Focus on your character and your personality will improve

To be more friendly you can work on smiling more, making more eye contact, and giving compliments.

These are personality traits and you will achieve some degree of success.

The alternative is to work on character traits. For example increase your faith, hope, charity, and love. Remember temperance, humility, and virtue.

These are character traits. When we focus on character traits our personality naturally changes for the better.

It is most effective to work on our character rather than our personality.

- DC 4:5-6

The problem with working too hard

Working too hard is anti-productive. Life is a journey not a sprint so slow down, pace yourself!

The problem with working too hard is burn-out which results in getting little if nothing done.

Maryann has played volleyball for years and loves it. However this year, her junior year in high-school, she made a difficult decision and chose not to play. She felt it would allow her time to do things of higher value.

She told us that her decision has resulted in peace and satisfaction in her life. She is able to spend quality time with her family and friends, she went to the church girls camp over the summer, and is able to come to seminary every morning and is spiritually strengthened.

Make decisions that will result in a steady pace of life. Don’t work too hard or expend too much energy, just keep your life balanced and consistently move forward and you will then win the prize.

- DC 10:4, Mosiah 4:27

Don’t trust a drunk chauffeur

Where there is high trust there is also security and stability.

Where there is high trust work gets done faster. Energy is applied to forward progress rather than posturing for protection.

We prefer to associate with people we can trust.

How about this … associate with God and put our trust in him. His path is perfectly straight. He doesn’t oscillate to the left and right. He always is true to his word.

God is the ultimate partner because he is the most trustworthy.

Trust in God, not a drunk chauffeur.

- DC 3:2

We need to belong

Imagine if you couldn’t belong to anything. No family, no team, no company, no community. You would feel alone and suffer. Belonging helps us feel a part of something bigger than ourselves, it gives us purpose and strength.

As humans we all have a deep need to belong.

God has provided a way for us to belong even after death. As Malachi the Old Testament prophet said, and it’s the very last verse of the Old Testament, the Lord will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and children to the fathers.

We are linked to our fathers and to our children so we can belong to something forever. What a great blessing.

- Malachi 4:6, DC 2:1-3

More trusted, more freedom

The more you are trusted the more freedom you have.

You are trusted according to how much integrity you have.

As Aisha said this morning, “Come home 5 minutes before your curfew.” Profound. That builds trust with your parents and they are going to give you more freedom.

My business partners trust me because I’ve always delivered on what I say I will do. My actions back my words. So they don’t micromanage me or watch over my shoulder. They trust me to pull my weight and the result is I have more freedom.

Have integrity and you will accomplish great things.

- JSH 1:46

Know where you stand

Try out for a team and you want to know if you are on the team.

Audition for a play and you want to know if you get a part.

Take a test and you want to know your score.

We need to know where we stand. We want to know where we stand.

So where do you stand with God? You are living your life imperfectly but trying to do right. So where do you stand?

Pray to God and ask him where you stand. I believe you will be pleasantly surprised with the answer.

- JSH 1:29

The greater of knowledge and wisdom

Knowledge is knowing stuff. Data, facts, figures. Wisdom is applying knowledge, acting on it in a way that’s beneficial.

Two centuries ago a 14 year boy did not know how to act. Instead of asking for knowledge he asked for wisdom. Wisely he sought the wisdom from the source of all truth, God.

I believe wisdom is greater than knowledge.

In our age with all the knowledge available to us at our fingertips and at the speed of electrons, where is the wisdom?

- JSH 1:12

The 2010-2011 seminary class

6:00 AM and here they are!

Left to right: Kayli, Eric, Christian, Colleen, Spencer, Kassandra.

Scott (middle) came in late so had to get another picture.

Left to right: Kassandra, Leanne, Brittney, Maryann, Aisha, Markus, Taylor, Wendel.

Left to right: Taylor, Wendel, Ryan, Megan, Eoin, Pablo, Matthew, and John.

I asked everyone what they care about and this is what they said:

As we dug deeper into why they cared about these things they realized it was because they want to be happy. And then we realized that God wants us to be happy (2 Nephi 2:25).

So it all comes together. Everything in the scriptures is to help us be happy. Which means the scriptures are all about what we care about. Our study of the scriptures is therefore really about our happiness.

Don’t manage people. Lead people and manage systems.

And so begins the 2010-2011 seminary year. It actually started 8 days ago but I’ve been on vacation with my family and at the Restoring Honor rally in Washington D.C. so my first teaching day is tomorrow.

Teaching seminary is a consecration of time, energy, and heart in the service of the youth in my class, about 20 hours a week. Totally voluntary. It’s an act of service that feels great!

It’s so awesome to be able to do this again. This is my fourth year teaching and it’s been amazing.

What informs how I teach and conduct myself in the class?

We are free to act and not to be acted upon (Alma 2:26-27).

Manage systems not people. Lead people. I’m a leader not a manager.

Be humble, submissive, gentle, easy to be entreated, patient, long-suffering, temperate in all things, have faith, hope, and charity (Alma 7:23-24).

I don’t assign seats, don’t force anyone to do anything, and put the learning responsibility directly on the shoulders of the youth. From what I can tell after doing this for 3 years, they like being treated like responsible people and they respond positively to it.

Focus Changes Everything

Heather wrote a profound post about the importance of choosing your focus. And she uses her photography skills to bring it alive. Wow, you’ve got to read it!

http://athermusic.blogspot.com/2010/08/focus-illustrated.html