5 Things Serena Williams Taught Me

Serena Williams: On the Line

I just finished reading Serena Williams’ autobiography “On The Line” and I was pleasantly surprised by the business lessons that I learned from her book.  I mean, her book is meant to be an autobiography chronicling her life and the role tennis played in it. It’s a very quick and comfortable read due to the conversational quality that it maintains throughout the book.  Serena is very honest about her faults, failures and motivation to be the best tennis player, and as she matured, best person that she can possibly be.  And from her life lessons she’s taught me a few things too.

1. The importance of having a plan. A real plan. One that you write down and hold yourself accountable. I tend to have fly by the seat of my pants. I have a running list in my head of what I want to accomplish, but let’s face it, between the demands of motherhood, being a wife and working from home, my memory isn’t always up for the challenge. So I plan on going to Wal-Mart this Monday and write down my goals — long-term, short-term and daily.  Serena’s dad had them compile a strategy list (for life, not just tennis) every evening in their journal, something that I plan on following with my own children.
2. The importance of self-talk. Throughout Serena’s book she shares with us the self-talk that she used while at tennis matches. She writes her own self-talk on post-its that she sometimes sticks to her racquet. One example of her self-talk follows:“… It all happens now!!! Release and go. U don’t have to hit every ball hard. Just relax & focus. U don’t have to be perfect. Just be strong and brave …” — Quote taken from “On The Line”
   
   

   Regardless of how much external support we may have in our lives, if we don’t focus our attention on what we want to accomplish and encourage ourselves it will all be for nothing. People who do well in business have to have a healthy ego if they’re going to survive the ups and downs that life throws us. So take a minute and think about why you’re “The Best” and pat yourself on the back.

3. “You don’t drown by falling into the water. You drown by letting yourself stay there.” Serena’s dad has some interesting and valid insights about life and business.  Sometimes as small business owners when we hit a wall (as I did earlier this year) it is so tempting to feel sorry ourselves and stop doing the things that we need to do to fix our situations. We use the economy as an excuse or whatever is  else is our particular challenge to stop striving. But as Mr. Williams stated, you’ll only drown if you don’t try to save yourself. So don’t ever stop reaching for your goal. I know I won’t.
4. Change it up! This a title in her book that I think definitely applies in my life. I’ve been working on a gabillion transcripts — proofreading, styling, typing, etc. for the past two weeks. So I finally got to the point of being unproductive. I didn’t want to listen to anymore transcripts. I was getting annoyed at the “silly” errors I kept finding and just working myself up into a funk.  But that truly wasn’t the problem. The problem was that I was pushing myself to get everything done so that I can do what I want. But in the process I ended up taking longer to finish what I could have flown through with a better attitude. So, I’ve changed it up. I’m proofreading from paper rather than the screen and I’m giving myself play breaks in-between sessions. How do you change up your routine to avoid burnout?
5. Always be charitable. While on a trip to Africa, Serena decided to make donation to the children of Africa through a program called “Build African School”. She decided to donate her money overseas because she her money would get more accomplished there than it would in the United States because things are much cheaper than here. During these challenging economic times we sometimes pull back from sharing what we have with others because of our perception of lack. But really, even when we feel we’re drowning in bills would sending that $10/mo. or $25/mo. stand between us and survival. And in most cases, the answer is “no”. So one of my goals is to select a charity to donate to on a regular basis.

So, although I really can care less about tennis, Serena’s story was an interesting and valuable read for my downtime from doing all of these transcripts.  If you get a chance you should check it out.

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The Puritan Gift — A Must Read

As I’m writing this I realize that the best way for me to review The Puritan Gift: Triumph, Collapse and Revival of an American Dream accurately would be for me to do a review by grouping chapters together and discussing them.  There is just so much information in this book that to try to contain it’s wisdom and insight would be unjust. So, this post will just contain my overall impression of the book.

I first heard about this book while driving to NYC with my family. In the winter, our local college broadcasts BBC radio programs, and boy am I ever glad. The BBC show HardTalk was interviewing the author, William Hopper about his book, The Puritan Gift — Triumph, Collapse and Revival of an American Dream.

I guess the thing that really intrigued me was Mr. Hopper’s simple explanations about what made  America the dominant economic power in the past.  And how we ended up in the economic mess that we are in today. I have always felt that part of America’s problems was due to the asinine belief that “experts” actually possessed understanding and discernment about how the economic world actually works.

One of the things that I’ve learned through reading this book is that the problems that we are facing are not new or unique.  Actually, the first attempts of colonization by the Europeans, specifically England, was run with the same incompetence and arrogance that we see demonstrated by many of the CEOs and other “leaders of industry”.

One example that stands out in my mind involves the doomed Jamestown landing. The “nobility” (i.e., experts, CEOs and CFOs of the 1600s) wanted to go to America and set up a colony.  So, they chartered boats for the journey. The crew and experienced seaman told these “geniuses” that the best time to sail would be during the winter months.  The nobility refused to begin their journey then because the Atlantic Ocean is rough during that time of the year, and they could/would not be inconvenienced.

The sailors tried to persuade them that this was a bad move, but they were ignored and ridiculed because they lacked nobility (i.e., MBAs and money). So, the poor sailors were forced to take these yahoos across the Atlantic during the serene summer months.  The bigwigs drank, ate and had a jolly voyage.  “Wow! What a good idea this was. Isn’t it wonderful?”

