My Entr'acte

Stephen Covey's seven habits from his book are (1) be proactive, (2) begin with the end in mind, (3) put first things first, (4) think win/win, (5) seek first to understand, then be understood, (6) synergize, and (7) sharpen the saw. I would say that I am working on all seven of those habits, but the one that has the most meaning to me is the seventh one--sharpen the saw. It is so important to remember to take care of yourself. This can be sometimes seen as a selfish thing, but in reality if you don't take care of yourself, you will have nothing to give to others. I am a personal trainer and a group fitness instructor. I have tried to eat healthy and show love to my body by taking care of it. I have adopted things like meditation and yoga to help to take care of my mind as well. When I got cancer, all of these things have had to either be put on hold or have been interrupted in other ways. I can speak from experience that when these things are interrupted or put on hold, I am n...

Time is such a valuable thing, and it is a concept that is difficult for me to control. I call myself a time-optimist. I always think I have more time to do something than I actually do. This shows itself most of the time when I am about to leave the house to go somewhere. "Oh, I have time to do this one last thing," is what I tell myself before rushing out the door and leaving at the time my appointment--be it a serious appointment like a doctor's appointment or a fun one like a girls' night out. It's something that I have struggled with my whole life. Last year I discovered time-blocking. This was revolutionary to me to set alarms and schedule out my entire day. I own an Apple watch and an iPhone, so I enjoyed seeing all of the colors appear on my calendar. They all showed exactly where I was supposed to be and when I was supposed to be there. I also had time blocked out for the small things I wanted to do like contacting a friend I hadn't talked to in a whi...

Corey Bell spoke about a hero's journey being all about you but not about you--what matters most is how YOU change and what you do for others. He mentioned that in the end of our lives the questions that we will ask ourselves are: 1) Have I contributed something meaningful? 2) Am I a good person? 3) Who did I love? and 4) Who loved me? He spoke of finding five people who you know well what you're good at and asking them to be specific in order to find your calling. Your calling must serve others and solve a problem that only you are able to solve. Corey mentioned writing a list of things that you will never do, and then writing yourself a letter for when you are thinking of breaking your promise to never do something. All of these things are things that I want to implement in my life. I know that being successful in business can make it so you can lose your soul. That is something that has always concerned me about success. There are many who think that it is all about them and...

Write down fears. When you write them down, you can either see them for the silly things they are or you can plan to avoid them if they actually happen.  Fears are typically irrational, but we all have them. My biggest fears in business have to do mainly with not accomplishing the things I want to--of being "beaten to the punch" with my business idea and not making a difference in the world. There are some things I do not have control over, but with the things that I can control, I can make sure that I can make a plan to overcome any bad scenario. There will always be something that goes wrong. That's not pessimism, that's just the truth. Life is like that, so when something goes wrong, how do we get back to doing what it is that we want to do or how do we keep working on our goals? We prepare. The chance of the worst case scenario happening is slim, but we can still prepare for it to happen. When we are prepared with a way to combat any fears that we have, we will fi...

It seems as though a life full of integrity is almost unheard of. Some people lie, cheat, steal, and bully their way through business and through life. Popular television shows today even showcase the lack of integrity that can be found in a business. Sometimes I don't know if the media is applauding lack of integrity or if they are against it. Frank Levinson of Finisar Cooperation even mentions being fired from a job because someone lacked integrity and blamed him for something he didn't do. I admire Mr. Levinson and his ability to get back up and start something new after being knocked down like that. I don't really know how I would respond to something like that. I don't know if I would have had the courage to start my own company. On the other hand, I may have the courage if the act that got my fired wasn't true like in his case. Another person I admire for his positive personality and view in life is Gordon B. Hinkley. I was quite young when I saw him on te...

I was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in February of 2018. I recently reached my two-year fighter anniversary. I had a three month "remission" after some chemo, but that is all that I have had since being diagnosed. I'm happy to still be alive, but this has not been easy. In fact, most recently, I found out that I have developed more lesions in my liver after I had tried to remove the only one that was there just ten weeks ago. So, I am facing a hard chemo regimen that will probably start soon--most likely this next week--that I am not looking forward to. I refuse to say that I am dying because I feel amazing. I am a personal trainer and group fitness instructor. I ate almost too perfectly when I was diagnosed, and I have never smoked nor drank alcohol. I was in the best shape of my life when the doctor called me with the news. In fact, I feel worse  when I am undergoing treatment than when I am "left alone." So, to say that I relate to Randy Pausch when he g...

I am an unfinished instrument. I am constantly re-vamping and adjusting my life to fit my needs and those of my family and friends. Much like building an instrument, I'm building my life. I don't personally have any experience in building instruments, so I see it as a puzzle. I like solving puzzles. No instrument is the same. I play the violin, piano, and I sing. I grew up with music in my home and music continues to surround me. The dedication to my craft(s) wasn't something I just woke up and had one day. My mother pushed me to practice, my teachers supported me, and once I fell in love with those instruments, I had the motivation to practice perfectly. What is perfect practice? Perfect practice is failing over and over and over again. Perfect practice is diligently fixing that one thing that you can't quite get, and then moving on to the next thing that is difficult. Perfect practice never ends. And so it is with entrepreneurship and with life. I've tried m...