Success Is Gauged by Self-Mastery

This week I very much appreciated Elder Tanner’s address title “Success Is Gauged by Self-Mastery”. The phrase that accurately sums up the point in this message is found within the article: “The Lord is always looking for men in whom He can place His full confidence, who can represent Him in the mission field, and men who can be rusted in every way and who are prepared to help build His kingdom.” (Tanner, N. Eldon). Elder Tanner said: “… as you accepted the priesthood you made a covenant with the Lord that you would honor the priesthood and live worthy of it.” To accomplish this great and divine task, Elder Tanner continues, is to conquer self. He then quoted a few philosophers: “The first and best victory is to conquer self; to be conquered by self is, of all things, the most shameful and vile” (Plato); “He who cannot establish dominion over himself will have no dominion over others” (da Vinci); “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city” (Prov 16: 32).  Elder Tanner suggests that “we must never relax or forget who we are and what we are trying to accomplish.” As we continue to honor the priesthood and remain worthy to have the priesthood in our lives, the Lord will continue to trust and place His confidence on us so that we can help Him bless the lives of others through service and sacrifice. I am indeed thankful for this principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

   

Another fundamental principle that I was reminded this week is the loyalty to God, wife and family are the most critical priorities in our lives. I enjoyed watching Jan Newman's video https://vimeo.com/28075977 as Newman suggested to take care of business in these areas. Newman warns us not to pass on opportunities to serve in callings because we are too busy with life and our professional careers. Because we need the Lord’s help, He’ll know where our hearts are, and they won’t be on His side.

   

Also, I enjoyed watching the “Three Lesson About What It Means to Be an Entrepreneur” by Wences Casares. He shares three most important insights as Casares counsels that 1) Entrepreneurship is a calling that chooses us—it is inescapable. 2) Time is our most valuable asset and 3) Entrepreneurs create the most value by doing the same thing for a very long time.

  

Finally, after reading the article titled “Don’t Jump in Unprepared”, I learned there are three areas of knowledge that are critical for starting a successful business: 1. In-depth knowledge of the competitive structure of an industry and a network of contact within that industry; 2. The skills to run that daily operations of a small, rapidly growing company; and 3. The ability to raise capital. This reading taught me a few great lessons. The fact that almost without exception, when it comes to industry knowledge we must be immersed in an industry for years to pick up nuances. Regarding day-to-day operations, if the company is flawed, almost any strategy is in jeopardy. As for raising capital, reputation is everything. “A good money raiser is part salesman, but that salesmanship is built brick by brick on a foundation of competence and honesty”.