The Magnificent Ms. Marie

Marie Pinschmidt in her lovely home
in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

As promised, this week's blog post features Ms. Marie Pinschmidt—wife, mother, musician, business professional, painter, writer, neighbor, friend, and my unofficial Florida Godmother!

It is with great joy and enthusiasm that I share Ms. Marie's life and career story with you today. 

Part of my passion in doing so stems from the deep respect, admiration, and love I have for my dear friend; and part of it stems from the fact that her life and career have been so thoroughly marked by Self-Action Leadership practices at nearly every turn.

As you read about her adventurous, accomplished, and fascinating story below, see if you can pick out the elements of SAL principles and practices yourself... and then thoughtfully consider how you might allow Marie's truly stellar SAL example to positively influence and productively inform your own life and career.   

A sampling of some of Marie's many beautiful paintings

Marie Bush was born in 1928 in Southeastern Ohio, where she grew up one of seven children with four brothers and two sisters. Interestingly enough, I also grew up one of seven children with exactly four brothers and two sisters! This familial factoid is just one of many life experiences and interests that I share with my wonderful friend.

After graduating from high school, Marie got her first job at a medical clinic working as an "elevator girl" (an errand runner). But she didn't stay there long because she soon received a promotion to assistant receptionist. After just one month, she was promoted again, this time to secretary and stenographer, a position that required her to learn medical shorthand and terminology.

One of Marie's many masterpieces.

After working at the clinic for four years the office manager got married and vacated her position, and you can probably guess who the doctors chose to take her place! As the Office Manager, Marie took over many general duties including payroll and bookkeeping—back in the days before computers. 

She served as an office manager for a dozen years before being promoted again, this time to General Manager of the entire 10-doctor, multi-specialty group clinic, a position she would hold until a very special event in her life would take her in a new and exciting direction.  

During her ascent up the career ladder in a medical clinic, people would sometimes ask Marie: "When are you going to grab one of those doctors to marry?" But Marie never had any desire to marry a doctor. They were too busy and married to their careers. 

The elegant Marie and dapper Norm made a very handsome
couple capable of capturing the attention of an entire room
whenever they were together.  

But that was before she met and fell in love with Dr. Norman Pinschmidt—an ophthalmologist in the group. In her own words, "I did not want to marry a doctor; but Norm changed my mind!"

Thus began a beautiful love story that would endure for nearly four decades prior to Norm's passing.  

Marie and Norm were married in Southeast Ohio in 1961. They adopted two children—a son and a daughter—in their first few years of marriage.  

In 1965, Norm joined the prestigious Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans and later became a full Professor of Ophthalmology at Tulane University Medical School. It was in these favorable and prosperous circumstances in New Orleans that the Pinschmidts would live and work for the next 11 years.

More of Marie's many finished works of art.

But, as is often the case in our mortal journeys, life throws us "curve balls" that inevitably interrupt the peace and/or prosperity that we work so hard to obtain and sustain. In 1977, life threw an especially painful sinker the Pinschmidts way when Norm had a heart attack and subsequent stroke that affected his field of vision, forced his retirement, and forever changed their lives.

The next quarter century was markedly different than the first 16 years of their marriage as Marie spent the better part of her life and time looking after Norm and the children as caregiver and parent. She details this difficult, but meaningful part of her and Norm's life together in a memoir entitled, Life Interrupted: When the Doctor Becomes the Patient. 

Click HERE to visit Marie's website and buy Marie's Memoir: Life Interrupted.  

A life-size portrait of Norm, painted by
Marie, hangs in her home office.

In 1978, a year after Norm's forced retirement, the Pinschmidts moved to Gainesville, Florida, where they lived for five years. In 1983 they moved to Savannah, Georgia where they lived for several more years before relocating to North Carolina. Then, in 1998, they moved to Palm Beach Gardens, where Marie presently resides. 

Despite the challenges of caregiving in Norm's later years, Marie's love never waned, nor did it waver. To the contrary, her love actually grew deeper as they continued their unique love story in an effort to care for one another through difficult times.

Then, in 2000, Norm passed away from a rare disease called PSP (progressive supranuclear palsy). Marie never remarried, and keeps a lifesize portrait of Norm, which she painted herself, close by as she carefully guards her true love's memory deep in her heart.

