Tyler Jorgenson

One Entrepreneur's Journey To Find Greatness

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Finding Balance – 31 DoBA – Day 9

If you’re following the 31 DoBA closely you’ll realize that I’m posting day 9 on the 10th day of the month. I fell a little behind since I was spending time with my family instead of posting day 8. Don’t worry, I’ll catch up today.

One of the requests that came in when I asked what people would like me to post about was this:

Ashley Says: Work-Life Balance…how do you mix work and family?

Balancing work and family is a problem as old as time.  For many, it isn’t just balancing work and family.  For example in addition to work and family I am currently in an Executive MBA program at USC and am the Scoutmaster for the Boy Scout troop at church.

I was talking with a friend yesterday about success in business and he related a story that was troubling.  He told me of a time he was privileged to be in a room with about a dozen highly successful individuals.  Eager to learn he asked them about their journey to success and was surprised to hear them talk about ‘sacrifice’.  Not a sacrifice of time, but of time with family.  They joked about each having been divorced multiple times.  Luckily we could both think of examples of highly successful individuals that were also very family oriented.

I read once about how Steven R. Covey, author of  The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People® and who also does speaking events, manages work and family time.  Covey was highly sought out as a motivational speaker and allotted a certain number of days per year to this.  If he received a request beyond the set amount of time he would pose it to the whole family.  If one member of the family felt he should be home instead he would turn down the event, and it’s hefty paycheck.

I don’t know that the story is true but it certainly teaches a great lesson.  Here are some of my top tips for finding balance.

1. No Work for Works sake.  (No WfW! as the RenMen say at :52 of the video at this post.)  If you are self employed, or paid in any way other than hourly, this is a big one.  Some weeks I work well above 40 hours, like right now when I am up late most every night trying to finish a project.  But just because somebody decided that their employees should work from 8am to 5pm every day doesn’t mean that you have to sit at a computer, or the like, 40 hours per week.  Remember, busy is not the same as productive.

2.  Live in the now!  This is a quote from the epic Wayne’s World movie and I quote it all the time.  Do you check your email when you could be focused on family?  Do you take a call on your cell when you’re at your kids soccer game, even though you know that it could wait?  These are perfect examples.  When you are at work, BE at work.  When you are at home, BE at home.

3. Connect! Take the time to connect to each of your loved ones individually.  I have 4 kids so this can take a lot of time but is always worthwhile.  Spend a little time, every day, strengthening the important relationships in your life.

What tips do you have for balancing work and family (and all the other stuff)?

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They Say You Make Your Own Luck…

but I can’t help but think that the hands of fate were involved with this beautiful lady married me.

Follow her makeover journey with the fabulous Mama Kat as photographed by the uber talented Kamee June.  A very big thank you to Kitch by Kat for sharing your gift with my wife. You’re a rock star and don’t even know it.

Originally posted at http://blog.tylerjorgenson.com/2010/10/make-your-own-luck/

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My Motivation

Right now the tagline on this blog reads: One Entrepreneurs Journey To Find Greatness.  Although I often share my thoughts, opinions and insights the whole purpose of this blog is to chronicle my journey to discover greatness in myself and others.

I believe that within each of us lies the extraordinary and the remarkable.  We have a responsibility to discover what it is that we can do better than anybody else in our world.

Why do I care do discover this within myself.  Because of this woman:

My wife and I just had our 7 year wedding anniversary.  This picture was taken while we were dating and is one of my favorites.  To be loved by this woman is an extreme honor.

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Happy Halloween

This is one of my favorite family pictures we’ve taken so far. I love this time of year and I hope you have a great Fall.

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Finishing the race

I usually blog with good news, and this one will end that way too. It’s been a tough season for me. A company that I had worked so hard to help build closed it’s doors last month. It’s never pleasant to see a company close, and it’s hard when I had to talk to so many employees about the end of the road. These aren’t the friendliest of job searching environments and I wish I could find jobs for each of the amazing people that worked with me. Additionally there is also the financial wake that is left behind to clean up when a company closes. My Father knows how hard its been on me and emailed me this today.

It’s painful, but with the help from the Almighty and caring family and friends the race can still be finished.

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Traditions

I mentioned a while back that I grew up hiking and camping with my Dad. We made it a 3 generation event this weekend with an overnighter to Wrightwood, CA. We made camp at Guffy and cooked hot dogs on the camp fire.


In the morning we took a nice 4×4 trail down to Lupine and took these great pictures.


We’re looking forward to a lot more hikes and camp outs like this one.

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Outsourcing

My Father sent me this number and told me to call. 267-436-5123.

Give it a call.

