The most important lesson I learned from this wonderful class was from the book, Mastery. I would like to quote my favorite quote from the book.
"Even without comparing ourselves to the world’s greatest, we set such high standards for ourselves that neither we nor anyone else could ever meet them—and nothing is more destructive to creativity than this. We fail to realize that mastery is not about perfection. It’s about a process, a journey. The master is the one who stays on the path day after day, year after year. The master is the one who is willing to try, and fail, and try again, for as long as he or she lives."
I loved this quote because at the church we often speak of becoming perfect like the Savior but don’t talk about “how” very much. I have suffered from depression for about 25 years in the process of digesting this concept of “life as a journey.” How many times have I blamed myself for not making enough money for my family (not being a millionaire like my father-in-law), not being a perfect craftsman like Rodin or Akira Kurosawa (my favorite film director), not being a perfect father who spends good amount of time with his children (I was constantly tired from every day’s 2-hour commute to the work in my 20s and 30s), not being a perfect husband like someone I know, and so on. Becoming 40’s and finally a 50 years old man, I have realized that comparing myself with others is a completely none sense because we are to learn in our whole life in seeking for perfection even though we may not reach to our ideal self-image at the end of life. People may laugh if I opine and advise to the students who are starting their entrepreneur journey because I am starting my own and never a master of it. All I can say to them is, “Let’s enjoy the journey! To do so, get your wife and kids involved and get their help to build your business!” Last 6 years, I have been enjoying working with my wife making a lot of video productions. She is my great camera assistant and a skillful interviewer when we film interviews. We often travel far to shoot the videos and drive together hours and hours and talk a lot about the projects, dreams, and our kids. We are making videos, and at the same time, creating wonderful memories which we can share and enjoy the rest of our life. I especially recommend my entrepreneur starters to choose your wife as a staff or a partner so that you can enjoy your entrepreneur journey much more. And as a caution, I would like to tell them that, "Never lose your core values as your spiritual guardrails. We as LDS, our core values are very simple. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ. As long as we keep his teachings as our foremost core values, He will guide us thru in this journey."