Theirs was a rich and authentic love story that Marie speaks of tenderly and unapologetically. She further credits her progress as a painter and writer to Norm's loving encouragement. After all, he was the one who urged her to pursue painting lessons upon hearing Marie express interest in pursuing her talents in the field. That encouragement and support would last the rest of their lives together—and on up to the present day—as Marie continued (and continues) to blossom as an artist and author. 

In illustrating this loving support, Marie explained that it was hard to learn how to paint at first and she often considered quitting. She said one day she came home from a lesson in tears, but Norm always encouraged her to keep going. 

Pinschmidt first began taking painting lessons when she was in her mid-thirties; and she has painted ever since! She initially studied extensively under the tutelage of Cuban artist, Leopoldo Giraudy, who had served as the personal artist of Fulgencio Batista, former President of Cuba prior to the Castro Regime forcing its way into power in 1952. During her time with Giraudy, she focused on portrait painting and techniques of the Old Masters. In addition to being instructed by Giraudy, Marie further studied Modern Art Theory at the University of New Orleans and attended several portrait seminars by John Howard Sanden, an instructor at the Arts Students League in New York City.

To date, Pinschmidt's prolific and ongoing output includes scores, if not hundreds, of different paintings—many of which she has sold privately, or through public art galleries.

A cherished painting Lina and I bought from Marie, which now graces the

wall in our upstairs hallway. This piece was inspired by an article and photo

about the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, published in the late 1990s.

My wife Lina and I like Marie's work so much that we recently purchased two (2) of her paintings for our own home: one for the upstairs, and one for the downstairs! These two glorious works of art now grace our home in a lovely way and add much to the overall ambiance we are aiming to create in our private living space. Every time I walk past either painting, I feel my spirit uplifted by the majestic scenes crafted with such skill, craftsmanship, and love by our dear friend.

In time, this student of art became a teacher as well. Over the years Marie has taken on a number of students as individuals or in groups. In fact, at 94, she recently took my seven-year-old daughter—who loves art—on as a new student, much to the joy of Kara, and much to the gratitude of Lina and me.     

Marie's six (6) published books

Her adventures as a writer started much later than her career as a painter. But age has never prevented or impeded Marie from making the most of her golden years. In fact, she has published six (6) books to date—all of which were written after the age of 70!

And her range as an author is impressive: she has published both fiction (novels), non-fiction prose, poetry, and memoir.  

Her journey as an author began much the same way as her career as a painter—with Norm's blessing and cheerleading in conjunction with seeking out formal instruction. In the late 1990s she enrolled in a two-year writing course in fiction and non-fiction. The course was entitled "Breaking into Print" and was taught by Karen O'Connor, a famous author with the Long Ridge Writer's Group in Connecticut. 

As was the case with her painting, Marie affectionately credits Norm's encouragement in helping her to also become accomplished as a writer. During her formal studies, she would read her assignments (including poetry) to Norm who would tear up and say: "That's beautiful." 

After passing the correspondence course, she began writing for magazines, including The Writer, The Artist, and Country Magazine. For the past 15 years, she has been a featured columnist in the PGA National Community Association Newspaper (PGA CAN).

Art books in Marie's personal library

In addition to Norm's encouragement, Marie also credits hard work, determination, consistence, and persistence to her progress as an artist and writer. When reviewing her body of work, it is obvious she has invested many thousands of hours into becoming the accomplished painter and writer she is today. And her shelves full of art books evince her passion for reading and studying in a never-ending quest to learn and improve.

Serendipity has also played its hand over the years in her overall education. For instance, one day she was in Barnes & Noble bookstore when she happily—and seemingly coincidentally—came across a book entitled, The Artist Way, by Julia Cameron—a famous writer and artist. According to Pinschmidt, reading Cameron's book helped her a lot in her creative journey. 

Click HERE to buy The Artist Way by Julia Cameron.

There is no question in my mind that such seeming coincidences occur, and are the purview of serendipity and/or Providence, or, as artists and writers often say: "The Muse."

