I Pulled an MBA All-Nighter!

10/17/13

I am done with my stupid mini-flu. Boy, that really took a lot out of me; made me weak as a kitten and brought me low. I went from Powerful McPowerfulson to zero energy, zero stamina. When you or I or anyone is sick, it's easy to get down mentally as well as physically and I have to be honest in saying that I did get down psychologically. I did realize, however, it would pass and when I recovered, I would have to rebuild to the level of power and stamina that I held for most of the summer.

During my business financial management class from mid-October to mid-November, I routinely pulled all-nighters on assignments because late at night and in the wee hours of the morning was the only time I could get into deep, focus, concentration mode which I would need to figure out complex financial formulas and have an understanding of how aspects of finance functioned.

All-nighters are not fun, but sometimes they are necessary to get the job done. I am highly motivated in regards to getting my Master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) because it is going to be a big step in my career and my ticket to an even better life. What if I mess up in a class and fail or get a crumby grade? I can always retake a class if I need to. It IS a setback, but not the end of the world. Life isn't perfect and most people don't always get the grades they want. So many people seem to have an all or nothing mentality; but much of life doesn't work like that. Sometimes you have to keep chipping at a project with, at times, imperfect progress.

Please, readers: do not give up when you encounter great adversity, but on the other side of that coin, do not persist when your efforts are evidently futile. You may need to find a different way in doing something. If you know that you are intended to do a certain thing, yet you are sailing towards a storm on your way to do it; then sail right through the storm and accomplish that thing you are bound, set and intended to do. Be indomitable. When you are hit hard by the storms and trials of life and don't take the easy way out, you will come out the better for it. Your character will be built stronger for it.

And when you find that sweet, sweet solace when all is at peace, there is nothing important to do and you can relax; take the opportunity to rest on your laurels just briefly before going on to slay the next giant. If you stay lying on one spot for too long, you create an indentation or rut, rather and it make get you stuck in life. That is why I tell you to not rest on your laurels for too long. Keep learning, keep being driven, find new territory to conquer, but stop once in a while to rest.

Thank you all for reading my blog article today and I pray it inspires or helps you somehow. I hope you find peace and wisdom this Christmas season; remember, God owns peace and wisdom and He will give freely to those who truly seek him.

Any Questions?

I'm About Done Being Sick

Hello readers! I'm back again! My body is ridding itself of the last bits of the bad cold virus that hit me in late September and I'm looking forward to feeling better again. It seems like quite a while since I've written something productive on this blog and it's about time I get back to writing on a more regular basis again. I must say, however, my life is full. I have a newborn son in the house, two energetic young boys, a wife, a demanding career and a graduate business education to work on, too!

Right now I'm taking BA 533, Financial Management and so far it has been intriguing. It will be a great journey in learning about business financial management and will help me understand finances at the graduate level.

I have two interns at work and it makes me be on top of my game because I want to show them how to be the best case manager possible. They enjoy interning under me and are learning a lot. I will miss them when they graduate/complete the course.

I am a very busy man, so stay tuned for my next round of blogging as I start to feel better.

Down Sick

I apologize to my blog readers that I have been out sick and limiting my activities. Rest assured, I will be back again in no time.

Best Regards,
James A. Majors

Back to the MBA

In little more than a week, I will be laboring away on my MBA degree once again. I took a nice long break for summer, but to further my goals and those of my family, it is a degree that I must complete. I am now trying to get myself back in the mindset of writing paper after paper and doing hours of research.

I had originally wanted to get a M.A. in Counseling, but somewhere in my field experience, I decided I didn't want to work with mental disorders or fix broken relationships; I wanted to get into the positive end of psychology and find out how to human motivation works in order to help people accomplish their goals, thereby allowing that person to realize some degree of life optimization. I am going for the Masters degree in Business Administration because a manager or executive/leader has much to do with setting goals, motivating others and casting a successful vision for the future.

I am completing my MBA degree at Corban University, which is a school I have always wanted to attend and for this degree, there is a huge amount of writing required. The majority of the graduate work I have done this far has required far more writing than anything else. For my undergraduate psychology degree at Liberty University there was an even amount of being tested on the facts and doing writing assignments. For graduate work, the professors want to make sure you understand the material in a deeper way by promoting your own theories in writing and using applicable research from scholarly sources to back it up.

