Conference

I have two favorite weekends every year. The first weekend in April and the first weekend in October. These are what we call Conference Weekend in my Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We have the opportunity to listen to the prophet of the Lord, as well as the Apostles He has called, and a number of the general leadership, both men and women, throughout the five – two hour sessions. There are 3 session on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. When I was a child, I didn’t always watch the Saturday sessions, and when my kids were younger we often allowed school activities and things to interfere with our Saturday watching. Fortunately, all of the talks are available on the Church website, usually within 4 or 5 days of the conferences. If you would like to read any of them, you can do so here. As I have gotten older though, I really like to listen to all of them. They bring peace to our home, guidance, and comfort, as well as much needed instruction in these crazy times we live in. My kids haven’t always enjoyed watching all the sessions, but the comment this year was, “Wow, this went by way too fast!” They enjoyed it as much as we did. So today, I will share several of my favorite quotes, and then one in particular that I really enjoyed the talk, as it’s something that resonates with me and is one of the things I wrote about in my first book.

These were some of my favorite quotes, but the one that struck me in particular was the last one on the right. There were a couple of similar talks, but I’m pretty sure it was Elder Dunn’s talk (I’ll find out in 4 or 5 days!) He talked about the British cycling team, and how they went from being the worst in the world to the best. It didn’t happen over night, and they continue to work on improving. But it did happen through consistent, incremental changes to every aspect of what they were doing. Not just equipment, or how they rode, but diet, how their time was spent, training, gear, everything was looked at and changed in it’s time. I would encourage you to go read the talk when it becomes available later this week.

We too have that same opportunity to change in our lives. We don’t have to make monumental changes. Those types of changes cannot always be sustained. But through consistently work on 1% changes in our lives, we can make huge changes in who we are, what we are, and where we are going over time. Amazingly, it doesn’t take as much time as we think it will, but often we have the perception that it will take a lifetime so we don’t even try. Don’t do that! Have the courage to make small change, because it is in fact, by small means that great things actually happen. If you haven’t read my book, you can check it out in the link above, and be watching for my second book, “Gratitude: Becoming a Happier You” to become available on my website this week. This book covers one of those small changes you can make in your life that will make a monumental difference in the very near future.

What kind of changes do you want to see in your life? What kind of small change can you start making today to achieve that change? I would love to hear your thoughts.