I've experienced this metaphysical phenomenon countless times in my own journey as a writer and thinker. Indeed, on many occasions just the right resource has seemingly fallen right into my hands at just the right moment to help me start, finish, or further tie together a poem, chapter, section, article, or element of the SAL Theory or SAL Model.

Two more of Marie Pinschmidt's masterpieces

Dr. Stephen R. Covey had a similar experience while wandering through a university library in Hawaii one day back in 1979 during his time away from home on an academic sabbatical. The book that seemed to magically fall into his lap on that occasion contained a nugget of wisdom that served as a trigger-point to the development and composition of his magnum opus: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Covey published the 7 Habits ten years later in 1989. Since then, that one book has sold nearly 20 million copies, become one of the most influential books of the late twentieth and early 21st centuries, and directly influenced the development of the SAL Theory and SAL Model.

It has been more than two decades now since Marie lost her beloved Norm, but she has not let her loss or grief slow her down or stifle her output and joy as an artist and painter. At 94, she continues to live a vibrant life full of productivity, contribution, service, and love. And every month I look forward to reading her new column in our neighborhood newspaper, PGA CAN.    

If you are interested in perusing Marie's art or reading one of her books, you can visit her website at MariePinschmidt.net. 

Note: Her website is currently having some technical issues and is undergoing some work, so you'll want to check back soon for improvements and upgrades.  

If you would like to reach out to Marie with a specific inquiry about her work, you may email her at mariepin001@comcast.net

Oh, and one more thing...

In enumerating Marie's many accomplishments as a painter and writer, I almost forgot to mention another of her many talents—MUSIC!  At this point, it probably won't surprise you to learn that Ms. Pinschmidt also plays the piano beautifully—even at age 94.  

Click HERE to watch a video of Marie playing the piano for me during our interview last month, a few weeks after her 94th birthday.      

 

—Dr. JJ

November 23, 2022

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA

Author's Note: This is the 293rd Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 122nd consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.   

Click HERE for a compete listing of the other 292 FF Blog Articles.  

.........................

Tune in NEXT Wednesday for another article on a Self-Action Leadership related topic.  

And if you liked this blog post, please share it with your family, friends, colleagues, and students—and encourage them to sign up to receive future articles for FREE every Wednesday.

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Click HERE to learn more about Freedom Focused

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Click HERE to buy the SAL Textbooks

Freedom Focused and FLORIDA Forever

The Jensen Family the day we crossed the State Line
en route to our new home in South Florida.

Well, my friends, Freedom Focused and the Jensen Family have made it to the 1-year mark in our new headquarters in Palm Beach County, Florida.

It has been a WONDERFUL year!

Anyone well acquainted with me knows how much I love the glorious Sunshine State of FLORIDA.

#FLORIDAFOREVER

How incredibly blessed I was back in 2006 to meet one of Florida's finest females with whom I forthwith fell in love... and how much more fortunate I was that Lina somehow, someway managed to fall in love with me... although it understandably took a little longer on her end of things than it did on mine.

Today's post tells the backstory of Freedom Focused's nearly 20-year journey, including how our organization ended up in the best state in the Union (our unbiased opinion), and why Lina and I hope to remain here FOREVER... or at least as long as we serve as the leaders of Freedom Focused.

The story below includes some fascinating details about how God, Nature, Instincts, The Universe, Coincidence, Luck—whatever you choose to call the Serendipity that seems so intricately involved in our lives and careers—planted the seeds of my love of Florida a dozen (12) years before I first crossed the Florida State line, and a full 30 years before I finally relocated to the Sunshine State.

Life is fascinating that way!   

Instead of starting at the beginning and going forward, let's begin at the present and travel backwards in time as follows...  

Before moving to Florida last year in March 2021, we spent just shy of a year in the American Southwest on a unique, 10-month adventure in New Mexico.

Our time in the State of New Mexico—also known as the Land of Enchantment—proved to be a special, unique, and truly adventurous slice of our life. New Mexico is a beautiful state full of wondrous natural variety. From camping in the mountains and hiking in the desert to swimming in lakes and tubing down a river, our family actively took advantage of the opportunity we had to experience something new, fresh, and exciting in a place we had never before lived. And just for the record... Carlsbad Caverns is INCREDIBLE. If it is not on your bucket list, I highly recommend you add it thereto. 

