SAL is Attractive

Lina M. Jensen, PMP

Do you have a desire to be an attractive person both inside and out? If so, then SELF-ACTION LEADERSHIP is something to be seriously sought out, studied, and applied.

Why?

Because self-action leaders are committed to the principles and practices that lead themselves to become ATTRACTIVE in a variety of ways. 

To illustrate this phenomenon, I would like to share some relevant bits and pieces from the life story of one of the greatest self-action leaders I have ever had the privilege and pleasure of knowing; namely, my wife, Lina Marie Jensen.

Obviously, I am biased on what is, for me, the Subject of subjects! I openly acknowledge this glaring partiality. Lina is, after all, the most attractive person in the entire world to me; and not merely because I admire and respect her self-confidence, fun personality, and gorgeous physical appearance. But in a much larger sense, Lina is a self-action leader in every area of her life; and that makes her incredibly beautiful on the inside as well. Thus, I think enough factual and objective data exists on Lina's resume to highlight her as an exemplary self-action leader in this article—regardless of my personal predilections in her favor.  

Little Lina with four of her eventual five siblings.

Lina has always been a natural self-action leader. To quote her mother, Vaylene Tucker: "Lina pretty much raised herself." Such a comment modestly belies the extraordinary woman that Lina's mother was and is; but it also speaks volumes about the nature of her daughter's innate and developed personality, character, capacity, and intelligence—all of which were and are enormously attractive to me.   

Lina grew up the third of six children in a middle-class home in Homestead, Florida, one of the last communities one passes through before entering the Florida Keys. As one of three older siblings, she spent a great deal of time and energy caring for and otherwise helping to raise her three younger siblings. These experiences—and others like them—led her to become unusually mature for her age. There are reasons, after all, that I didn't meet her until I was 27. Simply stated, it took a 27-year-old Jordan Jensen to be sufficiently mature and worthy of the interest and affection of a much younger, but equally (if not more) mature 19-year old Lina Tucker.  

Lina's Senior picture and Salutatorian Award

As a teenager, Lina excelled academically, partly because she was very smart and partly because she worked very hard and was an ambitious, competitive, disciplined, and focused student. Her efforts paid off, earning her near-perfect college entrance exam scores, a better-than-perfect GPA (thanks to academically weighted courses), the honor of Salutatorian (2nd overall) of her graduating class, and full-tuition scholarships to Brigham Young University and the University of Florida—both of which she turned down to enroll instead at the prestigious Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)—a Top 5 school—as an engineering student.

Lina's college planner, in which
she charted a daily course for success.

I'm so glad she made this particular life decision the way that she did because I did not reside in Provo or Gainesville in 2006; I was in Atlanta!   

I met Lina at the beginning of her sophomore year at Georgia Tech. I originally had no connections to Georgia Tech, but we were members of the same church and met each other at a church-hosted party one Saturday evening in September in the northeastern suburbs of Atlanta.

One of the things that immediately attracted me to Lina was her intellectual capacity, academic prowess, and remarkable work ethic. I also loved her fun-loving, happy, and cheerful personality. But even more attractive than all of that was the circumspection of her character and the genuine goodness of her heart. Lina is a woman of wonderful integrity who always treats others with kindness and respect. She has always been one of the sincerest and most thoughtful human beings I have ever had the privilege of knowing.

Lina ascending the indoor rock wall
Atlanta, GA area; 2007

The size of her heart was illuminated for me most saliently during one of the brief periods of our 12-month courtship during which we had temporarily "broken up." The occasion was an ice skating party with church friends. Unlike some girls, who may have been apt to rush off into the arms of other boys to show off or make me feel jealous on the heels of our break-up, Lina did the exact opposite: she sought out other girls to befriend—girls who were less popular and largely ignored by the boys. There she was, in the midst of her own grief over our break-up, striving to lift others up. Observing kind, thoughtful, and selfless actions like that made me fall even deeper in love with Lina and I soon found myself yearning more earnestly than ever to get back together and never, ever, ever say or do anything that might jeopardize my chances with this angel of a woman.  

And then there was the day I got to watch Lina ascend an indoor rock-climbing wall...

One Saturday afternoon during our courtship in Atlanta, we joined some friends from our church at an indoor rock-climbing facility. I'll never forget Lina's ascent up that rock-wall face. After climbing most of the way to the top with relative ease, Lina's arms and legs began to ache with exhaustion as she neared the top. After struggling for several seconds, it was apparent she was having difficulty completing the final section of her journey. 

A very skinny JJ, prior to his "Dr. Days"
Admiring his future Bride persist
until she succeeds.

There would have been no social shame had she simply quit where she was, descended the wall, and called it a day. After all, she had given it a genuine effort, making it almost to the top in the process. 

However, it quickly became evident to me—and everyone else on the ground who was watching her—that almost achieving a goal was not good enough for Lina, even for a goal as relatively unimportant as making it to the top of an indoor rock wall. Consequently, she had no intention of giving up—no matter how long it took her to make it to the top.  

