Mind Mapping.

I know that the mind mapping assignment was turned in a while ago but i cant help but refer back to it. I have a hard time time managing with school work, when to study, and work. I made a mind map that would help me get more of these things done, organized and accomplished. The mind map consisted of time management and what to do during these allotted periods of time. I didn't make it as fancy or colorful as the ones we turned in for the assignment from Pam but overall this process of using a mind map has made my midterms a lot less stressful. :)
-Lauren Bagley 

LESSONS FROM THE SANDBOX

I have really enjoyed the book Winners Never Cheat. The first chapter, lessons from the sandbox was very interesting. It is said that 'everything we need for today's marketplace we learned as kids'. This is said because because the values you learn at home, in the sandbox, and playground stick with you even when you become an older into the business world. honesty is a value the book focuses on. 'Human beings inherently prize honesty over deceit...' They say that even lost tribes in India that have different cultures and languages still value honesty. The book talks about how having behavioral values will help us with long-term success and not have temptation. This reminded me of how I saw this lady cheat in the Palm Beach Marathon in Florida this last December. I would drive from check point to check point ever three miles to encourage my friend. At one checkpoint around mile 15 I saw a lady go of the road and hop in a car and i saw her get dropped off at mile 21...she cheated herself and she may have finished the race but she cheated herself. "forget about who finished first and last. Decent, honorable people finish races-and their lives- in grand style and with respect."

ANDREW HOSTETLER

I think now would be as good of a time as any to remind ourselves about the importance of beginning with the end in mind. As I've listened to the class groups present on their books and the thing's they've learned, I am reminded of how Dr. Covey tells us to always keep in mind our deepest values and life goals. For me personally, a lot of what I learned from my group's book and from other presenters seems to be very appropriate in reaching my own goals in life and becoming the person I want to be. It makes me think of this country song where the singer tells about the qualities and values he would like to be remembered by when he's gone.

Perspective

It is sad. Not even "it's kinda sad" or "it is sorta sad" it is sad and even pathetic that we as people get our priorities so screwed up. I speak of my own perspective really. Last week my wife and I could not decide for the life of us what color to make our counter tops in our new townhouse. We thought it is kind of a big deal.

The news about the tsunami really didn't hit me til today, days later, when someone just made it so real for me. 10,000+ people have died. Many homes and businesses have been destroyed. That is a much bigger deal. We should be working to prevent those situations, and help out when they do occur.

MY MESSAGE IS SIMPLE. BE GRATEFUL FOR WHAT YOU HAVE, WHILE YOU HAVE IT. DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE LITTLE THINGS, THEY DON'T MATTER. WHAT MATTERS IS YOUR FAMILY.

John talks about it in the book we are reading. He says that at your funeral, nobody mentions your schooling, your work accomplishments or what color of counter tops you had. They talk about how you affected those that were around you.

The tsnami is what really drove that home for me. Right now imagine this, no matter what your situation. You just lost both of your cars, you were lucky enough to have your house escape. Your sister died, your fathers place of business is now gone. Plus on top of everything else the country has shut off power to your house and plus plus you don't know how this radiation is going to effect you and your family.

How would your life change? What is really important to you? Do you know what is important to you? Do the people around you know how important they are to you?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxL36ngIJA8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cciUXpITsu0&feature=topvideos

Unseen Investments

After finishing Winners Never Cheat, one of the main concepts that stuck out to me was that being an honest business person and keeping your values high is an investment. Not only do you feel a high sense of self respect for doing so, but it always turns out better in the end. That doesn't mean however that you wont have bumps along the way, but it is always better to stay true to your values. I thought two specific examples from the book illustrate this exceptionally well. One, when Jon Huntsman was working with Mitsubishi in Thailand and they told him that he needed to give money to officials to ensure they could do business there. Essentially, Mitsubishi had been bribing them and now the Huntsman Corp. was expected to pull their share. Huntsman stood up and said that he would not do so,  but instead would sell their portion of the company. In that transaction he sacrificed $3 million. His integrity was not worth a shady business deal, even at the cost of $3 million. This really made me contemplate if there were any times in my life when I was willing to go along with something because I wasn't courageous enough to stand up and say that what we were doing was wrong. If Jon Huntsman can do it at the cost of $3 million, why can't I stand up for the value of my own integrity- especially in situations where it costs me nothing. The other great example to me was when he worked in the West Wing, and stood up to his boss when he knew if he followed through with his assignment it would go against his conscience. Even when it would be for someone as high up as the President, he wasn't willing to sacrifice his honesty and integrity. I think Huntsman is a fabulous example and after reading this book I have an extremely high level of respect and admiration for him and the way that he runs his business. I was also taught that in the end, even if you have nothing else you will have your self respect and the respect of those around you if you are being honest. Even if this may be unseen in the beginning, it truly is a great investment.

Made to Stick

Making Ideas stick as a tough task that many people seem to pass up with out much thought, we often have many ideas but getting the ideas to be obsorbed by our peers. In the book it talk about a story that was on the internet about bananas, some one posted that there was a terrible diseases being passed along by the fruit and that it was causing some very harmful side effects, the email spread like wild fire, no one stopped to think why isnt this on the news? The email used crediable sources like FDA  to make the story even more realsitc. Using crediable sources to make our ideas stick is huge in convincing people to by into the idea. We must find ways to get into the heads and hearts of the customer and make them really want the idea.

