In trying to establish his leadership I suggest we look at the results that come from Albus Dumbledore’s leadership. People of course love him and trust him, and his enemies fear him. His school runs smoothly despite his occasional absence or eccentric staff appointments and decisions. He also seems to have a habit of creating other effective leaders all around him. It would seem that he is somehow connected to every important and significant witch or wizard in the country. He is even the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, member of the International Confederation of Wizards, and founder and leader of The Order of the Phoenix but take note that he turned down the position of Minister of Magic. He works only in roles that give him an advantage in his goals. To further argue that he is a great leader I would point out that even though he does make mistakes (and he admits it), his goals are accomplished in the end. The reign of Voldemort comes to an end and that age of evil falls. Harry lives.

Accepting that he is indeed a great leader let us consider what are his greatest traits at the source of that fine leadership. Some of the more immediate answers might include that he knows his own strengths and utilizes them well. Perhaps the fact that he has an eye for great talent and knows how to effectively deploy people to the greatest advantage of the group and the individuals. He also adapts well to change and tends to foresee what’s coming. While these are all qualities of a great leader, and certainly qualities that Dumbledore possess, they are not the core qualities that define him as a leader.

Consider how his world revolves around two overlying values, trust and love. Dumbledore is a man who cares about the truth and has a strange tendency to trust people. Despite this people trust him so much that as Hermoine points out, “Dumbledore trusts him and if we can’t trust Dumbledore who can we trust?” People trust him for one simple reason. They know he sincerely cares about them. They trust that he has no hidden agenda or secondary motive. This trust comes from his ability to care or to be more frank, love. He loves people and sincerely wants what’s best for them. This isn’t a fake smile and a dance but a true feeling that comes from deep down. Consider anyone who you think of as a great leader and you will agree that you trusted them and you were confident they had your best interests at heart.

Dumbledore is always trying to train more leaders and Harry is our prime candidate. Dumbledore could have spent time teaching Harry a variety of magic or techniques but he knows how to create a great leader. He focuses on principles and key among them are a quest for truth and the power of true love. Remember that as you interact with people around you. Do you truly care about those around you? We are no longer in a society where facades and hidden motives can stay hidden. People can sense sincerity and a lack of it. Follow both Dumbledore and Harry’s example as you strive to become a great leader.

Jacob S Paulsen

Activities included:

• The Bean Life Science Museum at BYU (Free)
• Camping Night w/ Shannon’s Family. We roasted dinner and smores on the fire but slept at home.
• The Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point. (The Largest Dinosaur museum in the world)
• A night out without Simon. Dinner & Mall Browsing (Thanks grandma for babysitting)
• The Living Aquarium in Salt Lake
• A Picnic in SLC
• Stroll at Temple Square
• Dinner at The Smokehouse in Provo
• Geocaching in Provo
• Feeding Ducks
• Treats at the Sweet Tooth Fairy Bakery in Provo.

5 years goes by fast in marriage but really it feels like yesterday that we were married in the Manti temple. Ami is a perfect companion (if you don’t count the tendency to not replace toilet paper rolls) and to top it off she is a wonderful mother. I dare say the most important decision that any can make in life is with whom they are going to commit their love and their life. I made the right choice.

Jacob S Paulsen

The BAM triathlon takes place in Midway UT. My 35 yr old brother Jeff swam 1500 meters in the Deer Creek Reservoir to start off the morning. While he swims on a regular basis he still had to face his first ever swim in open water and having to wear a wet suit which constricts movement and breathing to a certain extent. He did fantastic and finished in about 15 minutes less than he had expected.

My almost 62 year old Dad biked for 22 miles! This is the first time he has ever gone that distance and we were all very impressed when he finished about 30 minutes faster than he had expected! This was shaping up to be a wonderful day.

I ran the last leg of the relay. A 10K run on the 2002 Olympic Cross Country Ski trail at Soldier’s Hollow. I faced some obstacles as well since I been fighting a Sinus infection all week, having not run since Tuesday. It was the longest run I’ve been on all year and perhaps the highest elevation I’ve run at in 10 years. It was also tremendously hilly and really beat me up bad.

