.  I took the test and after seeing my score was very frustrated that I could spend so much time studying and not get the kind of grade I feel that I deserved. At first I was really angry with myself, and was trying to piece together what I could have done better.  I thought at the time that everyone in my class surely did better and I simply was not as smart as the rest of my talented class.  The following class after the test I found out that everyone had actually done about what I had done and I started to feel good about myself again. This made me feel so silly getting so worked up over this test.  So what did I learn from this experience-don't focus on the future. And remember not to let things such as test scores define you.  Now I will hopefully be able no to let things that don't really matter get the most of me and focus instead on constantly improving. 

Follow the Holy Ghost

This week in my lecture series class, we had a guest speaker Dan Paxton, who talked about leadership.  He said that everyone who can influence another person is a leader.  Basically everyone is a leader.  He gave us a list of several items that great leaders do.  One that touched me the most was that good leaders will follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost--Even if it doesn't make sense.  He told of a story where he had to let go of someone in his organization.  He did it carefully and sincerely.  That night he got a call from this man's wife telling him that the man he let go suffered a heart attack and was in the hospital.  After that phone call he got the feeling to go and visit him in the hospital.  This was not the logical thing to do and really didn't seem appropriate.  Yet he did and he talked to this guy through the night. 

Sometimes the Lord tells us to go things that don't make sense, but if we follow him he will bless us.  SO What? -The Lord will tell us to do things and So now I need to act on promptings I receive even if its inconvenient or I don't know what to say.  The Lord will help us once we take the first step.

So Grateful

This week I found myself swamped with homework and projects and simply trying to survive the rigors of college.  In the mist of all this I finally found the time to go the grocery store.  As I was leaving and had just backed up my car, I found that it stalled in the middle of the parking lot.  Just what I needed, now I had to find a place to take my car, and somehow I knew that it was going to take a lot of my time.  Thankfully I was with my friend Ashley and she pushed my car out of the way.  While another complete stranger came and helped to try to jump the battery on my car.  Unfortunately the battery was not the issue and he told me some others things it might be.  After getting someone to come and pick me up I called my dad and explained to him the situation my Dad (who works about an hour away) immediately told me that he would be on his way to come help me get my car to the shop.  I was so grateful for my Dad and is kindness and love he showed from me.  I learned a lot from this situation about the love that my Dad has for me, but it made me answer the question would I do the same for someone I love and care about or even someone I didn't know.  Going forward I want to make sure that I don't get too caught up in my world that I forget about other's people life.  So now I will make sure to take every opportunity to help others, because I know the difference it can make.

Mock Interview

This past Thursday I had the opportunity to participate in a mock interview with a BYU Alumni.  Going into this interview I really had no idea what to expect and I definitely learned a lot from my time with him.  We first started by going through my resume.  There were a lot of things that he particularly liked, and other stuff that he showed me that I could improve for any employer.   His philosophy about resumes was to have an executive summary at the being of where you wanted to be with your career and have your education and experience to back it up.  He also told me I was a little up tight in the interview and told me to relax and act like I am talking to my mom.  While I don’t think a job interview is like talking to my mom, I think it is a good idea to get a lot of practice job interviewing so that I am comfortable with it when it actually counts. So after hearing all this wonderful advice, what am I going to do? I am going to practice, practice and practice.  I am going to try to take advantage of more mock interviews in the future to become comfortable interviewing with people.  Interviewing is an important skill that I will need throughout my career, and it is worth practicing for.

 

CONFERENCE!!! :)

General Conference is always a very exciting weekend. I love every bit of it. This year was no different, the talks were wonderful and I left feeling so great and ready to conquer the world. At the end of each conference President Monson always gets up and asks "in the coming weeks and months" to read and ponder the messages as they are printed in the Ensign Magazine. It was at this conference that for some reason, I realized that this is the exact phrase he says every conference. This to me told me how important conference is and that we should not take it for granted. We need to ponder on the words that were spoken so that we can know what we need to do in our own lives. So now that conference is over, I am going to remember the words and find something to improve upon, so that I can keep the spirit of conference within until conference comes again.

 

 

Learning to Work with People

For one of my classes this semester we are required to read the book How to win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.  To be honest I thought the book sounded a bit weird.  I mean I usually don’t try to win over my friends and gaining friendships usually isn’t some kind of game to me.  To be honest I am still a bit skeptical about the book, but what I have read thus far has been really rewarding and valuable.  The first three chapters are about handling people, and gives three different principles.  The one that stuck out to me was not to criticize, complain or condemn.  As I read this chapter I was astonished by the simplicity of this task, but how it can really go so far.  Thinking back in my life about the days when I worked customer service in restaurants and at a hotel, it was always such a welcome relief to have someone that didn’t complain, in contrast to those that were upset and criticizing me for things completely out of my control.  Ever since I worked with such people, and reading this book, just confirmed it, I have vowed never to be such people.  I vowed that even if something goes wrong, don’t ever belittle and condemn a person for it.  Kindness can go a long way, and will help you go far in life.