(November 30)

Wow! It's the end of the semester.

Another one come and gone.

It's odd. I've already got the schedule of my final semester at Brigham Young University worked out and in the works. My dream and thought of going to Thunderbird School of Global Management is no longer a just a dream or a thought - it's a real possibility and I'll be there next fall. I started the semester with not even a prospect in my dating life and coming off of a missionary who came home with a harder heart and chose to break mine, a semi-relationship with a girl that...well...it didn't work out, either. And now, I'm ending the semester happier than ever about a girl that's in my life. My girlfriend is in the middle of deciding if she wants to move down here to see how things work out between us. Wow! Who'd a thunk that I could even be the reason for a girl to think like that? I have a clearer vision and brighter hope for a future career. I've been shown that it takes just one prayer, one contact, and one interview.

Needless to say, I'm a better and newer man!

What's next?

Well, I should probably start the 10 page paper that's due in my Chinese Poetry class tomorrow. That's what's next.

Haha but really... what lies ahead is more work and more opportunities to change and become better. I'm so grateful for it!

It never stops. I love life! Thanks for enjoying it with me, reader.

(November 9)

热心！

Passion in Chinese is a very cool word. It is a combination of two characters that mean "hot" and "heart". I LOVE THAT! What is passion? It's a heart on fire! Passion is loving something so much that no matter how bad your day is or how hard things get, this something will fill you up and remind you why you're alive.

Ya' know what?! I'm passionate about passion itself. If I were to pick a favorite passion of mine it would be the act of learning about others passions. I've always been ostracized by some (and sometimes myself) for being too "heavy" in my conversations. Who can blame me? I'm a Chinese Major, Philosophy Minor, and I work at the MTC where I train missionaries on how to learn about others passions and then tell them that they are God's passion. I can't help myself. People are fascinating to me!

Are you a people-watcher? HA! Caught ya'! If you're on my blog, then there's a good chance that you're a people-watcher. Watch their eyes as your fellowman walks past you. Look up! I promise you that the answer to your problems has already been discovered and is trapped somewhere inside of the next person that walks past you. Find your answers in those around you - because frankly, the people around you are usually the answers themselves.

Be passionate! Choose to love without holding back. Be vulnerable in sharing what you are passionate about. Fill the world with a heart on fire!

(October 26)

The Three A's of Awesome

I've been inspired.

As a quick summary, let me first re-cap what exactly the three A's of Awesome are. They are as follows:

Authenticity

Awareness

Attitude

I agree that these three attributes, if cultivated in a single person, would render one as an AWESOME human being. However, in the spirit of alliteration I would like to offer (drumroll please)...

The Three B's of Bodacious

Having my little brother Kirby on my mind I've chosen to address this blog to him. Appropriate, right? Kir...B! haha

They are as follows:

Bold

Bright

Beautiful

Alright, Kirbs, you know I love you, right? Good! Because, I do love you. As a seventh grader aspiring to the glory of eighth grade I would like to offer you some advice I wish someone would'v given me during my seventh grade year. Here ya' go: Be BOLD, Be BRIGHT, and Be BEAUTIFUL!

First, Be bold! Be willing to make mistakes. Don't worry about what others think of you. I promise you that these people will not be in your life forever. There will come a day when you will get to choose the types of guys that you want to be around. Stand up for what is right! Be Bold because that's what the Savior would want you to do.

Second, Be bright! Study hard and more important than getting a 4.0 is learning how to love to learn. Learn to love the feeling of learning and understanding something new, something you've never learned before. Don't get stressed out when you're confused or don't understand something. Chances are that you'll understand it later. Or, you'll never use it again. Be bright, buddy.

Last, Be Beautiful! Remember to not worry about how you look. Beauty starts in the heart, shines through your eyes, slides down into your smile, and then proceeds to fill the room. Bud, you're handsome, you're strong, you're powerful, and you're a ladies' man! Take it from me, Kirby, what girls like the most isn't a six-pack. They fall in love with someone who sees them as a true daughter of a King - they cling to a priesthood prince who understands how to treat them right. You got that, bud.

Kirby, I love you!

Be Bold!

Be Bright!

Be Beautiful!

(October 12)

Wrong!

"You're wrong!"

How scared are we to hear those words? May I offer a story that may help the way you think about being wrong.

Earlier this semester I sat in the basement of the JFSB when a student voluntarily offered an interpretation to a classical Chinese text that we were reading. As a class, we always take a couple weeks to pour over a certain text and then slowly decipher the hidden meaning behind it. At this particularly time, we were still in the process of translating what this classical writing might be. The overly confident student raised his hand to offer a possible translation. He started safe (as most of us do) by qualifying his comment before he said what he thought. He hesitantly and confidently said,"Alright! I might be wrong but I think it's...." And then he went on to offer his translation. The teacher got a big smile on his face and said, "By golly! You're right... it WAS wrong!"