All said and done though Team Paulsen finished the race and we are very proud to have done so. There is a certain new bond that was formed between the three of us. A type of bond that I’m guessing can only be formed when you are part of a team that has accomplished something great! What a wonderful family experience.

Thank you Ami and all the other family who came to bear the hot sun whilst cheering us on.

Today I want to talk about 10 other plugins that I use on almost all of my WordPress sites!

1. Digg Digg. This plugin tends to be the cleanest and most effective way to insert “Share Via” buttons such as Digg, Twitter, Facebook, etc. You can see how it is executed here at the top of this page.
2. Exclude Pages From Navigation. In building a wordpress site you often have pages that you do not want visible in the main site’s navigation. This plugin inserts a checkbox that allows you to designate which pages will and will not appear.
3. Hana FLV Player. If you have been looking for an effective way to insert native videos on your site this is it. I have been impressed with this plugin (which utilizes FlowPlayer) to embed native video files into a video player on your posts and pages.
4. Social Media Widget. The cleanest way I’ve see so far to insert “Follow Me” buttons for the most popular Social Media sites.
5. Tweet Old Post. This plugin will regularly tweet your older posts for you at designated intervals. If you have a strong twitter following this can be an effective way to bring additional traffic and keep your Twitter feed active.
6. WordPress Mobile Pack. This is my favorite plugin for mobilizing your blog into a friendly format for Smartphone browsers.
7. WP Polls. This is an effective and clean polling service plugin.
8. What Would Seth Godin Do. This plugin inserts a message into pages and posts that will only be visible by first time visitors to your site. An effective way to ask first time visitors to take an action.
9. WP e-Commerce Plugin. The most effective way to set up a shopping cart on your site. Its free and offers a wide range of strong options.
10. Datafeedr Random Ads V2. This plugin allows you to rotate amongst several ads in one position. You can setup ad groups and it will generate a php code for you to enter into the most appropriate places in your template.

Jacob S Paulsen

On my second evening in Boston I took the train to Boston Commons and walked the Freedom Trail. The Freedom trail is a 2 1/2 mile “red brick road” that takes you through the city of Boston, passing by the most historic sites. Because I had no tour guide I downloaded an app for my cell phone that walked me through the sites with an audio and visual tour. Technology still amazes me. I walked the entire trail and saw some of the most awe inspiring history in America. Sites include Faneuil Hall, Paul Revere’s house, The Old North Church, Site of the Boston Massacre, Bunker Hill and more. It would be difficult to call out which were my very favorite sites but the most emotional moment was atop Bunker Hill. I was there at 9:30pm on a Tuesday night during a slight rain shower. Not a single soul in sight. As far as I could see or hear I was the only person around. Super intense to consider how many people died on that hill and for what cause they were willing to die.

On my last night in town I was blessed with a gift of a ticket to a Red Sox vs Texas Rangers game. For all you non-baseball fans out there you should know that Fenway Park is labeled “America’s Most Beloved Ball Park” for a reason. With maybe the exception of Wrigley field in Chicago, Fenway is prized as a site and tourist attraction above all other ball parks. Sadly the Red Sox lost but I had a grand time watching the game in perfect weather.

I’ve been blessed this year to visit some amazing places. Sometimes we think we have to go to Theme Parks and Foreign countries when the very best vacations spots are just around the corner!

Jacob S Paulsen

I am reflecting today upon a few of the specific stories of 1776 in which Providence saved our nation.

There is the time in the beginning of the year when George Washington’s troops first laid siege upon the British in Boston. For the greater part of 1775 and the beginning of 1776 it was a stand off. The British waited eagerly for re-enforcements before attacking the “rebel’s” perfect fortifications and General Washington also lacked the power to launch a successful attack. Fates turned in March when Henry Knox returned from Canada with almost 80 cannons which had been abandoned. His success in bringing them to Boston is the story of a miracle of its own. Now with artillery General Washington put together a plan to build fortifications armed with cannons on Dorchester heights; a group of higher hills overlooking both the city and the water. In a single night the continental army raised fortifications, timbers, barrels, and hay stacks to the top of Dorchester heights along with artillery. The secret movement was covered by the noise of cannon fire on either side of the front line. When the British woke on March 5th to see cannons and fortifications over looking them General Howe was reported to have said that the rebels had done in one night that which would have taken his army 3 weeks to do. With a fierce wind preventing his ships from moving inland the British were forced to abandon Boston and retreat for a time.

