Week 1 Moments

Here are some of my "aha" moments captured in this first week.
 
Facing The Fears: 

Quote:"You get to choose, but you cannot control the uncontrollable. And that means you will sometimes fail. The sooner you embrace failure as a friend, the better. Blessed is the entrepreneur who learns to fail early, cheaply, and often. Cursed is the traveler too fearful of failure to choose the more difficult path. It’s not that heroes aren’t fearful. Of course they are. It’s that they learn to get knocked down and get back up again. And they learn how to get other people on track too. The Grail is more important than the ego." (Jeff Sandefer, Living Life As An Entrepreneurial Hero)

Quote: " No one ever really wants change. We fear change. We want safety and stability and comfort. That’s why big leaps help focus our attention outside, toward the horizon, away from our own daily fears and petty insecurities and sloth. The challenge of a worthy foe or the promise of a big dream moves heroes to action." (Jeff Sandefer, Living Life As An Entrepreneurial Hero)

Quote: "You may feel paralyzed by the thought of a larger-than-life goal, overwhelmed by the need to be so grand. If so, try starting with a smaller step. Begin by focusing on your most precious talent, your rarest gift, that task you do better than anyone else....Then start with small challenges where you can apply your gifts and actively revisit those flow states, and try it in a way that can ultimately help someone else. Because, for example, even a small first step that results in a satisfied customer can be a step toward mastery. And the best thing about mastering a skill, industry, or market is that eventually opportunities will begin to seek you out, because no one looks for a dabbler when an expert is available." (Jeff Sandefer, Living Life As An Entrepreneurial Hero)

Quote: "Choosing the life of an entrepreneurial hero begins with a paradox: you have to dream big but start with small steps. Most people prefer to just let life happen to them; somehow inaction feels safer (and sometimes blaming someone else does, too). But becoming an entrepreneurial hero is about taking responsibility for yourself and turning big dreams into step-by-step realities ." (Jeff Sandefer, Living Life As An Entrepreneurial Hero)

Quote: "To put it simply, living a life of meaning is about living life with intent. It’s about deeply, honestly knowing ourselves. And it’s about developing the wisdom to appreciate that this brief spark of consciousness of ours is an enormous, rare privilege—one in which we’re capable of extraordinary things." (What is the Introduction to Entrepreneurship Course?, AFEE)

Quote: "The question is: are you ready? Because inevitably you will come to a place in life where you’ll find yourself asking “Is this all there is?” and “What should I do next?” When you do, the instruments you tune here will be the first items you reach for if—and here’s the big if again—you’ve paid the price to learn to use them in a way that transforms your life." (What is the Introduction to Entrepreneurship Course?, AFEE)

Thoughts: My nine year old son learned something at school recently that he has told me a couple times.  He said, "Mom, did you know that your brain grows bigger when you make mistakes?"  I told him it does if we learn from those mistakes.  I learned this week to be open to failure.  To view failure as opportunities to record, ponder, learn and grow.  We can learn from the failures of those around us but I think our own failures provide deeper and more meaningful growth.
   There is a thought from my Pathway instructor that comes to my mind when I am faced with seemingly overwhelming tasks.  He said, "Trying is important.  Trying leads to success."  The first step is often the hardest one.  You just have to get up and try!  Trying will lead to the next step and the next until you have climbed your way up to your goal.