My two oldest kids at play at White Sands National Park
near Alamogordo, New Mexico

In the words of a much-admired Uncle of mine—who lived in New Mexico with his family for a decade...

"New Mexico builds Character!" 

Uncle Steve is right... and his words are especially accurate if you spend time there during a global pandemic. This is true in part because the constraints of a pandemic motivate you to spend even more time in the wondrous outdoors than you otherwise might. Considering we were there for less than a year, it's actually rather remarkable how much of the state—the fifth largest in the U.S.—my family and I saw either walking, hiking, running, biking, tubing, swimming, or driving. 

Character Fortified!

          Mission Accomplished! 

Statue of Sam Houston near Huntsville—
Everything really is bigger in TEXAS!

Prior to moving to Carlsbad, New Mexico, Freedom Focused was headquartered in Conroe (Houston), Texas for nearly a decade. Our time in Texas was very special and important in large part because it was in the Lone Star State that all three of our precious children were born.

There's a saying in Texas employed by emigrants like us and it goes like this:

"I wasn't born here,

but I got here as quick as I could!" 

That's precisely the way I felt about our move to Texas, and I feel the same way about Florida.

In our eyes, Texas is as special as it is BIG, and we will always consider ourselves to be adopted sons and daughters of the largest and proudest state in the Lower 48. You know that citizens are proud of their State when they have their own pledge of allegiance. 

That's right... Texas has its own pledge of allegiance, separate from the United State's pledge. It is something I became quite familiar with because I taught ninth grade English at a high school in Houston during the 2009-2010 school year and students were required to recite it each day after the National Pledge.

I love saying the U.S. pledge of allegiance. Getting to say the Texas pledge in conjunction with the national pledge was a huge honor for a proud Texan and avid Texas Army battle re-enactor like me. Thus, getting to say BOTH pledges of allegiance was one of my favorite parts of each school day. As such, is won't surprise you to hear that one of my life and career goals is to incorporate the same tradition here in Florida... down the road a ways. 

Honor the Florida Flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Florida, one State, under God, one and indivisible. 

You guessed it: it's the Texas pledge—verbatim—with just one word changed!

I don't currently have close connections to the Florida Governor or State Legislature. But someday, when I do, I'm gonna get the ball rolling on that initiative. I imagine that by 2030 or so, Florida students will be following the good example of their Texan brothers and sisters by repeating the Florida State pledge of allegiance each school day following the United States' pledge. Just like early citizens of the United States, it is a good, positive, and productive thing to have pride in one's state as well as one's nation. The only difference today is that we believe national loyalty should ultimately trump state loyalty, not the other way around.

Why?

It's pretty basic, really... because the only way to avoid another round of succession and/or a second civil war is for a majority of the citizenry to put the country's welfare first and their state's welfare second—always within a framework of the national interest. Don't get the wrong idea... Freedom Focused is crazy happy—and very proud—about being located in the Great Sunshine State of Florida—just like we were thrilled to have once been part of the Great State of Texas! We are also very proud of our Southern roots and relish the opportunity to be a Southern Company located in the South. But most of all, we are proud to be an American company. It is, after all, the United States Constitution that serves as a principled template for our own Corporate Constitution.  

At Freedom Focused, we believe that the order of one's patriotic priorities matters. 

God Bless the USA!!!!!

     God Bless the South!!!!

              God Bless FLORIDA!!!

                God Bless Palm Beach County!!  

                     God Bless Palm Beach Gardens!

We refer to this prioritized patriotic practice as the Patriotism Principle.

Newfoundland: One of North America's most beautiful and
best-kept secrets, where Lina and I did a lot of hiking.

To learn more about the PATRIOTISM PRINCIPLE, click HERE. 

We invite citizens everywhere to similarly practice patriotism in this prioritized pattern—no matter what country or state in which you happen to live.

Prior to moving to Texas and starting our family, Lina and I spent a couple of adventurous and magical years in St. Johns, Newfoundland, CANADA. Our move to "The Rock," as locals call their island home, was a result of a work transfer of Lina's. For me, the move provided an academic sabbatical giving me time to work on my doctoral degree in Education. It was in Newfoundland that I began writing my doctoral dissertation—which is where I further developed the Self-Action Leadership Theory, Model, and Philosophy.