Soon there after our armies were stationed in New York foolishly thinking they could somehow retain the territory when it was surrounded by water. The fleet of the British arrived and without any issues passed by Fort Washington which was hoped would be able to fire down on the fleet. It anchored for a time and had it been able to sail up the river it would have surrounded the continental army and ended the war. On August 27th the British army engaged the Americans and out maneuvered our armies. The battle of Long Island was a bitter defeat for our country and General Washington knew he had to leave NY before the British managed to finish us off entirely. On Aug 29th Washington managed to withdraw all 9000 troops and supplies across the river during the night. This top secret move was masterfully executed and was also saved by providence. On one hand fierce winds kept the fleet out of the river while General Washington executed the retreat. More strange and miraculous still was the heavy fog that sat down on New York the following morning when the sun came up to reveal to the British what was happening.

Perhaps the most famous of George Washington paintings is that of him standing in a boat as it crossed the Delaware river into New Jersey. It was Christmas Day and the river was frozen over with ice. The wind howled with such fierceness that men could not hear their own voices. Three different units of men were staged to cross the river at different points and enter into Trenton NJ from different directions first thing in the morning. In the darkness of the winter evening only one of the 3 units were able to break the ice and cross. It was the group entrusted to General Washington that managed to transport men, cannons, and horses across the frozen river. They marched from the river for hours into town. Many of the men didn’t have shoes or coats. In the first light of Christmas morning the stormed the town and took it. They captured 900 of the enemy soldiers and the only deaths among the continental army were two men who died from exposure during the morning march.

In May I was able to travel to our Nation’s capital on a business trip. Since I was working during business hours I wasn’t able to really go into any of the sites. All of the museums and other attractions close around 5:30. Just the same I was able to visit many of the sites and see them from the outside. Truly our nation was inspired and I pray that the leaders in our government can make wise decisions that will continue to ensure our liberty and freedom!

Jacob S Paulsen

Today I want to give you a very basic understanding of how you should be viewing and using Facebook and Twitter to bring in the cash. Remember that marketing is marketing regardless of being online or offline. It’s just as important to drive traffic to your website as it is to drive traffic to your local business or store. Likewise, it’s just as important to build a list of potential customers online as offline. I’m going to separate our discussion into these two categories.

First, Building a List from Social sites:

Twitter and Facebook can be a strong way to bring new people to your site and sell your products and services but you must first have an audience. Start with a Facebook Page (not a group or personal profile) and ask friends and family to “like” your page. Go to Twitter.com and setup your profile there right away also. We can now split the work of building a list into two action steps. First you must create content that is worth people looking at. Second, you must let enough people know about you and give them a reason to follow you. The easiest way to create content is to Blog. Setup a blog page on your website and consistently write articles on the blog about your core competency. This can be done by ANY industry. Content can be educational, entertaining, or even a little personal in nature. Once you start blogging you can automate the process of feeding that information into Facebook & Twitter. On Facebook you can use the “Notes” application to import your RSS feed (provided by your blog) into your page. For twitter there are a variety of ways to auto-post your blog entries to Twitter depending on what blogging software you are using but I personally like HootSuite.com which is free to use and can effectively syndicate your blog content into Twitter. Other types of content for your facebook page can be the tedious updates such as a new line of product or type of service you offer, specials & coupons, upcoming events, pictures of loyal clients or customers, etc.

Now that you have some content you need to let people know about it. Put up a sign in your business or store letting customers know they should follow you on Facebook & Twitter for special updates and offers. When you do business with a new customer or client ask them if they are on Facebook and ask them if you can send them a page suggestion for your business. They will always say yes. The easiest and fastest way to build a following on Twitter is to follow other people on Twitter. People are likely to follow you back if you follow them first. Don’t randomly follow anyone on Twitter. You need to target potential customers. There are a variety of tools that you can use on Twitter to search for users based on their location, or based on keywords they use in their tweets.

Second, Driving Traffic from Social Sites:

Now that you have consistent content to share with your followers on Facebook and Twitter, and your following is growing we need to focus in on bringing those people to your website or in the front door of the business to buy product. Everything you post on Facebook or Twitter should have a link that takes the user back to your site to view the picture, the “whole story,” the full blog post, or complete details about a promotion or sale.

