Back Again

So things have been hectic because I'm finishing up this quarter at school. Not much has been going on besides work, school, hanging out with friends, playing soccer and basketball, playing halo and warcraft... pretty much everything I usually do.

One thing that is new though is an effort I am making to increase my patience levels. It may sound odd but in Bible study we've been talking about the fruit of the spirit and patience is part of that. I could probably use work on most of them but I've identified this one as one of the biggest issues for me. I have a tendency to let my impatience drive me to unacceptable levels of anger and frustration. Whether its playing sports, going to school, work, or driving on the roads I tend to get impatience with myself and others fairly easily. So at first I thought I should avoid the things that push my patience but then it occurred to me that I have an inner issue and avoiding things that draw it out does not repair that issue. So my intent is to acknowledge the things that typically push me over the edge and prepare myself to handle those situations. This means doing things like praying before certain activities, asking my friends to keep an eye on me, and when I do lose my patience I need to be aware of it and make ammends when necessary.

Not only do I think this will help me to live a life more like Christ, I think it will help me in other areas like being more joyful and showing more kindness to people. This doesn't mean that I need everyone to get on my back all the time but I would invite you guys to help me with prayer and keeping me accountable.

You might all want to take some time and read what the fruit of the spirit is and see if there are some aspects that you should work on. It definitely feels good to take a proactive approach to being more Christlike and I am sure it makes God happy as well.

See ya!

Small Town Kid

I was at a conference on Monday put on by Harvard Business school, and the Tech Coast Angels (an investment company that as invested like 100 million dollars in new business startups). Some of the content was really interesting and I got to watch a business pitch competition where potential businesses pitch their plans to the investors in an effort to get money.
At times during this conference I really felt out of my element, not so much that I didn't belong, but moreso that I didn't want to be involved with the people there and the type of business they were all in. Ultimately these people are looking to start or fund businesses that are going to operate on a national level and generally the criteria is that within 5 years the business will be reporting like 25 million dollars in revenue. Basically I felt like I really couldn't envision myself pitching my business ideas to these people and operating a business on that scale.
I started thinking about why and I basically concluded that I am a small town person. I grew up in Boulder Creek California and lived there for 18 years. Boulder Creek has maybe 5,000 people living there but you'd never see half of them because their houses are hidden off in the forest. There is one main road that runs through town and there is not a single stoplight there (we had one once but everyone complained so they took it down). There's one elementary school, no high school, the only fast food place is an old old Foster's Freeze. The grocery store is a little place called Johnny's Super. All this to say that I am from a tiny town that is surrounded by other tiny town's, outside the tiny city of Santa Cruz. When I moved to Riverside I felt like I was moving to a huge city, but when I tell people that they all seem to think I'm a little bit crazy, (LA and San Diego are big cities, Riverside is apparently a small city by comparison).
All this to say it is really quite reasonable that I would be used to a small town feel which doesn't breed thoughts of doing business all over the country and even around the world.
This would explain my firm set beliefs in customer service and personalized service in business. I come from a place where you know people that live in your town and where small service oriented businesses are all there is. While being rooted in this may effect my ability to be wealthy I would rather be in a business I enjoy and am proud of than in one that gets me 5 million dollars in private funding from the Tech Coast Angels.

I'm not sure if all this makes sense, I was kind of rambling but hopefully a point about me was conveyed.

I forgot the Jesus Part

Ok so here's the part about Jesus and customer service. Jesus's life was based on doing something out of love for people. He had no other motive than a love for us to come to earth and die on the cross. Similarly the way he treated people was rooted in a love for them. Even in dealing with people he probably got frustrated with like the pharisees (angry customers) he didn't lash out and kill them all, he was firm and truthful with them and sometimes he had to tell it how it was, but he loved them all the time. So I like to think that if Jesus were running a business he would treat all of his customers with love regardless of how much money they were spending or if they were spending any money at all. He said that the second greatest command is to love our neighbor as our self. If that were the basis for customer service things would be significantly different. Doing business with people would be a chance to not only supply them with products and services they need or want, but it would also be an opportunity to show them that you care about them how Jesus wants you to. Unfortunately this is basically a Christian principle so it is hard to expect it of a non-christian business world. But I am still convinced that serving customers out of love is the absolute best way to run a business.

Hope everyone's doing well, I'll probably have another post up by the end of the week, I've had something on my mind that I'd like to share with everyone.