*POP!* goes the Hammy

That was me on Saturday. It all started the weekend before, when I strained my hamstring while playing soccer. Then on Saturday I played flag football with my brother. My leg was hurting enough that I was just limping across the field, but when I caught a touchdown, I decided to kick the football for the kickoff. In my head I knew it was a terrible idea; I instinctively knew that i would hurt myself, but I ignored those rational thoughts along with my brother's warning and I kicked the ball. *Pop!* goes the hamstring! I then proceeded to drop to the ground and writhe in pain.

So what did I learn from this? One, don't play intense sports with a strained hammy. Two, don't do something you know is going to hurt you. Three, acknowledge and heed warnings from your family and from the Spirit.

Now I will spend the next month or so doing my own physical therapy and hoping I don't re-injure it. From now on, I will be much more careful about playing while injured and hopefully I'll remember this stupid mistake before I make another!

The 1st Habit

I have recently been read Stephen R Covey's book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. As I finished reading about Habit 1, "Be Proactive", all I could think was, "Wow, I have a long way to go." Being proactive is one of the greatest habits to obtain in order to be highly effective. It's about being personally responsible for who you are and what you do. Covey explains that in between the 'stimulus' and the 'response', we have the 'freedom to choose'. No one has to do anything, we choose to act, or we choose to be acted upon.
We should also focus on expanding our Circle of Influence instead of focusing on our Circle of Concern, over most of which we have no control. One great literary example of struggling and finally succeeding to develop Habit 1 is Kaladin, in Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson.

The development of the habit of being proactive is important to me because I know I struggle with it and I know how essential it is for my earthly and spiritual progression.
I intend to develop this habit by consciously taking responsibility for who I am and what I do, as well as focusing my efforts on expanding my Circle of Influence. I know it's going to be very hard and take a long time, but the best things in life are always that way. It will be worth it in the end.

MoneyWise

Last night, I attended a great MoneyWise seminar about investing and tax strategy. The first thing I learned was how money is a tool to teach gospel principles. By delaying gratification now (e.g. saving a percentage of your income) we learn of sacrifice and we get a greater reward later (e.g. the ability to retire comfortably). We learned the importance of setting financial priorities and goals, such as (1) Emergency Fund, (2) House Savings, (3) Retirement Fund, and then (4) Children's Education. I also learned the difference between tax credits and tax deductions, tax credits are way better! The American Opportunity Credit is especially good for all undergraduate college students.

As you can tell, I get just a little excited about investing and such, and since i was very ignorant about taxes, this seminar was awesome for me! Now I can help others and myself save money on taxes and maybe even make money on the refund! And the investing advice is great because I would like to be a Financial Planner someday.

As soon as I learned about this, I told my mom and she hadn't heard about the AOC; now we can save $2500 on the 2011 tax year and this coming tax year. I definitely plan on saving and investing my money beginning now so time and compounding interest will work in my favor.

Entrepreneurship Week

The Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology hosted its 5th E-Week here at BYU this past week. At the Kickoff three BYU student-entrepreneurs explained how they were able to start the hugely successful businesses while still studying. At the Big Idea Pitch, 25 innovators shared their product and business ideas with hopes to win hundreds of dollars of seed money to grow their companies. And finally, the alumni Mentor Panel shared awesome advice on how to crush the competition and delight your customers.

As a future entrepreneur, this week has been very exciting and motivating. Hearing about all of the successful start-ups has really helped me realize just how possible it is to start my own business. It has also opened my eyes even more to the reality of the hard work required to be a successful entrepreneur.

So, these events have all combined to motivate me to concentrate even harder on my own entrepreneurial pursuits. I think one of the hardest things about entrepreneurship is taking that first leap of faith. It's pretty risky, but I think this E-Week has prepared me to make that leap.