Thanksgiving

Being grateful is something that a lot of times comes in short supply.  Several times in my life, I have felt that I have been very ungrateful for things that I have and the people I have in my life.  During this thanksgiving week, it has really helped me to realize the importance of being thankful for everything in my life.  Being in Las Vegas this weekend with my family opened my eyes to how grateful I really am for all they do for me in my life.  Being grateful isn't an easy thing.  You have to humble yourself and really open your eyes to everything around you.  The Lord has blessed each one of us so much and if we humble ourselves and are more grateful, then the Lord will bless us even more than He already has.

It is important to be grateful because everything we have was given to us by the Lord.  The Lord loves us so much and He is more than willing to bless us and give us whatever we need.  He just wants us to recognize His hand in everything that happens.  Being grateful is a sign of how humble we are because if we are grateful, then we recognize the Lord's hand in our life and we recognize the help of other people.

Now I am going to do my best to be more grateful in my life.  I want to be able to recognize the Lord's hand in my life.  Also, I want to be able to be grateful to all the other people in my life especially my family.  This Thanksgiving season reopened my eyes to the importance of gratitude and how it can make our lives better in every aspect.  I want to do my best to be more grateful so I can be humble.  I am going to remember to thank everyone that comes into my life.  I urge everyone to be a little bit more grateful this holiday season so we can all recognize the great things we have in life.

Flip Chart Presentation

This week while preparing for my presentation I learned what I need to do during my presentation in order to make it interesting and to keep the attention of my audience.  I was able to go on the last day of presentations and so I got to see everyone's presentations and it really helped me to refine my presentation.  The most important thing that I learned was to prepare and rehearse for your presentation.  You need to research the topic, figure out what you are going to say, come up with a good hook, and rehearse to someone.  By doing this, people can give you feedback and help you to refine it so that you can get your point across in an effective manner.

This is important because if you don't do this things, you will show up to your presentation and look dumb.  People won't be interested in what you are talking about and it will be a very dull presentation.  Also, people might look down on you because you came unprepared.  You lose your credibility among your associates and those you are presenting to.

I am going to work hard to prepare for all of my presentations and projects so that I can gain credibility and help to persuade people to what I am talking about.  If it is important to you, then you should prepare as good as you can.  Don't look dumb.  I am going to make sure that I don't look dumb and that I am successful in every presentation that I do.   I will be responsible and do everything I can to prepare for the presentations that I do by rehearsing and getting feedback from other people.

Game Changer

This week was a little disappointing.  I didn't get into the program that I wanted to and I didn't do very well on some tests that I took.  I was feeling pretty low but after talking to my dad and a couple of friends, I realized that these things were hard but I still had a good plan to move forward.  Even though my plan wasn't working out the exact way I wanted it to, I still had a back-up plan that actually works out a lot better for me and helps me to magnify my talents.  Also, after talking to my dad I realized that my back-up plan is a better option for me and will help me out in much better ways then the first thing that I wanted to do.  I learned that I need to realize to take these so-called game changers and move along with them in a better direction.

We are all going to have these types of things in our life.  Things don't always go the way we want it to so we need to be positive and take those types of things in stride and use them to our advantage.  When we do that, we realize that those things helped us to realize that our second option was better for us than the thing we really wanted.  We can't get down on ourselves and stop moving forward.  If we do that, we won't get anywhere and we will lose ground.  But by taking those hard things with a positive attitude, we will make lemonade out of the lemons that are handed to us.

I am going to start taking these game changers and using them to my advantage.  Just like I took the disappointment this week and made it better, I am going to try and do that for everything that comes my way.  It won't be easy by any means, but it will be worth every second.  I know everything happens for a reason and if we all believe that, we will be able to live a happy life.  So let us all take these game changers in our life and turn them into a great opportunity.

Preparation

This week I learned the importance of preparation.  The definition of preparation is the action or process of making ready or being made ready for use or consideration.  I learned that you always need to make yourself ready for whatever comes your way.  You never know what is going to happen in life.  Whether it be a disaster, some kind of trial, or even an interview, you must always be prepared to give your all and do your best.  I had an interview this week and I did my best to prepare and because I prepared myself, I was able to do well in the interview.  I look back and I realize that if I didn't prepare the way I did, I would have done terribly in the interview.  Also, when I look back I realize that I could have prepared myself a lot better.  Preparation is key in all aspects of life.  We must do all we can to prepare for everything that happens in life.

Preparation is important because without it, you would most likely fail at everything.  If you didn't prepare for a test by studying, you would fail the test.  That happens with everything in life.  The Lord has told us that we must prepare for the day that He will return.  Also, when we prepare ourselves, we show how important that thing is to us.  If we don't prepare for something, it is a sign that it didn't really matter to us in the first place.  Preparation is important so that we can be ready for the things that we will all do in our lives.

After that experience with the interview, I am going to do everything I can to prepare myself for everything in life.  I have had many different experiences where I have felt so unprepared.  That is one of the worst feelings and I can avoid those feelings if I just stop being lazy and get ready for whatever comes my way.  I am going to make sure that I am prepared for the future because the Lord promises us that if we are prepared, then He will bless us and help us be better prepared.  I challenge all of you to be more prepared for everything in your life.

Online Interview

After participating in the online interview, I found out that I have a lot to work on.  I get really nervous for things like that, even if, they are just mock interviews.  I need to learn to calm myself and be able to speak clearly and not use filler words.  During the interview, I used "so like" a lot of times and I need to be more confident in myself so I don't use things like that to fill in.  Also, one thing that is super important is making sure that the internet connection is good.  Doing our interview it was freezing a lot and sometimes it was hard to know what the other person was saying.  So for a real interview, I need to make sure I have a good internet connection so it doesn't freeze like that.

I did a good job with dressing professionally, having a good background, and using good PAR stories.  Sometimes I felt a little jumbled with my own PAR stories and I didn't really know where I was going with it.  I need to settle down and just answer the question.  One thing my partner suggested is that I make sure I have a good reason and explanation of why I want the job that I am applying for.  I need to do more research on the jobs I apply for and have good questions for the interviewer at the end.  I haven't had much experience with interviews in my life but as I move forward and do these mock interviews, I see things that I need to work on and things that will help me to be more successful in interviews.  I have a lot I need to work on and a lot I need to do to prepare myself for a real interview but I am willing to do my best to succeed in this area of my life.

Myself and Others

This past week, I have struggled a lot with being selfish.  I have been selfish towards other people with how I have been acting.  I haven't really thought about other people's feelings.  I have been looking inward instead of searching for ways to help and serve others.  I haven't been very kind to anyone. Because of this I feel that life has been much harder.  I remember times on my mission when I was doing everything I could to serve other people and my life was still hard but I had a lot of help from the Lord.  I learned this week that if we do our best to serve others, then the Lord will give his helping hand in our lives.

Many times in my life I have come to know that concept the hard way. This concept is so important because we can't go through life without help. Whether that help be from the Lord or from other people. If we serve others, we could be an instrument in the Lord's hands to help another one of his children. We could be the answer to someone's prayers. The more we serve other people, the more love we have for others and the less we judge them.

I am going to make it a goal to start thinking more of others and less of myself. One of my MTC teachers gave us a challenge for when we returned from our missions and that challenge was to think about others before we thought about ourselves every morning that we got out of bed. I haven't done very well with this challenge so I am going to start putting it into practice and I know I will be blessed and I know I could be a means of helping someone else.