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Just like 15 years ago…

As a boy my Father took me camping and hiking as often as he could. Because of my frequent exposure to the great outdoors I grew a deep connection with being on ‘the mountain’ as we tend to call it. Sometime around the age of14 or 15 my school activities and friends started consuming most of my weekends and the frequency of trips with my Father dropped of considerably. This morning we had a reunion of sorts as we hiked Mt. Baden-Powell just outside of Wrightwood. We hit the trail as early as I could muster the strength to arise, around 5:30am and caught a fantastic sunrise over Mt. San Antonio. The trail was a nice 4 mile ascent and I seem to be paying for my youthful strides. It was great to chat with my Dad as we climbed. I’ve missed hiking with my Pops.

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Being a Dad

I had a good Dad.

Now, I’m just trying to be one.

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What a pro!

A while back my wife entered a drawing for a free photo shoot by Lydia Tolman of LOYA Photography and won. Today was the day of the shoot and like most Men I was not overly excited. Lydia Tolman was a true professional. She never once got flustered by our rambunctious kids and truly seemed to enjoy her job. Here are a few of her shots, but check out her blog for more.





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Bliss

6 years ago my wife said yes to being my eternal bride. We were looking through old pictures from our dating days and I found this one that, to me, captures the essence of our love. I am a lucky man.

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3/18

Today is a special day in my house. My wife of nearly 6 years turned 31. We celebrated it with a little trip to Disneyland with my oldest daughter. Overall it was pretty fun.

I love how gleeful (haven’t used that word in a while) Taylor looks on the swings next to her Mom.


And at 31 my cute wife can still throw her hands up and have some fun.


See!


I love you Tanya. Thank you for all of your support and dedication. I hope your birthday was great, but it isn’t over…

Oh, and we hung out with this guy (he walked past us) today at Disneyland. I was going to crop the picture but I love the face the scooter lady is making. Later on the same lady complemented me on my T-Shirt. True story. See you next time Kobe Bryant, maybe we can share a tea cup.


This may be too many pics in one post, but hey I was inspired by Kobe.

Space Ranger 1 actually had 1200 points, but I guess that’s not enough to register.

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Snow Day in Wrightwood

We had a great day up in the mountains. I had to check on a couple of things for WrightwoodCabins.com and the kids love playing with their Grandma and Grandpa J so we piled into the truck and headed up the hill.

Tanya is always wanting to get a good family pic and the kids were in good spirits. While we were posing with the little red house behind us snow from the tree fell down on us.

I love spending time with the wife and kids. Especially when my Mom and Dad provide pizza and hot cocoa. Thanks!

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A Thanksgiving Goodbye

Just before sitting down to dinner with my wife’s family I got a call from my Aunt and Uncle informing me that my Father’s Father had passed away. This was not entirely unexpected but still caught me a bit off guard. My Grandfather was 94 years old and had been very strong well into his 80’s. A while back he was diagnosed with Leukemia and in the end had at least 3 types of cancer. I am confident that it was his “time to go”, as they say. No amount of preparation can truly prepare one for the moment when death visits a family member. I find myself reflecting on memories of my Grandfather and also on the legacy that I am currently establishing for my posterity. That legacy is what remains when it’s our time to pass on, and I don’t plan on leaving anything behind that isn’t phenomenal.

A few months ago we went to visit my Grandfather and introduce him to his only Great Grandson that shares his last name.


So, in addition to the US Flag Code Section 4 I am also grateful for a loving God that has a plan for us. Hug the ones you love.

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Fall

I usually leave the posting of photos of my fantastic family to the ubertalented and beautiful Mrs. Jorgenson but after editing this weekends bounty I could not resist. I am very blessed to have such a wonderful life. Take a look at these kids, they’re amazing!

I love the colors in this one as my little man reaches in for the pumpkin

Just strolling through the pumpkin patch

Hunting


The Family
That’s a bountiful harvest if I’ve ever seen one

To my wife and kids – Thank you for being my inspiration.
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Padres – The Good & The Bad


This past weekend my parents (the good Padres) took my wife and me down to San Diego for a belated birthday present. We went to see the Padres game at Petco Park and we treated to a full tour of the stadium before the game. While we were waiting for the tour Mr. Padres himself walked by and shook a few hands. I didn’t think he’d remember me from our meeting in 1995 so I didn’t mention anything, but we go way back. The Padres (the baseball team… aka the ‘bad’ ones) didn’t have too great of a game. The couldn’t hit the pitches the 12 year old was throwing I guess. The pitcher for the Giants was a 23 year old kid with a rocket for an arm. He shut out the Padres but it was still a great night of baseball.

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