Newfoundland is one of the more remote areas of the Western Hemisphere and is essentially the "Ireland of North America." Like Ireland, it is an island gem boasting some of the most picturesque coastal vistas in the world.

Our time in "The ATL" was a wonderful adventure in romance.

Before Newfoundland, we lived in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Peach State was an especially important part of Lina's and my journey because it is where we met, dated, and decided to marry. At our wedding reception, we danced to "Georgia on My Mind." That song will always be a symbol of the special and romantic memories we created together in the Peach State—memories we will forever cherish.

Prior to Georgia, Lina resided in South Florida (Homestead) where she grew up and lived until she graduated from high school.

Before moving to Georgia, I lived in Northern Utah, where I attended college and received my bachelor's degree in English from Utah Valley University in 2003. Freedom Focused was officially founded (and formally incorporated) a couple years later in 2005—in Pleasant Grove, Utah.

I was born in Monticello, Utah, in 1979. When I was seven years old, my family moved to Mesa, Arizona, where I lived for the next seven years, until 1993. It was in Mesa that the seeds of my love for FLORIDA were first planted. Part of my growing fascination with the Sunshine State was spawned by my interest in College Football. Aside from my fascination with national powerhouse programs of the 1980s and 90s such as the Miami Hurricanes, Florida State Seminoles, and Florida Gators, I was further enamored by the annual Orange Bowl played each January in Miami. 

My 5th Grade Chapter Book Cover

Then, in fifth grade, something particularly portentous occurred. 

My fifth grade teacher—Mrs. Bridget Owens—assigned my classmates and I to write a "Chapter Book" consisting of an original story of our own concoction. With the limited experiences and perspectives of a fifth grader, I predictably gleaned a plot from my limited frame of reference.

I have four older brothers whom I all but worshipped growing up. They are between 8-12 years my senior and were all very good and kind to me—making them more like guardian angels or mentoring uncles than brothers. 

Two of my brothers, nine-years my senior, were twins. As a little boy, I often wished I had been born a twin myself, and would sometimes imagine one of my best friends from my elementary school years—Eric Driggs—as my twin brother. Drawing from this conflation of reality and daydreaming, I decided to write a story about twin brothers who decided to play a trick on their teachers and classmates by switching classes. The story chronicles the adventures and consequences that ensued from their petty deception.

From Chapter 1: The Lesson of Two Twins. Copyright 1991

I entitled my story: The Lesson of Two Twins. For the setting, I chose:

Drumroll...   

          West Palm Beach, FLORIDA! 

                    Why West Palm Beach?  

                              Good Question!

I had never been to the State of Florida, much less to the city of West Palm Beach. I knew nothing about West Palm Beach—other than my reasonable assumption that it was near a beach, which painted lovely pictures in my childlike imagination. I did not have any family members, friends, or any other acquaintance in West Palm Beach, or in any of Florida for that matter. I don't even remember where I first heard the words: "West Palm Beach," although it was most likely from reading or watching television, because none of my family or friends had any connections to this locale. 

Publication Date                &                    Dedication

Nonetheless, there was something about the words WEST... PALM... BEACH that were absolutely enchanting to me, leading me to believe that such a place—thousands of miles away from the Arizona desert where I lived—surely must be the coolest and most glorious place in all of America, if not the world.

A South Florida East Coast Beach near West Palm

Little did I know as a fifth grader at Hermosa Vista Elementary School in Mesa, Arizona—in 1991—that 17 years later, I would find myself in West Palm Beach teaching a professional seminar—and floating relaxedly on my back in the glorious aqua-blue waters of the majestic Atlantic Ocean. Nor did I have any idea that I would someday marry a woman who grew up just two hours south of West Palm Beach. Lastly, I was completely unaware that 30 years in the future, my family and I would relocate to South Florida where we would buy a home just blocks away from the north municipal border of West Palm Beach—and that I would raise my children in the shadows of this city. 

Talk about a very long-held DREAM come majestically TRUE!  

