How Much Land Does a Man Need?

This week, we continued to read "A Field Guide for the Hero's Journey." I really loved the story by Leo Tolstoy that was called "How Much Land Does a Man Need?" This story is about a man who is promised that he can own as much land as he can walk the perimeter of by sunset. This man is overly zealous/greedy and walks so far that it becomes late and he is forced to return and therefore makes his land more of a triangle than a square. By the time he reaches his starting point, he has pushed himself so hard that he dies. In the end, the only land he truly needs is enough to be buried in. He tries to take too much and suffers the ultimate cost (death) for doing so. I feel like I can relate to this a lot, because I often push myself so far that my work becomes less valuable and I use up valuable time by needing to recover - more time than I would have taken if I'd simply slowed down and paced myself.

We also learned a lot about the purpose of BYU-Idaho this week and I am so grateful to be a part of this incredible school. I love connecting my spiritual and vocational educations.

We read a summary of the book "Good to Great" by Jim Collins and I was very impressed by the principles explained there. I've seen many of those concepts be fruitful at the company I work for, especially the need for the right people. My company is very particular about who we hire and that makes for a great work atmosphere and great productivity.