We knew the professor cared about us and this little joke was delivered in humor and in a very non-condescending way. After a second or two of pregnant, confused silence all of us laughed as we understood his joke that his translation was, indeed, wrong, but the qualifying statement he made of "this might be wrong" was, in fact, right.

It was a simple, witty comment, but it left an impression on me. Ya' know, I bet all of us right before coming to earth said, "I might be wrong, but here goes!" Our decision to be wrong is the most right choice we've ever made.

Embrace mistakes! Be wrong! And SMILE!

(September 28th) I remember the first time that I saw JK Rowlings presentation on the fringe benefits of failure. In fact, it was first suggested to me by my mother dear and then I, in turn, recommended it to the class and here I am now writing in response to it (really late, I might add.) However, I still remember the first time that I saw it. It was during the summer of this last year and I was in the midst of a very hard relationship situation. I'd waited for a Sister missionary and... (you know where this is going)...long story short, it didn't work out.

As I watched JK Rowling talk to a successful group, herself in the midst of great success, I thought it very appropriate that she would talk about how all of us are ought to fail. I felt a little bit like a failure when I was watching it. Or rather, something in my life had failed and not gone according to plan. I was ok, though. I was still breathing.

I think that sometimes we fear failure too much. I know that I do. My parents have started three business between the two of them - guess how many I've seen fail... yup, 3! If you were to analyze all they've done on paper, it would be marked with a big red "F". And yet, they've succeeded. They're alive and breathing.

Perhaps it stands to reason that the only true success is failure!

Movement

Do you realize that you're caught up in the middle of the Golden Circle?

In Simon Sinek's powerful talk on How Great Leaders Inspire Action, he outlines what he calls the world's simplest idea - one so simple and yet so profound that it completely changed the way that he thinks about his world and how he functions in the world. The idea is simple, indeed. Instead of selling people on "what you do or what you have" or convincing them that you've mastered "how it will help or how it works better", to inspire true loyalty and action one must find those who "buy in to the why."

Coupling this with the idea that Derek Sivers offers in How to Start a Movement of the value and importance of nurturing the "first follower", any aspiring leader or motivated individual can be empowered with the reality of actually making a difference.

So what? What does this mean for students here at BYU? What does this have to do with your average, Utah county born and raised, chinese-speaking, white boy? Well, as I think about it, it both validates and offers an explanation to any "success" that I've had thus far in my life. Why was I able to have success? It's because somehow I was able to relay a common belief through "what" I was doing and "how" I went about doing it. Someone saw that and intrinsically picked me as worthwhile - the followed themselves by following what I believed, too.

As for the future, this will enable me to articulate clearer what exactly it is that I believe in. Also, I know to ask others what it is that makes them tick. "Mr. Boss, why do you work here?", "President, what is it about this company that has caused you to dedicate so much of your life to it?" As for me, well my niche of belief is that I know that our Chinese and Taiwanese friends have the same basic desires as we do - I know I can connect with them and help them have a happier life. To my future employers, "Do you want someone who is passionate about helping Chinese people live a happier life?" If you do, I'm your man! I will be loyal to you and loyal to them - because I know I can find that they are loyal to that which we are both loyal to.

One Day of Peace; 8 Secrets

Slam! Another door was shut in my face.

"How about the next door?" I optimistically thought to myself. Sure enough... Slam!

Towards the end of my two year mission in Taiwan, where I'd ridden a bike around every day in a shirt and tie on a humid, hot island, I had a couple moments where I looked back at what I'd just done and wondered, "How in the world did I just do that?"

After reading the class blog on http://byuhcscfall2011.wordpress.com/ and personally watching the on-going, inspiring story of Jeremy Gilley and the 8 Secrets to success, I realized that many of the things that helped my mission to be successful were exhibited by them and their messages, as well. It is also the model to which we, as a council, need to adhere.

We need to be PASSIONATE about our message and what we are doing. We need to WORK. We need to do what it takes and learn what we need to learn so that we can get GOOD at what we do. We need to FOCUS during class, throughout the week, and on our tasks. We need to PUSH ourselves. We must love to SERVE and bless the lives of our fellow students. We need to come up with, encourage, and facilitate an environment of IDEAS. Lastly, we must PERSIST through all the c.r.a.p. (criticism, rejection, antagonists, pressure) that we may face.

We will have a successful year! We are committed to doing whatever it takes to succeed!