Whitney Peterson

03/21/2017

BUS 295

T/T 5:00PM - 6:30PM

How I Will Measure My Life

INTRO

We live in a world of wickedness. People seek money and riches instead of eternal

companions, big families, and true love. The world is selfish, foolish, and greedy. People reach

for immediate pleasure rather than long lasting happiness. They desire the acceptance of mere

mortal men over an almighty God. The priorities of the world have long been set in the wrong

places. The information and strategies address in Clayton Christensens book, How Will You
Measure Your Life, can help us reset our current priorities and double check our standings in all

things.

CHOICE & ACCOUNTABILITY

Christensen also teaches us many ways in which we can improve our businesses,

companies, relationships, friendships, families, and ourselves. The book, How Will You

Measure Your Life, helps us recognize the immediate demand or satisfaction of a choice,

compared to the long term consequences of that same choice. As we start to apply the mindset of

beginning with the end in mind into our lives, the choices that follow become better than they

were previously. In this particular case, better means more ethical, legal, selfless, spiritual, and

eternal. If our decisions are better, so are the rewards we reap from them, even if it takes longer

to obtain those rewards.

PARENTHOOD

INVESTMENT

One of the most significant and essential things that I took away from this book is a

refreshed perspective on my future parenting plans. This book addresses the importance of

investing in people and things way before we think we will need to. It explained that today the

world thinks that since a child is little, they need less of our time. A parent who chooses to be

absent more than present during the young years of a childs life, so that they can spend longer

hours at work are doing a disservice to their children. Even when the intentions are to provide

more means for their families, if they spend too many long night and essential moments at work,

they will miss out on many teaching opportunities. Children do not learn when you want to teach
them, they learn when they are ready to learn. If we do not invest our time into our childrens

lives we will regret it later.

CHILD DEVELOPMENT

Christensen shared some research about the critical development of a childs brain during

the first three years of their life. There is a major difference between a child who has plenty of

attention, interaction, and conversation spoken to him or around him, compared to a child that

has limited attention, interaction, or conversations. This book shares a detailed example with us,

that I will share with you. A child from a talkative family hears about 2,100 words an hour. That

means they will hear approximately 48 million words in their first three years. On the other hand,

if a child hears only 600 words an hour, they will have only heard 13 million words in three

years. As you can tell by the numbers, there is a massive gap between the two children. The

words spoken to a child help the development of synapses in the brain. These are all the

connections that signals can be sent through. More synapses in a childs brain mean that the child

can think easier and faster. The research continues to explain how the amount of words spoken to

a child during his first three years determines how smart and intelligent he will be for the rest of

his life.

OUTSOURCING

Now days, most families function off of two incomes. Especially since many women

want to work themselves and see staying home as a bad thing. For these two reasons, much of

childrens lives is being outsourced to someone else. Unfortunately, most parents do not consider

how much their child is learning or not learning from other people. If we are not teaching them

what is right and what is wrong, then who is? If we are not showing them, by our own example,
how to be good people and how to be happy whos example are they following? What are they

learning from TV shows and movies? What does the nanny or daycare provider tell our kids

when we arent around? What are they able to find in the widely available internet that may

impact how they understand the world? Every parent should be conscious of their outsourcing

early on in a childs life. They should be constantly performing internal and external analysiss.

It may be too late when you realize they learned most of what they know from someone other

than you. You can only hope that the source you choose to allow fill your need was worth it.

APPLY TO BUSINESS

The principle of outsourcing also applies to business. Similarly, all of the other topics I

have covered so far directly related to business as well. The book talks about how outsourcing

products affected DELL significantly. They started outsourcing small products that were not

crucial to their product. Over time they slowly began to outsource more and more until their

entire product was outsourced. The other company started to use their technology for further

advancements. Since DELL outsourced so much, they no longer had the ability to advance

further in their business. They have struggled since. This is one example of why we need to be

careful when we choose to outsource, and why we need to be cautious of what we outsource.

This applies to business, our children, and our spouses.

Investing in people and employees is also important. If we do not take the time to

completely train them and make sure they feel welcome, they will not want to hang around long.

We also need to devote time to meet and celebrate the progress our people are making. If we

never take the time to look back and appreciate their work, they will feel like their hard work

goes unnoticed or that you are not impressed by their talents. Investing in people before you
think you need to is essential. You cannot wait until an employee is considering leaving before

you tell them why you want them to stay. You cannot wait until another company wants to steal

them away from you before you give them reasons to stay. You cannot wait until to share your

strategies and recipes until you are on your death bed or retiring. We must harness the potential

and people and train them to do things they may never have to do. Investing in people is critical

in business.

HAPPINESS

My life strategy has been to be happy for as long as I can remember. This book

reaffirmed all the ways I can truly be happy and stay happy. It is important to find a career or job

that we love. We have to find the right balance between hygiene factors and motivation factors

that make us want to keep coming back to the office each day. Hygiene factors are job security,

work conditions, company policies, status, compensation, salary, bonuses, coworkers,

supervisors, etc. Motivation factors are things like recognition, responsibility, personal growth,

challenges, etc. Motivation factors give us more juice for work, while hygiene factors make work

more bearable. The right balance is how we find happiness in the workforce.

Another thing I learned from the book is the theory of the right stuff. We may be

misled by the contents of a resume, rather than the soft and hard skills, talents, or qualities that

another person may actually have. We need to strive to be people that have the right stuff. We

need to try to be the spouse we would want to be married to, the mom or dad we would want to

be raised by, the employee we would to be over, or the friend we would want to have. Its

important for us to strive to be even better, in all things. If we are trying to be what we would

want to be, we will be happier.

CONCLUSION

I learned a bunch of applicable theories and strategies to apply to my life, my parenting,

myself, and my career. I am excited to continue to improve my life now and in the future. I will

continue to plan and anticipate the future. Most importantly with my children and my family at

the center of my focus.