Dreams can come TRUE
through SAL and Serendipity

Dreams really can—and do—come true. I am a living witness of this fact and reality in both my life and career. Not only am I married to a woman better than the woman of my dreams and living in the precise location I most want to live, but I am getting to raise my kids as a stay-at-home Dad while pursuing my dream career one-blog-post-at-a-time.

Could a man be any more blessed than I am? 

I do not mention these things to impress you or to brag about how great my life is... although my life really is FANTASTIC. I mention it merely to impress upon you the power that Self-Action Leadership—synergized with Serendipity—has wielded in my life and career over long periods of time.

Indeed, I can say with perfect integrity that over the course of my 42 years in this world, SAL and SERENDIPITY have never failed me. Sometimes they have made me wait an awful long time and suffer a great deal before granting me my reward in full, but make no mistake: S&S always comes through eventually... as long as I endure with the proper mixture of persistence and patience.  

In short, I am who—and where—I am (and with whom) because of Self-Action Leadership and Serendipity. It really is that SIMPLE—not to be confused with easy. 

There is enormous POWER in these two elements and forces of life, the first of which (SAL) YOU and I have an enormous degree of control and influence over. If YOU will but take advantage of the personal power you have been given in your life through SAL, I know that everyone can potentially have a WONDERFUL LIFE—regardless of the adversity, challenges, and difficulty that may come their way due to the obviously imperfect and mortal world in which we now reside.

Everyone faces difficulties in their lives. Everyone experiences PAIN and FAILURE and REJECTION. That is inevitable. But it does not mean that any of us is consigned to an unending misery over which we have no control. Thus, as the famous saying goes: Pain is inevitable, but misery is optional.

Pain is INEVITABLE, but misery is optional.

I know from countless first-hand experiences that this statement is true. As I have amply chronicled in previous blog posts, articles, and books, I have suffered my share (if not much more than my share) of pain, suffering, disappointment, failure, rejection, disillusionment, physical sickness, and mental illness in my life and career. But as a self-action leader, I know that I also possess the power to transcend it all through SAL and Serendipity—if only I will. 

And I have... and I WILL continue to do so until my dying day—and beyond!  

          The question is... will YOU?  

      

—Dr. JJ

March 16, 2022

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA

Author's Note: This is the 256th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013. 

Click HERE for a compete listing of the other 255 FF Blog Articles.  

.........................

Tune in NEXT Wednesday for another article on a Self-Action Leadership related topic.  

And if you liked this blog post, please share it with your family, friends, colleagues, and students—and encourage them to sign up to receive future articles for FREE every Wednesday.

To sign up, please email freedomfocused@gmail.com and say SUBSCRIBE, or just YES, and we will ensure you receive a link to each new blog article every Wednesday.  

Click HERE to learn more about Freedom Focused

Click HERE to learn more about Dr. Jordan Jensen

Click HERE to buy the SAL Textbooks

The Wonderful World of Books

Part of my new office library in Florida

"The [person] who will not read is no better than the [person] who cannot read."

— Mark Twain 

I have always LOVED books.

It is, therefore, with an unusual sense of gratification and pleasure that I pen today's post from my brand new desk in my new home office where I am nearly completely surrounded by the beautiful sight of my personal library.  

My family and I recently fulfilled a long-held dream of ours to relocate to South Florida. Moving is an exciting time in one's life; it can also be stressful. My experiences with moving have been unusually many and varied—even by our highly mobile twenty-first century standards.

To wit, I am only 41 years old, yet have moved 45 times to 42 different addresses in two countries, five different time zones, seven different states, and two provinces of Canada. 

It's been exciting... and exhausting! 

Suffice it to say, with a little luck, we won't be moving again anytime soon. And with a little more luck, the balance of our lives will not include many more moves.

It is upon reflection of these past experiences that I sit here at my computer in my new Palm Beach Gardens home office and take a literal and figurative sigh of relief to think that we are finally settled at least semi-permanently. And it is with a sense of joy and pleasure that I do so in my newly arranged personal library. After all, one of my favorite things to do every time we move is to rearrange my BELOVED BOOKS.  

Next to the sight of my beautiful wife and children and the picturesque aqua-blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Florida, there are few sights on Earth as pleasurable and soul-satisfying as a vista of literary volumes—especially if said tomes represent my favorite genres of history, philosophy, theology, poetry, and leadership.