Law of the Harvest

There are many cases that come to mind of examples of people that want the entire goose that is giving the golden eggs instead of being patient and just being greatful for what is at hand. One instance that comes to my mind is how young adults are extremely inpatient. They see life long investments such as cars and homes that there parents have spent a lifetime saving for, and want them instantaley with out the work ethic. I have many friends that have made very poor decisions on money, seeing a new truck for instance and thinking " all the chicks will dig it!" even though they dont have the financial stability to make a purchase like that. We need to really think about our investments and how we can better spend our money and not get greedy. Taking the egg one day at a time and not whole goose.

Winners Never Cheat

I just finished reading the book winners never cheat, I thought there were some very usefull things inside the book that we all can use in our lives to become the best that we can be. In chapter 4 it talks about setting an example, You are alwasy taught to be the strong one to stand up and say no when things are wrong, I really liked the expamle used when he talked about giving the wrong order over the ships, even though it wasnt the captain fault for the wrong words said to the other ships, he still stepped up and took the blame for the wrong because he was the Leader, how many times in our lives is it just easier to not take the blame for faluts of our own? Even though it might not be directley our fault but being a good leader and overseeing your team, taking responsibilty in good but more important bad is what I found to be insightful.

Giving Back

In winners never cheat chapter ten talks about giving back, I feel that personally i can do a better job of this, I passed a sign in the TSC that stated of you want good Karma give back, It made me think of this chapter, there are not very many people that are as rich and succesful as Jon Huntsman, that there favorite topic is giving, There are alot of celiberties that give but i doubt highly they do it out of sheer joy, Giving a skill that takes true humility and kindness things which you must be able to obtian to become your very best, these atributes help build your charecter to the best that you can be, not to mention a little bit of Karma doesnt hurt, but being happy from giving as dicribed by Huntsman, gives him goose bumps, I am not even close to that but striving to get there.

Group 5

For our blog post we would like to explore the boundaries of the issue discussed in class two weeks ago. This issue being that there needs to be both love for the hobby, and also some amount of skill in it. Otherwise these two things, there really is not a point in participating in this event anyway. We, as a group, would like to pose the question; to what extent is this true? Is mediocre skill and passion enough to flourish? In our book, Positive Thinking, one of the themes associated with it is that without positive attitude, there can really be no success. After reading our novel, we tend to veer to the side of the passion is the most important aspect to be effective in any area.

Jerika Barnes
Cameron White
Hannah Heninger
Dylan Lewis

Kids Know

(photo is obviously me as a kid haha I was all ready to go dance!)

I read all of the book "Winners never Cheat" by Huntsman over the break and absolutely loved it! I also spent time with family and babysat for my sister and her friends kids so there were three children all together around the ages of two and three. It was so fun to watch them play with one another and it made me think even more about this book. He said powerful things in every chapter that motivated me to be a better person. Sometimes it does seem impossible to be a perfectly honest and upright person since you think that will just make it so people will walk all over you. Was wonderful to hear specifics about a man that never seemed to change his values no matter what the cost. One of my favorite parts was when he made a deal with a man to buy part of his company and it didn't process for six months. By that time his company had doubled or something in what it was worth so the man offered to pay more but he said that he had made a deal already and would honor it even though it cost him millions of dollars! That is true dedication to keep you word! I thought about all of the things mentioned in the book a lot and talked to people about it. Then I thought back to how the children acted. Funny how everything we were taught as kids is the basis of happiness in life. All they seemed to care about was sharing and really justed wanted to have fun and help the other kids to have fun too. They told on each other when someone wasn't being nice and forgave instantly. Could tell that their greatest desire was for someone big to tell them good job or complement them. Amazing how our deepest desires really are to simply be a good person and wonderful how you are happy if you do so no matter what your life situation but usually have good come along when you live this way. So lets all be a little more like who we were as kids.

Karen Ungricht

Group 4 Blog Postage

We wanted to share this video because it is a really good example of a sticky idea, which we all had a chance to read about for in our group.

One way to make an idea stick is to do something unexpected. Here is an example of an unexpected car safety commercial that is unexpected, but it illustrates the core message really clearly.

"The enclave ad is unexpected because it violates our schema for car commercials. We know how car commercials are supposed to behave. Pickups climb mountains of boulders. Sports cars zip along vacant curvy roads. SUVs carry yuppies through forests to waterfalls. And minivans deliver kids to soccer practice. No one ever dies, ever.... The commercial reminds us that accidents are inherently unexpected - we ought to buckle up, just in case." (Made to Stick)

Back to the basics- and the 7 Habits.

I know it has been a while since we finished reading Covey's book, but over Spring Break I went to the dentist and while there I saw a children's book of The 7 Habits. I was really interested what the children's version would be and so I read through most of it. Interestingly enough it simplified them to stories, and these basic sayings: 1.) You're in charge 2.) Have a Plan 3.) Work first, then play 4.) Everyone can win 5.) Listen before you talk 6.) Together is best 7.) Balance feels best. I know we've all read the book and this is a review but I thought the author (not Covey himself, but someone who works for his company) had a great way of rephrasing the habits to get a little different perspective. The book also categorized the habits into three steps. First, start with you and then play well with others, lastly never forget to take care of yourself. It was also a fantastic reminder to make sure that I was applying what we've learned in class.