Rather than quit and slide easily back down, Lina rested a while and then tried again... and again... and again... and again... and again to summit the last few feet of that wall. Yet time-after-time, she continued to fail. But no matter how tired she felt, or how many times she fell short in realizing her objective, or how shaky her arms and legs became, she absolutely refused to give up her quest of making it to the top of that wall.

As I stood there at the bottom of the wall in awe at her determination and resolve, it became increasingly evident that she simply was not going to quit until she made it to the top—no matter how difficult it might be or how long it might take.

After several minutes of failure near the top of the wall—and several minutes is a very long time when you are hanging against a vertical wall trying to make it the last few feet to the top—Lina rested again for what seemed like a considerable amount of time before giving it one more go. With every ounce of strength she could possibly muster, she stretched and clamored upward until finally—FINALLY—she conquered the wall. Able to now rest atop the obstacle that had proven so difficult a challenge for her to surmount, she smiled widely and triumphantly down at me and our friends who had been watching and cheering her on throughout her ordeal.  

Lina and I a-courtin' in Georgia in 2007
near the time of Lina's rock wall climb

There were many moments throughout our courtship where it became obvious that if I could only convince Lina to marry me, then this gal was unquestionably a "KEEPER." Among the more prominent of these moments was that afternoon at the indoor rock-climbing facility. After observing her dogged determination and unrelenting pursuit of a relatively unimportant goal, I realized that Lina was the kind of person that I could always rely on to persist and never give up on important goals and other vital objectives that mattered most in life. Moreover, I realized that if she committed to me, she would never give up on us—just like she refused to give up on the rock wall that memorable day back in 2007.  

Can there be anything or anyone more attractive than that?  

Lina is now 35 years old. In adulthood, she has continued to practice the same SAL habits that brought her happiness, success, and inner peace throughout her youth and young adulthood. Such hard work and focus helped her graduate with a degree in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech, earn her PMP (Project Management Professional) certificate, and work for two Fortune 500 Companies in three different states and one province of Canada over the past 14 years. She presently works for NextEra Energy in South Florida as a Director in charge of solar projects in Missouri and Kentucky.

Lina's bachelor's degree
in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech

Lina's professional work is often challenging and stressful. There are great expectations to meet, difficult people to deal with, and unending obstacles that pop up and challenge her determination and resolve—just like that rock wall. But as self-action leaders are wont to do, Lina continually finds a way to navigate each new challenge with poise, panache, and persistence despite the difficulties. And the results are the same as that day on the indoor rock wall; eventually she finds a way to conquer whatever obstacles lie in her path as she gradually wends her way to the top—no matter how many attempts (or how much time and effort) it might take to get there.  

In addition to her career advancement and success, Lina has given birth to our three children. She also serves faithfully in our local church—wherever she may be called. And while she is no more a perfect wife and mother than I am a perfect husband and father, I count myself incredibly blessed to be Lina's man, and my kids are ineffably fortunate to call her "Mama."  

Speaking of imperfections... Lina and I are both far from being perfect, either as individuals or a couple. One of the things I am most grateful about Lina is that she is aware of her shortcomings and strives to work on them. This involves being a good listener and demonstrating patience and tolerance with my weaknesses and inadequacies, of which I have many. Nevertheless, by consistently investing our imperfect best efforts into our lives, careers, and marriage, we have ultimately enjoyed lives, careers, and a marriage that is mostly positive, productive, and rewarding—certainly good enough to keep working at diligently for the rest of our lives and beyond—and continually enjoying along the way.   

Lina with our three children in the LaSal
Mountains in Grand County, Utah; summer 2022

As I have done many times in the past, I pay sincere and heartfelt tribute to Lina. She is an AMAZING woman, a wonderful wife and mother, and a remarkable example of Self-Action Leadership in all of its finest qualities. Indeed, I find it incredibly inspiring to wend and work my way though life side-by-side a self-action leader as attractive—both inside and out—as Lina is.  

I likewise pay tribute to the many other steller self-action leaders all over the world who are similarly attractive because of their attitude, character, integrity, perspective, and vision. While such extraordinary persons may sometimes seem to be the exception rather than the rule amidst humanity's thronging and ever-increasing crowds of men and women, boys and girls, it doesn't have to be that way. Nay... all of us are free to make choices each day of our lives, and every day we are faced with new choices in our lives and careers and relationships—the consequences of which will either lead us upward toward Existential Growth or downward toward existential atrophy. 

What choices are YOU making TODAY and what direction are you headed tomorrow as a result? Put another way: what "Rock Walls" are you currently climbing and how committed are YOU to reaching the top, come what may?"  

I invite you to ponder these questions and then invest in a change or two that will begin to increase your own ATTRACTIVENESS in coming days, weeks, months, and years.    

—Dr. JJ

March 1, 2023

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA

Author's Note: This is the 310th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 136th consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.   

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