My love of books goes back to before I could even read.

As a six-year-old, I recall the day my neighbor—a gal named Emily Anderson—stopped by our house with her mother, Suzanne. Emily was a "Big First-Grader" and knew how to read; I was still in kindergarten and had not yet learned. Deeply attracted to her budding competency, I invited Emily into my personal office (playhouse under the stairs), handed her some paperwork I had retrieved from my Dad's office trash, and asked earnestly and hopefully if she would do me the honor of reading to me. She obliged; and I was both impressed and entranced by such skill.

How I yearned to follow in her footsteps!

With my Mama, as a First Grader

Soon thereafter, my family moved—one of my first moves in life—and I began first grade, which is where I learned how to read. I wasn't very good at first. My instruction at home had not included explicit details on phonics and my kindergarten experience had focused on pre-reading activities. In addition, I was an August birthday and on the oldest end of my class. As such, I was seven years old before I formally learned how to read. But I was motivated, so it didn't take long for me to get rolling. Part of my drive can be credited with the fact that I initially tested into the "middle" or average of three reading groups in my class. My best friend—Eric Driggs—tested into the top or above average group and I wasn't about to be left behind. It wasn't long before I advanced into Eric's group. 

Despite my slow start to formal reading, I was blessed to have been born into a family that loved books as much as I did. My maternal grandfather (1899-1964)—a professor of speech and drama and one of the top-flight oral readers in the United States in his time—built a personal library of thousands of books over the course of his life and career. And while he died 14 years before I was born, his books stayed behind in my grandmother's home where I was able to discover, relish, devour, borrow, and eventually annex some of them into my own library. In addition to Grandmother Smith's sizable personal library, my father—a career English teacher—also owned an impressive number of books for a middle-class man of the 1980s. Consequently, my childhood home—and in time, my own bedroom—was filled with books.

Copying trigonometry equations
from my older brothers' math
textbook as a first grader in
sunny Mesa, Arizona

Many of my choicest childhood hours were spent in blissful solitude surrounded by wonderful stacks of books in my grandmother's home, my own home, or any other library (public or private) I could find. And the beauty of it all was that no one ever pressured me to like or read books; I freely discovered the passion all on my own by the simple fact and virtue that piles of books were made readily available to me by my parents and grandparents. It is, in part, for this very reason that I have now accumulated a one-thousand book personal library of my own—because I want to provide the same opportunity to my own children.

Perhaps avid readers of the Freedom Focused blog have asked themselves: How does Jordan keep coming up with different topics to write about week-after-week-after-week? Well, now you have an answer. When you have traveled as much and read as widely as I have, the well is deep and the memories are thick and rich!

And the cool part is that there is nothing inherently special about me; but everything is special about BOOKS! As such, there is nothing stopping you from diving in more deeply and widely yourself... beginning TODAY! Perhaps reading this article will inspire you to do a little more reading in your own personal and professional life.

I highly recommend it!  

Of the one thousand books I currently own, there is one that is dedicated in particular to this subject. I found it as a young boy scanning the shelves of my Grandmother Smith's home library in Centerville, Utah.

The book is called The Wonderful World of Books, edited by Alfred Stefferud. On its front cover, it reads: This book can change your life and the lives of those around you. With its help you can win greater success and happiness, benefit from the treasuries of the world's wisdom and knowledge, explore fascinating realms of adventure and entertainment and make valued new friends... all through the magic of reading. 

This book of short essays incorporates the wisdom of nearly seventy (70) different authors who expound upon why books can be among our greatest friends, provide us with enormous personal and professional pleasure, help us become better people and citizens, and learn to read more effectively. It is a wonderful reminder of the diamond mine of information contained in the world's greatest books. I do hope that introducing this unique book's title and contents might spur your own thinking about how you might further tap into the riches available to you through the written word. 

Too many people, upon completing their formal education, stop reading seriously. And in the age of the Internet, too many people spend most of their reading time online consuming virtual print that has little authentic educational value and does not edify the mind or uplift the heart or soul.

This is sad.

          It is also preventable.

