Being a Baker--Entry 9

Guy Kawasaki has an amazing video where he talks about baking and eating.  Not the actual baking and eating, but metaphorically.  He says that bakers are the people who see "the world as an opportunity to make more and bigger pies."  Eaters "need to get as much of the pie as possible."  There are moments in my life where I feel like a baker and other moments where I feel like an eater.  However, as Guy Kawasaki points out, "Trustworthy people are bakers, not eaters."  I feel like I'm a pretty trustworthy person so does that make me a baker?  Not necessarily.  I view owning a business as an opportunity to make it so that I can a) do something I love and want to share with the world, but also b) as something that can make me money without having me do a lot of the work.  I know that the latter won't happen unless I turn my business into some kind of conglomerate or franchise, or even the business makes the money I'm looking for to let me retire early.  Maybe this is why I should be an author since they are sort of entrepreneurs themselves.  Especially the self-publishing authors because they are entering the publishing world on their own, having to do their own marketing and sales, but if they do their work properly, they can be a baker.  The ones who make the money are the authors that just want to share the story with the world hoping to change someone internally.  To get them to connect with the author in some way through page after page of words that are captivating.

I have been a person that has been reserved in myself for a long time.  I have had hard times trusting people with things at certain times in my life.  Listening to Guy Kawasaki speak about trusting first, being a baker, and learning to think in terms of "How can I help that person?" really speaks to me that this is something I should work on.  I see myself as a baker because of how I'm always looking for opportunities to teach my children bigger and better things about life and living it.  I know I talk a lot about my kids and my family, but they are my biggest support and they are my life right now.  They are the ones that I am technically trying out all these new ideas of entrepreneurship on through different aspects of play, doing chores, etc.  I am learning to run a business through my life at home.  I think this may translate really well into the actual business world because I will see my business as my family and it will mean all the more to me then.

Video: Aspects of Building Trust by Guy Kawasaki

Homeostasis--Entry 7

Wow, I can't believe how late I am on this journal entry!  I despise being late on work and things I need and even would like to do.  However, this past week couldn't have been helped.  I needed this past week to help me realize how to prioritize the things that are important to me in my life.

These past couple weeks I have been studying (pretty closely) the book, Mastery, by George Leonard.  This book is a lifesaver for me at this time.  I have so many goals, so many things I wish I could master, but I think I have taken on too much all at once and it has set me back into what he does state is homeostasis.  "Homeostasis works to keep things as they are even if they aren't very good." (page 110)  This right here reaffirms why things have happened to me that I would like to get done, but just fall backwards when I get into a rhythm and it dies.  I'm also lazy, and a procrastinator, but the procrastination is something I have considered that I have mastered (unless illness comes into play).  This chapter in his book about resolutions and how to keep them really has opened my eyes up to better prioritizing the things I need to do in my life.

Yes, I have goals.  I have lots of goals.

• I want to run a business of my own one day.
• I want to become a published author.
• I want to be able to play concert piano pieces with perfection and ease.
• I want to improve on my ballet skills.
• I want to learn to play the cello and violin.
• I want my kids to grow up happy, and to remember all the happier times of love and laughter in our home.
• I want to be financially independent.
• I want to tour Europe.

Some of these things seem like a bucket list of sorts, but that's how I see goals.  They are a bucket list.  They are my things I want to do and to master in my own way.  Guy Kawasaki said, "If you do what you love and you change the world, then you will be rich, but you shouldn't want to do it because you want to be rich."  I know a few of these things are things I do love doing.  I love ballet.  I love playing and practicing the piano.  I love to write.  I know I seem like I am all talk and do nothing.  I normally am that way.  However, I am constantly trying to figure out what I need to do to do these things with my husband's work schedule and with me being a mother and wife first.  I love everything that I accomplish, and I love having the support of my family through it all.

Mastery by George Leonard (link to Amazon)

Passion vs. Money by Guy Kawasaki video