Breakin' Out

I know...It's crazy. I'm writing again well before the deadline. But sometimes you just got to type. <>I just can't believe the nerve some Webmaster have. I mean, are there really that many idiots that like to find a page full of old search engine results pretending to be fresh and valuable content??? I think that's the biggest challenge with the internet today. All the dorks that just cram it full of trash. Page after page of useless garbage and they make dynamic garbage too! They'll serve up a freshly made page, just for you, of useless information. The next best thing is the same content served out to thousands of websites as a 'service' to the end user. < /rant > So, it's a great day. I get to spend some time with my children as my wife is out of town. I can't even begin to describe how great they are. I just feel lucky that I was blessed with them. It is a constant battle to stay focused on the most important things in life. Some what related to that...I was listening to Michael Savage on the radio as I was waiting for my daughter to finish soccer practice yesterday, and he was just rambling about a book he read when he was 18. And he paraphrased the author about life and how those that take casually what everyone else focuses on constantly do better or something like that. It started me thinking about how stressing out about things never seems to make them better. Not to say that not taking care of business is a solution, but rather taking care of business and not stressing about it is way more productive. I'm not going to look it up right now by Christ said that you can't change the color of your hair by worrying about it. I've always took that to mean that worry and stress don't effect change, rather action and faith (and I suppose that's redundant being that faith is belief mixed with action) combined bring about results. Yet, even knowing that, I still find my self constantly fighting against worry and stress. Funny how that works. Everything seems to naturally flow to decay without the constant tending to maintenance.

OK, It has been 38 days...

I can add another post. ;) I'm pretty sure that's the rule. I know I have seen quite a few blogs breaking it unabashedly, but I have to stick to my principles! I think I made the title of my blog a bit to philosophical. It works for the occasional post but day to day, you can only write so much about what one ought to do. Most of the time is to be spent doing. I totally understand at least one facet of the Sabbath day commandment. It is so refreshing to take one day a week and leave all my cares and worries in the office. Don't get me wrong, my work isn't horrible nor my cares and worries, but it still is nice to enjoy some ponderation on the more lasting parts of life, which happily includes my family! Sometimes I wish that we could enjoy this life forever, because it is so much fun to associate with one another. But then I remember that the eternities will be all this and more, so I'll take what I have and enjoy it for the time I have. I suppose my biggest regrets are my many and varied imperfections. Yet even those serve me quite well to keep me tuned into my constant need for my Savior's atoning grace. ...ha ha... I was just thinking about how guarded my entries are. I love to hit the theoretical, the general and the philosophical because it puts some distance between myself and what I write. Oh boy, what fun...

Just Get Started

It's quite amazing to me how easy it is to work on preparation way too long. I'm not knocking preparation...my point is that I've seen too many people delay real action in the name of preparation. Before they launch the company, before they start working, before, before, before! Delaying getting started for fear of everything being less than perfect. I guess there's something to be said for Google's starting quickly (even if it's not perfect). Honestly I can't even remember where I heard it, but the whole idea is to prepare as is necessary, but then get started. Fail yourself to success if you have to, but get started. Most things in life are not learned in the preparation phase. It's in the doing, the trying, the failing, that we learn the real lessons. I suppose that's why there's repentance worked into the whole scheme of things. Because you can't but help mess up. But in the picking yourself up, reevaluating your method and trying again that you really learn. The one thing I can't but help wonder is how many times do you need to make the same mistake before you can't learn anything else from it? Anyway, that's the mantra for the day...Just Get Started! If things don't go right...adjust. If the plan fails...rework it. Don't wait to get started until your plan is exactly perfect, or the product is perfect, or the sales pitch is perfect. Do, try, learn, improve. Oh! That reminds me I need to stretch.

12 Years

I think it was almost twelve years ago that I first 'got' the concept and I use the term 'got' loosely since I appearently don't 'got' it down yet. I think his name was Bishop Kyle. He said, "Ryan, always keep the little rules and you'll never have any trouble with the big ones." I went to Rio de Janeiro for the next two years and did my best to follow that council. When I returned to the States my parents had just been introduced to a company called TPN by some family friends. The president of the company, Jeff Olsen, always liked to talk about the Slight Edge. Basicly the same deal...just worded differently. He would say it along these lines...There is a slight edge, a razors edge if you will, of difference between the people who do great things and those that don't. Those that do great things do the simple things that don't seem to make any difference in the act of doing them, but the compounded effect over time yields huge results. Then more likely then not, Mr. Olsen would talk about flying a jet and how it makes a million tiny corrections during the flight to keep on course. Then things start jumping out at you like this verse of scripture "...by small and simple things are great things brought to pass..." and "…do not let us be slothful because of the easiness of the way..." I think the most interesting thing is that you could share this simple principle with just about anyone and they'd say, "Yeah, of course that's true...it's kind of obvious." Yet, I see myself slipping up way to much considering what I know. I really think it's because it's so obvious and because it's so subtle. So why do I neglect to do the simple things that make all the difference? Laziness. I think that about sums it up. What is it? The second law of thermodynamics? The natural tendency of things is to break down. I have the hardest time when I let that law rule my life. The hopeful part is that it's not permanent yet and I have time to adjust my course. Recently (as in today), I've been thinking that if I can keep enough focus on the basic three things I need to do to step over that edge, the small rules and then get them so ingrained that they become part of who I am, then I can begin to focus on a new set of three and so on and so forth until I really start to put the rubber to the road. Hey this journaling thing is helpful!