Hyrum W. Smith
Co-Founder of FranklinCovey
Originator of the Franklin Day Planner
1943-2019

My late uncle, Hyrum W. Smith, co-founded FranklinCovey with Dr. Stephen R. Covey. A few years ago, I interviewed my Uncle Hyrum for an entrepreneurship textbook project I was working on. The final question I asked in the interview was: "What advice would you give to young college students interested in becoming entrepreneurs?" Assuming his answer would have something to do with motivation, hard work, persistence, or handling rejection, his answer surprised me.

He said:

When I was just a boy, my father had me memorize a statement that said, "You cannot think any deeper than your vocabulary will allow you to think." If you really examine anyone who has been authentically successful as an entrepreneur—or in any other field—you will discover they have a large vocabulary. As I reflect back over my career, I attribute much of my success to a love of the English language and my commitment to read deeply and widely, and to study speech and language. Anyone who wants to be successful in this world has got to read books, and lots of them. This requires a willingness to set aside electronic devices, social media, video games, and other distractions, and the discipline to stick to the task of reading—even when it seems boring. In order to learn independently of others and expand your vocabulary, you must pay the price to spend time with good books, including the dictionary. There is no other way. The size of your vocabulary will, to a large extent, determine how much success you enjoy—or don't enjoy—in your life. 

        —Hyrum W. Smith

Suffice it to say, I have learned the spot-on truth of my uncle's words throughout my own life and career, and they ring ever truer as the years go by. 

My college "Vocabulary Journal"

When I was in college, one of the most important work tasks I ever undertook (by far) was to diligently keep a vocabulary journal. 

When I would come across a word I didn't know in a textbook or elsewhere, I would write it down in my vocabulary journal. I would then look up the word in the dictionary and copy down the definition and other relevant information about the word. Sometimes I would also include a "practice sentence" using the word in my own way.  

This particular task was NOT an official assignment. It was simply something I knew in my own mind and heart would be a very smart thing to do. And you won't be surprised to hear that this activity has been far more valuable to me in my life and career than 99.9% of the official assignments my professors required me to complete.

Side work that a student proactively pursues on his or her own often ends up being of far greater value than anything a professor formally assigns one to do. Thus it is that the "quality" of a person's formal education is usually determined more by one's own passionate pursuit of learning than the quality or reputation of one's professors—or the supposed prestige of a particular school.

To illustrate this point, consider the following example...

Both of my degrees (a bachelor's in English and a Doctorate in Education) are from obscure, non-prestigious schools. Nevertheless, I'd wager that the quality of my own personal education can beat most (if not all) Ivy Leaguers (or culturally equivalent) in my field. Why? Because the quality of my education was not determined by the schools I attended or the professors I had; it was determined by a conscious choice backed up by concrete, consistent, determined, focused, and persistent (extra) effort on my part.

That's the MAGIC and POWER of SELF-ACTION LEADERSHIP!  

I'm not here to tell you what books to read. That's up to YOU to decide. However, just for starters, it couldn't hurt to provide a few of my favorites—just as examples of some of the books that have impacted my life the most, and that could likely bless your life as well, if you are willing to discipline yourself to begin seriously reading one (or more) of them.   

Happy Reading!  

Thirteen (13) Books that Have Influenced Dr. Jordan Jensen's Life the Most

1. The Road Less Traveled.........................by M. Scott Peck, M.D.

2. Further Along the Road Less Traveled.........................by: M. Scott Peck, M.D.

3. The Road Less Traveled and Beyond..........................by: M. Scott Peck, M.D.

4. How to Stop Worrying and Start Living.........................by: Dale Carnegie

5. How to Win Friends and Influence People.........................by: Dale Carnegie

6. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.........................by: Stephen R. Covey

7. The Lessons of History.........................by:Will & Ariel Durant

8. The Greatest Secret in the World.........................by: Og Mandino

9. Hamlet.........................by: William Shakespeare

10. 101 Famous Poems with a Prose Supplement.........................Edited by: Roy J. Cook 

11. Man's Search for Meaning.........................by: Viktor Frankl

12.  Self-Leadership: The Definitive Guide to Personal Excellence.........................by: Christopher P. Neck, Charles C. Manz, and Jeffery D. Houghton

13. The Holy Bible

.......................

Tune in NEXT Wednesday for another article on a Self-Action Leadership related topic.  

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