And yes, the trip was wonderful. Unfortunately for the “nobility” who had never dirtied their hands or done a hard day’s work in their privileged lives, sailing in the summer means arriving in the WINTER.  And you can’t grow foood in the WINTER. And since you have no knowledge of the landscape, you can’t pick a good place to come ashore in the WINTER. And so, the CEOs, CFOs and other “nobleman” starved to death. Their “noble” upbringing was no match for actually having useful skills and experience.  My sympathies lie with the sailors who were conscripted to bring the idiots over.

Anyway, the first successful colonization of America was achieved by a common work ethic, the understanding that everyone (including the “owner”) that agreed to the voyage would have to carry their own work. Everyone started at the bottom, learned their trades and transitioned to more responsibilities as their abilities grew.  And the main focus was not on self, but on the greater good of the community …

This book is a must read for every American. As a homeschooler, I have been discussing some of the simpler information with my young children. It is never to young to realize that cooperation will get you further than a life solely centered on personal ambition and wants.  I am also a small business owner and this book has helped me to understand the importance of setting up systems as well as reaching out to others to improve my products and theirs.

Click here for the HardTalk transcript of their interview with William Hopper. And for those of you who like videos, you can click here.

I hope you find it as edifying as I have.

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The Pitfalls and Possibilities of Working from Home

I’ve been working from home for over six years so I think I have a bit of experience when it comes to this subject – the ups and downs of educating and working under one roof. But I recently read a Wee-book entitled “The Pitfalls and Possibilities of Being a Work-at-Home Mom” that has really helped me to refocus on my own purpose of working from home. And the author, Carol Topp, was able to do all of this in just seven pages – excellent for homeschoolers who have lots of young ones running around. J

• The point that really jumped out at me was the need for a simple business plan.
  When I started working from home I didn’t take the time to setup a business plan, and that really caused me to stumble/bumble along for a long while. Although I knew what I was good at what services I wanted to offer, I didn’t sit down and crunch the numbers, and amount of energy that it would take to be profitable. I’ve finally gotten a handle on it, but reading the simple steps that it takes to setup a good working business plan really made me see how silly I was to just forge ahead blind.

• Another point that Carol prompted me to rethink was about my time management.
  Lately I’ve been feeling out of control in that department, but her simple (and realistic) suggestions has me rewriting the schooling/work plan. I have been in danger of burning myself out by trying to do “everything”, but now I realize that I need to set true “work hours”, turn on that answering machine and do what is truly important for me and my family. Her tips for getting the family onboard with my new schedule are also a godsend. So, this week will be one of reorganization and more communication with “my team” so that we can get start hitting more of our goals and having more fun.

For those people who are contemplating joining the party, Carol’s balanced and practical advice is a good place to start before you make a decision one way or the other. Her explanation on the difference between work-at-home jobs and home-based businesses is dead on. I speak to many people who are totally confused on that subject. The distinction is an important one and she handles it masterfully. She also gives great examples of advertisements that anyone searching for legitimate work-at-home or work-from-home jobs should memorize. A lot of direct sales and network marketing distributors are using places like HotJobs and Monster to advertise their business opportunity. Unfortunately, many distributors do not place their ads under the proper classifications and this can be very confusing for those not in the know.

So, if you’re thinking of starting your own business or are looking for employers who want work-at-home employees, I highly recommend picking this Wee-book at The Old Schoolhouse. You won’t be sorry.

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Elizabeth Haydon Rocks!

While in the children’s section of the library my eye fell upon a book entitled “The Dragon’s Lair (The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme)” As I am a fantasy reader and was looking for something light to enjoy I picked it up for myself … and fell in love. The book is set up as a restoration of archeological records and they tell the story of Ven Polypheme as he goes through his life as an explorer, adventurer, and journalist for the High King.

As has been my misfortune of late, I began the series at the end – “The Dragon’s Lair” is actually Book 3 in this series. The other two books are “The Thief Queen’s Daughter (The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme)“– Book 2 — and “The Floating Island (The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme)” – Book 1. Because I do have younger children I checked to see if audiobooks had been created for the series, but not as of today.

The story itself is fast-paced, sometimes funny, sometimes scary, but always interesting. I’m sure that boys (even boys who aren’t really sure if books are cool or not) will enjoy the series. The scary parts aren’t too scary for the little ones and the moral ambiguities of life are intriguing enough for older children to ponder without steam pouring from their ears. But what I like most about these books is that she includes a curriculum in the back of each one. She covers composition, art, cartography and other subjects in a fun manner, using her characters to take the sting out of “school work”.

Here’s one example of her Reader’s Guide:

“II. Gated Cities and Penal Colonies – B. What is a penal colony and why would a government want to use one? Look up some examples and read about them. Then draw a vertical line down a sheet of paper and make two columns, one for good and one for bad results. List why you think the penal colony system was a good idea on the left, and a bad one on the right. Then decide overall whether you would have used a penal colony if you were a king long ago.” – The Thief Queen’s Daughter, p. 315

In her book “The Dragon’s Lair” she includes art projects as well as science and other cross-curricular activities. I think that this would be a great addition to the homeschooling community library since she does such a good job of making the reader think and apply the story to the world that we live in today.

My daughter, Jade is going to read the book once she finishes with her latest omnibus so I’ll be sure to share her 8 (almost 9) year old point of view too! And be on the lookout for Book 4 coming soon!

Now, back to Percy Jackson … but that’s another post!

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