Information Overload

 This week in school we read a synopsis of Covey's book, 'The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People'.  We also gave a book report of George Leonard's book 'Mastery'.  My brain is spinning.  I love what I'm learning, but I have to say I'm learning it so quickly there is no time left to incorporate all the wonderful things I am learning.  Say you give an old dog 25 new treats.  He gobbles them up so quickly he doesn't know which one is his favorite.  How is he supposed to eat them all and enjoy them.   I know, horrible analogy.

So I spent literally 10 hours this week reading, taking meticulous notes, studying the notes, writing a 800 page book report.  I love this stuff, but I have to admit that I hate the tests.  They don't grade you on the important principles you should learn but twist certain aspects of wording in what we learned and hope you get the answers wrong.  The tests are full of trick questions and I've never gotten all the answers right even with my zeal for note taking.  

So I'm applying the dreaded test taking to my business.  I'm not going to get everything right.  No matter how long I spend trying to learn every nuance, accounting tool, display idea.  I can learn until I'm blue in the face, but I can't wait until I'm perfect in knowledge to take the step of just doing.  I've got to move forward and do.  I'd love to say I'm incorporating every wonderful idea I read about, but in truth I have the mental brain power to say incorporate maybe one good idea out of thirty.  

In the meantime. I'm compiling a nice little collection of books I want to re-read.

Add to that, even more notebooks full of wonderful ideas.

I want to revisit them when I have more time.  I hate the word someday.  I equate it with never. Some distant date, set in the far future when I'll then incorporate all I really want to.  I tell myself after college, but I'm sure I'll be so busy with my business then that I won't have time then either.

So this post is a bit of a downer.  I want more time to absorb and apply what I'm learning, but feel so overwhelmed with information overload I don't know where to begin.  But then that's life with all about the ups and downs right?  My one take away.  Just Do - move forward, and hope in the future that one more of these great ideas will pop into my head as I'm doing.    

 

Thrilled and Terrified at the Same Time

Don't call Extreme Hoarders on me.  This chaos has a purpose. 

This week I was able to be apart of an event that has me thrilled and terrified at the same time.  We signed papers on our first store.  We have been permanent vendors at Evermore Park for over a year and a half and now we are settling into a permanent home at Provo Towne Center Mall.  Well, we get the keys on the 31st.  Meanwhile our store fixtures and inventory is in my front room, family room and all of Andrew's garage.  

This week in school we learned about more about Mastery or becoming who it is we were meant to be.

Some of the keys to acquiring Mastery are...

1. Instruction - finding your Mr. Myogi (like the Karate Kid's mentor/teacher)  Networking to find someone who can help guide me on my path.

2. Practice - is the endless path of learning on my journey to becoming who I am meant to be.  It requires dedication and the desire to always go above and beyond what's required in learning.

3. Surrender - Being humble enough to recognize you can always learn more.

4. Intentionality - bringing in the mental imagery game.  Creating the vision of what you want and having that vision fuel your desire to get there.  

5. The Edge - Always test the edge of the envelope.  Can you always learn more, be creative, live intentionally.

These keys are never-ending and replay again and again.  

Since I was little I've had a very active, creative imagination.  Now I'm actually getting close to putting that creative and imagination into a store that can help others 'Create their own Fantasy' and 'Live the Adventure'.  Those two phrases are in our mission statement.  My addition is helping people create their own fantasy character through leather costuming.  My boys help with the 'Live the Adventure' in their immersive RPG experiences and accessories.    

I loved revisiting this quote by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

The heights by great men reached and kept

were not attained by sudden flight,

But they, while their companions slept,

were toiling upward in the night.

This dream is years of learning, practice, imagining and creating.  It was also lots of toiling.  Last week I learned that I need to make my health a priority again.  This week I'm taking definitive steps in my entrepreneurial journey.  Wish me luck.

 

The Hero's Journey & That Darn Dragon

 This week in school we learned about Mastery and The Hero's Journey.

Mastery, we were taught, resists definition.  It's recognized instantly in its many varieties.  Mastery is not a destination or the fulfillment of a goal, but it is defined by the process to which the journey to achieve that goal or destination is applied.