Squeezing college back into an already full life will be a challenge. It may involve staying up until early hours of the morning working studiously on research papers like I have done in the past. It's not easy being a full time case manager, husband, father and graduate student, but it can be done!


Do any of you have any harrowing college tales to share? What is the most difficult thing you've had to do in the name of education? Share your story in the comments :-)

Some Neat Microsoft Excel Tricks, September 2013

I am a fan of Microsoft Excel and believe it can be used to do some pretty cool stuff. Today I will show you five shortcuts on MS Excel 2010 for your benefit and life optimization. I'm not an expert at Excel, but I have some training and lots of experience using it. You can use it in college and in your career, or for anything else you would possibly need a spreadsheet for.

Without further ado, here are my five shortcuts for today:

1. Repeat the last performed action in Excel: Press F4

This shortcut comes in handy when you need to format several lines the same way, but you need each line to be its own entity, still. I use this often when merging cells.

 

Only do the merge procedure manually once, then push F4 for the additional, separate lines you want merged.

 After merging the above lines, simply push the F4 button on the keyboard and it will merge the selected cells without pushing any additional buttons.

2. Create an Outline around a Selected Area of the Spread Sheet: Hold CTRL SHIFT 7.

Press and Hold CTRL SHIFT 7 and Voila! 

You have an outline around the area you selected!

3. Select All Cells in the Spreadsheet: Hold CTRL A

After Pressing CTRL A, Your Spreadsheet Should Look Something Like What is Above. From here, You Can Format the Entire Spreadsheet the Way You Want it!

In my demonstration above, I am formatting the entire spreadsheet to be Times New Roman and 12 Point Font

 4. To Make All Numbers in Selected Cells to Be Shown as Currency: Press and Hold CTRL SHIFT 4.

You can turn this...

Into This....

In Barely a Blink of the Eye

5. Insert the Date in a Cell Instantly: CTRL ;

Yes, you read that correctly, hold the CTRL button and the semicolon button and you get the date in the selected cell:

 

Before: 

 

Press CTRL ;

And There You Have It, The Date in the Cell you selected faster than you can say "Bob's Your Uncle."

I hope you enjoyed these five Microsoft Excel Tricks I Put Together For Your Today!

On Leadership, September 2013

Here I am as a Sergeant in the U.S. Marines shortly before my 8 1/2 year mark. Sergeant is the second noncommissioned officer rank in the Marines and signifies a position of leadership and authority among Marines.

There are a lot of views floating around out there about leadership. Some of them are correct views, and some seem to be a little misguided. The Marine Corps has volumes of literature about its official views on leadership and part of my beliefs about leadership come from my time in the U.S. Marines. My views have also been shaped by my Christian beliefs, education and experience. Here, I will make a list of some of the top traits I think a good leader should have:

1. To Be Able to Predict the Future

No, I'm not talking about dabbling in the occult. What I'm speaking about is a leader's ability to forecast what will happen if he or she deploys their manpower and/or resources in a certain manner. In other words, if I do A & B; then C will occur. If I offer a retention bonus and longevity pay to my software engineers, it will prevent them from jumping ship to Technosoft when it starts offering stock options to engineers in December. If I motivate my Marines by offering opportunities to advance their careers, they will enthusiastically work 14 hour days for me to complete the mission. In order to be able to predict the future as a leader, you must know the capabilities of both the resources at your disposal and the personnel who follow you.

2. Caring About the Well-being of Subordinates

If you sincerely care about your employees, they will care about doing a good job for you. It may not mean a lot to the leader that a lead worker's son has a baseball championship game during a heavy workday, but since it means a lot to the lead worker, the manager [leader] should care about letting the lead worker have that day off. It might require some sacrifice, but it might be better for the company in the long-run  if that lead worker gets the day off to see his son's baseball team win the championship. I espouse the view, to a certain extent, that a leader is a servant. The leader should ask themselves "How can I make the job easier/more rewarding/less stressful for my personnel?" An effective leader should have a symbiotic relationship with their subordinates: they take care of their subordinates and their subordinates take care of them. An exceptionally skilled leader will foster a feeling of the unit/corporation being a family where everyone takes care of one another in a concerted effort to accomplish them mission in a way that everyone benefits.

