missed lecture : Goals

I came home to Bonney Lake, Washington early and was not able to make it to the lecture on Monday, which is lame because I think I could have really benefited from this lesson. I remember in middle school we would always set and plan goals we wanted to achieve. I thought these goal plans were pretty useless because I always had the same goal, do better in math, and I was not really passionate about achieving that goals, so I never succeeded  as much as I had wanted to. Now that I graduated high school, I have begun to make decisions that will impact the rest of my life. The first being to attend Brigham Young University, which is the best decision I have made in my life thus far. Now I need to start setting goals in order to receive a degree in whatever I specifically decide to major in, and eventually what career I wish to pursue. Without knowing what I want to do, its hard to have a plan in achieving a goal, with no goal in sight yet. I guess that it what I will have to work on first, then set goals which will allow me to achieve my final goal. What is most important in goal setting, in my opinion, is passion. Without passion, all is lost. Without passion there is not lust to achieve, no drive, and no determination. Without passion there is no success, for if you set a goal that you don't really care about, you will not achieve that goal, for why would you work hard at something that you don't really want?

I can use goal setting in my leadership role in BYUSA by setting a manageable schedule with daily task that I need to do, in order to achieve the final goal of putting on Freeze Fest, and bringing the BYU student body together to let off some steam, meet new people, and enjoy the festivities of the season. I need to have passion in my work, and really put in my all in order to have the successful event I wish to have.

"lets work together ya ya ya..."

This weeks lecture was on team work, and I thought I had a good grasp on how to work with other people since I have been working with people since kindergarten. But the lecture on Monday pointed out a lot of aspects of teamwork that I have thought of before. Only when people have significant relationships can teamwork be the most efficient and the goal will be fully achieved. I really liked the example of the BYU women's chorus. If they didn't like each other, they wouldn't sound as great as they do, as in any type of sports team, the more they like each other, the better they play, and the more games the team wins. Looking back on when I played water polo in high school, I remember we only played well when the girls on my team got along, for we had more passion for the game, trusted each other more, and actually enjoyed playing. When you enjoy doing something, you are more likely to be good at that something. That is probably why I am good at twisting balloons, and bad at chemistry!

The lab this week was also a lot of fun, nothing beats a good teamwork activities, and the skits that we did were so much fun, and hilarious! My personal favorite was the Harry Potter skit, not that I am biased against muggles or anything... ;] I could really tell which groups really worked well together, though all of the skits were really good. Being in a class full of leaders, I thought there would be more contention between those who  wanted to control the group, but everyone really worked well together, and each person had their ideas heard. Other team work activities I have been in, have not been as successful. In high school, I was always the leader and did nearly all of the work because nobody in the group would do their part. I've noticed that working in teams at BYU, everyone does their part, which makes the group so much more efficient, and the task that much more enjoyable.

Being a part of BYU's Freeze Fest, I have had to work will the other people in the committee. We really have to have teamwork in order to accomplish our goal, and put on a successful event. I really enjoy everyone I have worked with for Freeze Fest, everyone really does their job, and I feel think we will be successful.

ethics and virtue

I really enjoyed our mock trial in our labs this week. The last time I did a mock trial was in 8th grade so it was fun being able to do it again. I think ethics and virtue is a touchy subject in court cases because it is do hard to deem the standards of what is right and wrong. Being in the LDS Church we have a clear understanding of these principles, but for people in other faiths (or people who have no faith), there can be a lot of grey area. We do have the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to deem what our natural rights are, but specifics such as abortion (life vs. privacy), and free speech (flag burning) can be interpreted either way. I think it is really important for people of the LDS faith to determine what the boundaries are by the Spirit. For I think the Founding Fathers were inspired when they wrote the Bill of Rights and the Constitution.

I actually worked in law firm this past summer, and I know that lawyers may have to go against their best judgement and take the guilty side, which is why I could never be a lawyer. The lawyer even told me about some cases (not giving specifics or names) and clients who he absolutely did not like because of their crimes, and he had to defend them! I think lawyers have to have the mentality that it doesn't matter who wins or losses, just that justice is served.

In the case we did in class, I think the witness fell into peer pressure. I am an avid animals right activist, but students should have the opportunity to learn in the best way possible.

I do think that the final decision made in the case was the right one, and I was super excited that my side one! Go Defense!

I probably won't use ethics in my leadership role because being in charge of advertising for Freeze Fest does not involve a lot of controversy. But integrity can be used in every leadership role, and I can use integrity in my leadership role just by putting the most effort I can into that role, and not slacking on the job.

Service

This weeks lecture is on service, which summerizes our purpose for being leaders at BYU, to serve all those we can. I found it very inspiring that the speaker shared the great examples of service from famous leaders. George Washington not being dressed as a general, dug in the trenches along with the other soilders. Though he was a great leader and in very high standing, he was not above working in the muck.

A quote that really touched me is, " a servant leader is a servant first...it begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve others first, the conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead." All of the great leaders that I can think of never strove to be leaders and to be recognized, but only wanted to serve. They already had the serving mind set, so they were more able to become great leaders. I feel like being in a leadership position is a blessing, not something you can try to gain. Society views leadership from the opposite perspective which is sad, because we end up with leaders who are only in the position because they stepped on some many people on their way up.

In viewing my leadership position with BYUSA, for we were require to have a leadership position for this class, I think we should have viewed it as a "serving position" rather than a "leadership position" because we can't just "be" leaders. We really have to earn it. So instead of viewing my position as being the advertising coordinator for Freeze Fest as me being a leader, I am going to focus on how many people I can serve. The point of Freeze Fest is to bring BYU students together, to branch out of their cliches to form great relationships with people they would have never met before, as the motto "warm up your social life" suggests. I really want to serve the BYU student body through Freeze Fest, because I think they will really benefit from the time I spent working on this event. Through serving, I might be blessed to become a leader, but for now, I'm going to focus on those I can serve.

Conflict Resolution

I missed last weeks lecture about Conflict Resolution for I was flying home to Seattle to crown the next Daffodil Princess but I copied the notes from Victoria.

I thought it was interesting that "conflict is in direct opposition to growth", because we need opposition in all things in order to grow and develop, not only in a spiritual but in every other circumstance whether its working out, you need to strain yourself in order to get better, and in relationships. I have noticed that whenver my friends and I get in a conflict and figure it out, we are so much more closer. I have had some sort of conflict with all of my closest friends, because the opposition we have faced and overcame brought us closer. Conflicts can be any manner of things, whether it was a religious debate or an issue of trust.

In order to overcome conflict, you really have to humble yourself, whether its humbling yourself to forgive another or to admit that you have done wrong. I once struggled forgiving on my my friends who hurt me, repeatedly. I really had to humble myself, to forgive her and allow her back in my life, and I am so grateful I did. Once I got into the habit of forgivenes, it was so much easier to forgive other friends who did something against me.

Though there have not been any conflicts in my leadership position yet, as being on the activities commitee for BYUSA's Freeze Fest, if any problem did arise I would just have to remember to be humble, and see things from another's perspective, and remember that opposition makes relationships stronger.