Seven Habits

I recently completed reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. My mom recommend I read this book quite some time ago. However, at that time I’m not sure I was mature enough to understand the benefits. I think many of the items that Stephen Covey discusses will help keep me focused on what really matters. To do this I have started working on my own personal mission statement. Along with the personal benefits I’ll receive from this exercise, I think it will really help me write top-notch admission essay’s to business school. Yesterday I wrote down the first draft of a portion of the mission statement. I need to change the tense around, but it gets the point across.

I don’t want to be known as a stalwart. I want to be remembered as someone who was willing and able to grab onto the reins of change and yell, “HIT IT!”

aaron.berndt

Why is this so hard?

Gahh! Its been another month since my last post. I’m not sure why it’s so hard for me to write what I’m doing down and publish it on a more regular basis. I think I need to start blocking out time.

On top of keeping people informed with what I’m doing and thinking I am using this blog as an avenue for my continued communication development. Strong communication skills play such a vital role in every aspect of our lives. We do this through reading, writing and speaking (with listening being a large portion of that last one). I try to work on each of these throughout each week.

I joined a group called Toastmaster to develop my speaking skills. Toastmasters is a non-profit organization which basically functions as a speech class – club. I have only been attending for the last couple months and given one speech, but I truly believe that the Toastmasters program can change lives. It is a powerful learning/networking tool.

I already have leaned an incredible amount about technical writing through my positions at AA. However, I feel that writing about myself will help me on many different levels.
I already read quite a bit, so I have had that one covered for a while. I am planning on switching up the content a bit more to get exposure to many different types of literature.

aaron.berndt

· Things/Lessons I’ve Learned

Today I learned a few things about negotiating deals between two companies trying to build a good relationship. In general it's probably not the best idea to come into the negotiations with your guns ablazin. It is in your companies best interest to negotiate the best deal. However, it is also in your companies best interest not to have the other side of the table leaving the meeting feeling like they just got screwed. At a minimum it is worth the time to explain in detail why a specific outcome is required for the deal to move forward. Better yet, spend time hashing out ideas with the other company that will sweeten the pot and keep the relationship a positive one. If after deliberation a method to sweeten the deal cannot be found it shows that you at least made a whole hearted attempt and that maybe the next proposal will fall more equally.

aaron.berndt

Hawaii Repair Shop

· Things/Lessons I’ve Learned

Today I helped write my first Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), a contract which basically states the statement of work each company is going to complete. Fun Stuff.

· Any good that I have done

Yesterday I did two goods which I am pretty proud of.
1. Bought gifts for a toy drive at work. This is something my parents instilled in me. I chose a few super cool Star Wars figures.
2. I made a loan to a small business in Kenya, through www.kiva.org. I helped a guy buy a motorcycle to expand his taxi business. Check it out.

http://www.kiva.org/lender/aberndt

· Good things that have happened to me

I had a free lunch with a supplier. Free food is always good.

· Any new insights

During lunch my sales rep told us about his goal of opening up a helicopter repair shop in Hawaii. He had a plan and was starting his early steps to make it happen. I like it when people have big exciting goals, it makes life fun.


aaron.berndt

"Daily" Posts

Clearly I'm not writing and updating this blog enough to be of any use. In order to get my fingers moving more often I am going to try the following excersize and see how it goes. Each day I would like to record the following.

· Things/Lessons I've Learned
· Any good that I have done
· Good things that have happened to me.
· Any new insights
· Anything else that seems like it could be of importance

I might not have answers for each of these everyday, but taking note of them and writing them down seems like a good idea.

aaron.berndt

Hi Mom,

This is my website, called a web-blog or blog for short. It is basically an online journal of sorts. Since I’m not known for my extra long extremely descriptive telephone conversations I decided to try a slightly different technique for keeping my friends and family up to date with what is going on out here as well as putting in writing some of my other thoughts. You might need to have Andy over to explain how this type of thing works, but it is pretty straightforward. He could also set it up so that everytime I post something it gets emailed to you (that’s the advanced part). Also if you look on the right hand side you will see a link to all of my photo’s. That you can browse, print or get stuck in the scanner.

Love, Aaron

Technorati Profile

Technorati Profile

Aaron Berndt's New Blog .net

Hello. This is my crack at participating in the blogosphere. I’m still working on how to set all this up, so bare with me. I plan on using this space to keep friends and family up to date with what I am currently doing and as well as a place to put some of my thoughts into writing. Thanks for stopping buy.