Think with Witt

"Love the life you have while you create the life of your dreams"  - Hal Elrod What a nice sounding quote. I'll repeat it for you. "Love the life you have while you create the life of your dreams." It depicts the ideal situation and captures the ideal emotions: happiness, love, and meaningful. We often share similar quotes to our friends or acquaintances that are having a hard time but do we actually believe it ourselves. Is it possible to create the life of your dreams and love the journey? I did some research about Hal Elrod, who is credited for the quote, and was inspired by his story. Hal was on the verge of clinical death after having his heart stop for six minutes. He was hit by a car going 70 mph and doctors told him he would never walk again. Within 10 years, he not only walked again but ran an ultramarathon. Recently, he was diagnosed cancer-free after a year-long battle with an aggressive form of leukemia. Life is meant to be challenging. Ju...

Today was a beautiful day, aka it felt incredible to shred the gnar! Skiing is one of my passions. In high school, it was common for me to hit the slopes almost every Saturday with my buddies. Ever since I graduated high school and started college, it has been difficult to find time to go. Unfortunately, skiing has dropped on my list of priorities as time becomes more precious to me. Nevertheless, I try to go up at least a couple times each year.  January and February both have had major snow storms. I regularly check the snow forecast and see the powder day reports. I was itching to go. This week we received a winter storm warning and I knew it was time for me to hit the slopes. I checked with my roommate and our schedules finally matched so that we could go on Saturday.  We went to one of the highest peaks in the resort and instantly found some powder. Gradually, the mountain was getting skied out. We noticed an untouched patch of snow in the dista...

I had the opportunity to attend The Summit BYU Leadership Experience on Friday. It was an inspiring and insightful program. We heard from four, successful, BYU Alumni: Art Rascon, Carine Clark, Sean Reyes, and Liz Wiseman. I would like to briefly highlight their remarks and share some ideas that were meaningful to me. Art Rascon's challenged us to "be someone." Most importantly, he wanted us to understand who we are. Art said, "if we truly understand who we are, then we are someone -- we are children of God." He told us that our divine identity gives us meaning and enables us to "be someone." His last key point concerned our spirituality. He said, "the greatest leaders will always be the greatest followers of the direction of the spirit of God." Receiving revelation is essential to us being able to serve and lift our peers. Carine Clark encouraged us to "decide today." Small decision today can largely impact our future. She c...

In my business writing class, we discussed leadership and the qualities of successful leaders. Take a moment to think about someone in your life that you admire and want to emulate. Consider the following questions: How do they treat others? What impression do they leave with people? What characteristics do you admire in them? As I thought about these questions, certain answers came to mind.  First, I believe a good leader is both humble and confident. The person believes in his/herself and also in others. These leaders don't consider themselves better than others. David Ogilvy once said, "hire people smarter than you." Therein lies progress and success. Second, I believe good leaders choose to be happy and respond well to setbacks. They understand the people around them, and they know how to help those people succeed. Lastly, I believe great leaders leave the impression that they are reliable and trustworthy. They are responsible. These are just a...