3. Lead by Example, Lead From the Front!

"Don't ask your subordinates to do anything you wouldn't do" seems to be one of the pillars of being a leader. Personnel tend to get fed up with a leader who doesn't want to share in the sacrifices, but who still wants to reap all of the reward. If you want your workers to put in a long, exhausting shift, it would be in your best interest to be working right alongside them for the duration of the shift. Show some zeal and enthusiasm while rolling up your sleeves and working with the persons under your employ. Don't cast the stereotype of the fat cat executive with a putting green in their corner office who leaves work early and lets their employees shoulder the load. If you ask your employees to take a cut in pay, you better be taking the biggest cut. In a military unit, if you want your troops to be in top physical condition, you should be one of the top performers and leading runs from the front. As a Corporal in Iraq, I was put in charge of leading several Marines in cleaning the head (restroom) in one of the wings of the barracks. When we were in there working, I was in there with the Marines scrubbing the urinals and directing what needed to be cleaned and in which order. It seemed like I got more respect for doing that, rather than just standing there with my arms crossed barking out orders.

4. Be Motivated and Stay Positive

"Well, you guys have been doing a terrible job and we're at the bottom of every product review and we'll probably stay there unless you guys magically become better employees," is something that a lousy leader would say to their employees. Instead at the monthly all employee meeting, the leader should say something like this: "The reviews are out and we have a lot of opportunity for improvement. I know you guys are capable of getting us to #1, and this is my plan to get us there: ....
Don't air your dirty laundry to your employees; don't ask them to take on your burdens. Save that for a close friend, consultant or mentor. In front of your employees, you want to be the guy or gal with the plan who has boundless energy and enthusiasm to confidently and surely lead the company to a better place. Be positive about the direction the company is headed and motivated to make it even better. Invite your employees to take ownership of your company's mission and create an understanding that the fates of them and the company are entwined: if the company does well, then they do well also.

5. Magnify Praise, Minimize the Negative

When a subordinate or group of subordinates do well, make sure every employee in the corporation knows about it. Announce it at the all employee meeting and be specific as to why those particular employees are being praised/rewarded. [It will give the other employees and employee sections to know what to aspire to]. If feasible, give the employee and their department a bonus, some time off, a discount coupon or fancy certificate; something to show your (and the company's) gratitude for a job well done. This tends to spur employees in the direction of further accomplishment and endearing the company (and you) to the employees.
Make expectations clear and if an employee is failing to maintain minimum standards, pull them aside and gently set them in the right direction. This is the wrong way to set the employee in the right direction: "%$#@! Shari, you can't seem to do anything right! You better learn how to do the accounting for the inventory profits and do it real quick before your butt gets canned!" Instead the leader might want to try something like this to correct an employee: "Shari, I appreciate the effort you put in on a daily basis. You wanna know how you can shine even more? Ask Tom to help you with the inventory profit software. He's an expert at it and I'm sure you'll be one in no time at all under his tutelage."
In the first, incorrect example, the leader had nothing good to say to the employee. In fact, it was completely negative. Instead of hearing anything constructive, the employee probably just heard "I don't like you, you're a worthless piece of garbage. I don't want you to work here." In the second example, the leader affirms the employee by telling her how much he appreciates her and that they have confidence she can do even better. That's true leadership.

Thanks for tuning in to this article on leadership.

Me in late 2005 as the MAG-16 Assistant Duty Noncommissioned Officer, Corporal, USMC

How Do You Explain Personal Drive?

I'm sure we all know that one person who seems ridiculously tenacious and has an extraordinary amount of motivation? These people often refuse to accept defeat and keep trying until their energy is totally spent or they prevail. When they succeed, people usually agree that this person very much deserves the success due to their hard work and determination. How do you explain the drive that propel these people towards their goals?

I think it has a lot to do with the way these driven people see themselves and how they believe others see them. It also may have something to do with the way they were raised. Out of these factors, I believe the way driven people see themselves is the most powerful in learning about what makes them tick.