The Hero's journey is similar in that it is about the journey or process itself.  It is about becoming, learning how to learn, and how to live a life of meaning.  

Like all great stories of hero's on their journey there are challenges.  Road blocks or obstacles that can make the journey a little less sure, more fraught with stress.  This week I'm going through such a set-back.  One I have successfully avoided for over 2 1/2 years.  But this challenge hit me during my busiest vending season of the year and just a few weeks before my first ever store opens.  This dragon I'm fighting is Covid.  

I'm feeling really crummy, with little to no energy to do everything that needs to be done.  I can't work my leather, clean the house, take kids places, or even navigate the stairs without feeling like I just ran a marathon.  It is discouraging because there is so much to do with my store.  

So like all hero's I'm looking for that light at the end of the tunnel.  That light is the family that has stepped up to help bring me food, continue running the business without my help by adding a little bit more to their own plates.  It is also in turning my focus on what I cannot do to what I still can do.  I can still place orders for inventory, make networking connections through text and email.  And I can still do my online learning for school.  

One of my assignments this week was to set up an imaginary board of directors for my company.  How cool it would be to have Richard Taylor from Weta Workshop, and Walt Disney on my board.  But then I thought back to the people who have helped me become who I am today and I would have to include my amazing Prince Erik, my mom and Solange Vegara on my board.  I need to let those people know how grateful I am for their influence on my life.  

So even though I'm confined to a bed and room while this illness runs it's course, it's nice to have time to reflect on who has helped me become who I am today and who can help me become who I will be someday.  

No Genie Needed!

I don't need a Genie or Fairy Godmother to make my wishes come true.  I can become my own fairy godmother.  I can do this.

This week I did something I haven't done with my business so far and it felt wonderful.  In all of my work I haven't paid myself.  I've put every penny back into the business to help it grow.  I've considered that a blessing, but so many people have been encouraging me to pay myself first and then if I decide to invest, I can.  Well I paid myself and guess where it led.   My happy place - Disneyland.  I was able to pay my own way and join my son and his family as his wife and two kids experienced Disneyland for the first time.  And to my surprise I didn't feel any guilt.  It felt wonderful to reward myself for my hard work this past year.

Something else wonderful happened. Not once, but repeatedly over the two days I spend with Abner's family.  Every time I volunteered to stay with little Mister while Mom, Dad and big sister did rides we had little tender mercies with walk-around characters.  We met, Aladdin, Genie, Buzz Lightyear, Captain America and Jack Sparrow.  

The little girl inside of my was giddy as all get-out.  And you know what?  Sometimes the most meaningful, memorable experiences we can have, come in those unexpected moments of service.  I didn't want to be in my happy place to ride rides, and get autographs.  I wanted to be there so that I could allow my son's family to have those experiences.  And boy was I the one that felt blessed in that.

My hard work with this business allowed me to bless the lives of my son's family and I can think of no greater experience.

This weeks college learning wasn't just snuck in late at night after a long day of walking and a little bit on the plane ride home.  There wasn't a moment where I wasn't serving, working and learning.  Even walking around the magic kingdom, my son and I were gleaning ideas for our store design, marketing, learning from the Master Walt Disney himself.  Disneyland has taken the time to learn how to do it right.  And we were trying to learn even while enjoying the magic. 

Imagine fun seasonal banners like these (minus the bats) hanging in our store.

Something we've been learning about all semester is the importance of good mentors.  At Disneyland we had the best mentor, fairy-Godmother, Prince Erik's sister Gamma Mimi all wrapped in one.  She was the best pro, directing us into which lines were the fastest, the best food, the best walking paths to avoid crowds, how to use the Genie app to skip lines and order food without waiting, etc.  She not only told us, but showed us how to do it.  So the second day when she wasn't with us we were still able to use the skills she taught us and have a successful, fun adventure. I want great mentors for my business as well.  They can guide and direct me as I go and I can take the lesson learned to move forward on my own.

In the Launching Leaders book by Steven A. Hitz (which I highly recommend reading) it says. 

"Your journey through life should be filled with actually tasting and participating in the act of giving, not just hearing about it or watching others do it."

This week I participated, and served and learned and it's made all the difference.