In Matthew 22, a man asks Jesus which commandment is the greatest. Jesus responds, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy should and with all thy mind." He went on to say, "And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself"(Matthew 22:37, 39).
What it all boils down to is charity. Networking is about making people come first and building relationships. When meeting people, it is less important to try and find how they can help you and more important to look for ways to help them.
I have found that, while it is easier to stay introverted and not talk to people, it is immensely more gratifying to get to know people. Every time I make an effort to know a person, I realize how much happier I am for doing so. Also, it can prove beneficial to know people for networking purposes. Thus far, every job I've had is the result of knowing people. However, I have finally had the experience of helping someone else get a job and it brings so much more joy.
The important thing in business, networking and life is to put people first. Increasing your circle of influence allows you to meet people and learn from them while looking for ways to help them. This is what brings happiness and joy and was taught by the example of the Savior.
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Write This Down
This week, we wrote down three questions and asked them of our classmates. As assigned, we were to write down the answers people gave to our questions. There were two purposes in writing down the answers.
First, writing things down helps you pay attention and helps the person speaking to you understand that you value the things they tell you. Simple eye-contact or nodding can show some listening, but actually writing it down shows the speaker you want to remember and apply their words of wisdom.
Second, writing things down helps you remember them. The brain power it takes to transfer thoughts and oral language into written words helps synthesize information. Thus, even without reviewing the notes, it aids in memory. Having a written record also allows you to go back and review notes you've taken.
Because of the benefit of writing things down, I am glad we took the time in-class to do this activity. I have now learned improved methods of reading a textbook, planning a dinner and proper use of dashes in sentences.
In the wise words of George Strait:
"Baby, write this down, take a little note to remind you in case you didn't know,
Tell yourself I love you and I don't want you to go, write this down.
Take my words, ready 'em every day, keep 'em close by, don't you let 'em fade away,
So you'll remember what I forgot to say, write this down."
A picture of George Strait, for your viewing pleasure:
First, writing things down helps you pay attention and helps the person speaking to you understand that you value the things they tell you. Simple eye-contact or nodding can show some listening, but actually writing it down shows the speaker you want to remember and apply their words of wisdom.
Second, writing things down helps you remember them. The brain power it takes to transfer thoughts and oral language into written words helps synthesize information. Thus, even without reviewing the notes, it aids in memory. Having a written record also allows you to go back and review notes you've taken.
Because of the benefit of writing things down, I am glad we took the time in-class to do this activity. I have now learned improved methods of reading a textbook, planning a dinner and proper use of dashes in sentences.
In the wise words of George Strait:
"Baby, write this down, take a little note to remind you in case you didn't know,
Tell yourself I love you and I don't want you to go, write this down.
Take my words, ready 'em every day, keep 'em close by, don't you let 'em fade away,
So you'll remember what I forgot to say, write this down."
A picture of George Strait, for your viewing pleasure:
Friday, January 10, 2014
Obtaining Knowledge
According to the well-trusted site of Wikipedia, learning is "acquiring new, or modifying and reinforcing, existing knowledge, behaviors, skills, values or preferences and may involve synthesizing different types of information."
Merriam-Webster defines knowledge as "the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association."
It is not enough to simply "learn" by listening to a lecture or contemplating facts and truth. In order to truly learn something and consider it to be knowledge, it has to be applied. For example, if I say that know it is good to wear a seat belt in a car, but then never buckle-up when I actually ride in a car, then I only believe this fact is true. Truth is not learned until it is applied. Thus, true learning causes us to do the things we have learned.
I am going to be a Math Teacher in just about a year and I hope to apply this principle to my own teaching. Memorizing formulas and crunching numbers is not truly learning mathematics. By having my students apply their understanding to different circumstances and the "real world," it forces them to gain real understanding because they performed and action rather than just passively absorbing information, which would certainly be squeezed out of them during the next 3-day weekend.
Any time we learn something new, we need to understand its significance and then do something about it.
Christ asks the same of us. When a woman taken in adultery was brought to Christ, he forgave her of her sins. He then said, "Go, and sin no more." It was important that she goes forward, acting on this forgiveness of sins. If she were to go and continue to sin, then she would not have truly learned of repentance and forgiveness. But by applying the atonement and repenting by sinning "no more," the woman is able to gain knowledge of the goodness and grace of God as well as the wrongness of her prior sins through her actions.
We acquire knowledge by applying learning to our actions. In order to do this, we need to decide why new knowledge is significant and then make a plan of how we will apply that knowledge in our life.
Merriam-Webster defines knowledge as "the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association."
It is not enough to simply "learn" by listening to a lecture or contemplating facts and truth. In order to truly learn something and consider it to be knowledge, it has to be applied. For example, if I say that know it is good to wear a seat belt in a car, but then never buckle-up when I actually ride in a car, then I only believe this fact is true. Truth is not learned until it is applied. Thus, true learning causes us to do the things we have learned.
I am going to be a Math Teacher in just about a year and I hope to apply this principle to my own teaching. Memorizing formulas and crunching numbers is not truly learning mathematics. By having my students apply their understanding to different circumstances and the "real world," it forces them to gain real understanding because they performed and action rather than just passively absorbing information, which would certainly be squeezed out of them during the next 3-day weekend.
Any time we learn something new, we need to understand its significance and then do something about it.
Christ asks the same of us. When a woman taken in adultery was brought to Christ, he forgave her of her sins. He then said, "Go, and sin no more." It was important that she goes forward, acting on this forgiveness of sins. If she were to go and continue to sin, then she would not have truly learned of repentance and forgiveness. But by applying the atonement and repenting by sinning "no more," the woman is able to gain knowledge of the goodness and grace of God as well as the wrongness of her prior sins through her actions.
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