If a person sees themselves as capable, powerful, intelligent, stalwart and steadfast then it follows they will be more driven. Often these people adopt the trait of being a hard worker and go-getter into their personal identity and it does something to them that leaves observers looking on in admiration: a driven person who does not give up without a fight.

On the other end of the spectrum, people who see themselves as unable, weak, lacking and easily overwhelmed will tend to give up without giving it much of a try. These are the people who walk during a time when they should run and their faces aren't even red. They felt a little burn and windedness so they gave up and started walking. They don't like to feel 'uncomfortable.'

These same 'weak' people don't adapt to change well, either, while the driven and more motivated people are more open and ready for change. I would like to draw upon the wisdom of Drs. Tim Clinton and George Ohlschlager and point out that change in and of itself should not be the goal because human beings are fallible and can direct change towards evil or ineffectual ends. However, change in life is inevitable and being a driven person who adapts well to change is preferable to being someone who goes through change painfully and pitifully.

Being driven and motivated enables a person to be ready and more available for effective, positive change that will carry them higher. At this point, I want to ask you a couple of questions:

1. Who do you see yourself as?

2. When you look in the mirror, do you see a determined winner looking back or a deflated wiener

 

3. Who do you want to be?

Be honest when you take an inventory of yourself, but stay positive and remember that you can always change negative traits to positive ones. One saying I always keep in mind when I contemplate self improvement is:

"The difference between try and triumph is just a little 'umph'."

I want to encourage you to see yourself as someone who can succeed and one who has an indomitable personal drive. This is one of the only instances where the expression "Seeing is believing" definitely applies. Don't give yourself the option of failure. See yourself succeeding.


 Don't push it too far to where it becomes stubbornness where you're running into a brick wall repeatedly. Remember that brick wall in I Can and I Will? Improvise and adapt in ever-changing circumstances. If one route doesn't work, don't get fixated on that route that doesn't work, find the one that does work. Let the attempts that don't work roll off you like water off a duck's back.

If you find undesirable traits in your self-inventory, change them. Don't make excuses. Weak people are full of excuses as to why they can't. Driven people tell their success stories and help others to succeed. I ask again, who do you want to be?

The Chill Has Landed, A Change of Season is Imminent

This morning when I was getting ready for work, I noticed it was significantly chillier than it had been recently. Autumn is just a few days away, but this morning it felt as if it were already here. A slight wave of sadness overcame me for just an instant as I realized the summer had all but ended, because I love Oregon summers. I frequently have to remind myself to enjoy every season as it comes. During autumn, there is almost a magical feeling to the misty mornings. I absolutely LOVE it when fog rolls along the hills of an Oregon autumnal morning. I get out in the morning, breathing the chilled air deeply and giving thanks for the beautiful day before starting my routine.

Autumn is the season of pumpkins, the first frost, harvest, Halloween, Thanksgiving, soccer and school starting. I shouldn't be sad that summer is ending, but thankful that seasons change and I can enjoy each season during its time. What season do you like best? Are you thankful for each season as it comes?



Just like the calendar or temperate seasons there are seasons in life. You may have romantic feelings for a person for but a season. You may have a good friend that you meet with often for a season of life, and then one of you moves away or you just grow apart. Grade school, middle school and high school are all seasons of life; to be enjoyed during their times and reminisced upon after those seasons come to a close. Parenthood is also a season of life. Sometimes, we parents wish our kids would just hurry and grow past their difficult stages. All too soon, it seems, they grow up before our very eyes. A quote often attributed to Dr. Seuss puts it succinctly: "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."

Young love alights with swift wings and soars far into the sky, but often ends quickly with the season

My problem has usually been my rush to get through each season to the next bigger and better thing. As I have become older (and hopefully wiser) I realize time seems to go by more quickly the older I get and how important it is to savor each season. Savor it like you would a culinary masterpiece or the smell of a wonderfully fragrant flower. There are sorrows and joys that come with every season. Some people are held back from moving to better things because they don't want a season they love to come to an end. Do you know anyone like this? Maybe you are a person that does this.

Many people, when they remember the past, seem to idealize it. They often forget the difficulties during that time and long to go back. The present usually seems the most difficult because it is happening here and now. Rejoice in the difficulty and triumph in spite of it. Soon you will come to idealize this season of life. Even the most difficult of seasons will have its sweetest moments.

Sweet moments are like chocolates. It's a little sweet to brighten your day

I strongly encourage you to enjoy each season as it comes. If you have an ailing parent or grandparent, treat every moment with them as a priceless treasure. If your children are acting like wild animals, smile and remind yourself that these sweet young ones will soon be grown and you will miss their outrageous antics. Love people fiercely, because you will not have them forever. People you care about pass in and out of your life as like the passing seasons.

Enjoy life as it comes at you. Don't hang onto a season too long and don't wish the season to fast forward. Don't wait to be your best or save what you need to get done for another season. Be your best today! Your time on earth is limited, so relish every season. Thank you for reading. See you next time.

Let's Go Ahead and Redistribute the Wealth...

Or how about not. It may seem like an equitable and fair thing to do; redistributing all the wealth, but if you really give the subject an honest look, you would probably [if you bear any intelligence] conclude it is a silly idea.

Have you ever met someone that came into a great deal of money and just blew it right away on a car, cocaine, a crazy vacation in Vegas, doting on a love interest or any other number of ways to waste their fortuitous windfall? A couple of years or even a couple of months later you run into the same person and either the car is crashed, they ended up in jail and lost the rest of the money, they're broke, they owe the IRS, their love interest left when the money ran out, on and on and on it goes. In essence, and what I'm getting at, is that person did not have sufficient character to use that money to improve their lives and make wise choices with the abundance of resources that suddenly fell into their lap. Have you ever heard the old idiom "A fool and his money are soon parted?" Does my scenario remind you of this saying? All the time we see on television people who had won the lottery and it literally ruined their lives. They had no idea how to handle that much money and lacked either the character or the judgment on how to use their new-found wealth. As you can see, throwing rich people's money at everyone else will not solve the problem of poverty or anything else, for that manner.

What about all these young movie stars that suddenly become multimillionaires and A-List socialites seemingly overnight? Many of them lack the development in character, maturity and wisdom to handle the incredible wealth and accolades that come hurdling at them at breakneck speed. We see them get into drugs, taking their clothes off for the public to see, getting in trouble with the law, saying stupid things on television and a whole bunch of other bizarre and/or unwise things. Most end up piddling away their fortunes and wasting their lives.




I believe fortunes are best won through hard work, ingenuity, creativity and through developing one's ideas through learning. Even quickly-made fortunes can be a good thing if the recipient has the character to handle it. A wise pastor once said in a sermon that the possession of money magnifies a person's character and lifestyle. I have found this to be true.

The Bible tells us in Proverbs 21:20 "There is desirable treasure, And oil in the dwelling of the wise, But a foolish man squanders it." -New King James Version of the Bible, 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.
It's an exceeding blunder to let an unwise person have control over resources because they will waste them. It is better instead, to help that person gain knowledge and understanding and to assist them in building character. Go to the source of the problem, which is a lack of character and wisdom, instead of throwing money at a person who will only waste it.

I know of an educated prediction which I have been exposed to in many places, most recently in church, which states that if the wealth were to be redistributed right now, in a surprisingly short amount of time it would largely end up back in the hands of the wealthy. This seems to reinforce what I am saying in this blog article; that redistribution of wealth is a silly idea and would result in more people being hurt than helped.

Why hate the rich? Jealousy is not a desirable attribute, but we now disguise it by calling it income equality blah blah blah. If you want to be wealthy and successful, pay your dues: come up with an idea no one has yet introduced, get educated, pay attention in school, don't break the law, work hard and don't have kids before you're married. In many cases, the problem is not a lack of wealth, it's a lack of character that is the problem; the character that drives people to make their own income and pave their own way to success. It is this type of character that often gives a person the ability and judgment to use their money wisely, to save for the future and help others with their resources, also. We don't need wealth redistribution, we need character and wisdom attribution. According to what I learned in my graduate economics class, wealth is created whenever one resource is converted to a high-level use. So in taking the money from those better prepared to handle it and giving it to people who are ill-prepared to handle it, we are actually destroying wealth. What are your thoughts on wealth redistribution?