Utilize a URL shortening service such as www.bit.ly to shorten your URLs and track how many people are clicking on them. This will help you zero in on best practices including the best time of day to post, the best type of content to post, and even the right type of wording to use in new posts.

Remember that building a following in social media is SUPER important but you must learn to utilize the tool to bring you more traffic and more business without it becoming a huge drain on time and resources to maintain it.

Jacob S Paulsen

One of the things I have been doing recently to understand myself better is in searching my past to find the source of my own personality and character attributes. This is a long and difficult process.

For example, why do I run? When did I begin running and why did I continue for so long? My general ability and desire to run has to be rooted somewhere. Running around on playgrounds at recess couldn’t be the source since most children at that age did that. If I can discover this little thing about me I will be able to perhaps instill in my own children a habit of exercise.

So here it goes:

My first memory of doing any running outside of what any other kids would have done stems back to elementary school. After grade 3 I stopped packing a lunch every day and started going home for lunch. One of the best things of going home for lunch everyday was the potential for a longer recess. The faster I got home and got back, the more time I got to play before going back in. This was motivation enough for me to run home for lunch and then run back to school. Even at a run it took me 7 or 8 minutes maybe to get home. Come to think of it this would probably explain why I eat so fast too.

Next memory of extra running comes from my paper route: I delivered the Green River Star paper every Tuesday. Mostly I walked the route because of the heavy load of papers on my shoulders but toward the end I would finish at a run to get home faster.

Around 6th or 7th grade I also picked up a daily paper route for the Daily Rocket Miner. My dad would drive me to the delivery area and drop me off at the top of each street. I would take an armful of papers and run the street throwing papers back and forth meeting my Dad at the end of the street where he delivered the last few homes while waiting. This was good for 30 minutes of running 6 days a week for 6 years.

In Junior High I joined the track team and ran distance. Mostly this decision came from the desire to be in a sport but not having skill at anything else. I figured I could do this and there was the least amount of competition at the longer distances so I decided to compete in the mile and 1/2 mile.  This continued through the end of high school where I also was on the cross country team.

Its not just about running. Why are we the way we are. If we wish to improve ourselves we must first understand who we are, thus enabling us to measure improvement. Changes are most easily made when we can identify how habits were formed in the first place.

I’m naturally drawn to the hero/epic tales. I like being reminded that human nature can overcome evil and become much more. Heroes come in many forms and stories teach us what heroes are really made of. Perhaps the inspiring concept is that I too can be heroic.

I love the stories. I love pondering the saga of Anakin Skywalker and how one man’s decisions can change the galaxy… twice. I love the story of a humble Harry Potter who’s love and pure determination destroyed forever the darkest wizard of all time. Or the story of Dumbledore who dedicated his entire life to bringing down Valdemort through Harry. I love the painting that sits on the wall in my bedroom by Jack Vetriano. It depicts a husband and wife dancing in a rainstorm.

I suppose that more important than where one gets their inspiration, is that they get inspired at all. Inspiration is necessary to help us keep the vision when times are hard. Discipline is giving up momentary pleasures for long term joy. When life gets difficult where do you go for a boost? How do you remind yourself of the greater ideals and values in life?

I for one think we can all be heroes and we all need our inspiration. Please share with us. Leave a comment below to share with the group where you find your inspiration.

We commonly accept in life that people gain jobs and opportunities based on their personal connections. I think its a reality that can’t be ignored. I think however that the more important question is how those relationships came to be. It isn’t the simple introduction of someone else that gives us a useful “connection.” Your relationship with another is only a valuable asset if they are willing to help you. If anyone is willing to help you and do you a favor we have to assume that you must provide some form of value to them.

Relationships are based on an exchange of value. Sometimes that exchange can be monetary but those types of relationships don’t last. I’m talking about relationships that are built on an exchange of trust and love. These relationships of value give us a greater position in our society because we are an asset to others and they believe in us. So its true that in this life the people you know can make all the difference.

However, the only reason we “know” those people or gain anything from knowing them is because of the relationship we built with them. That is what I mean when I say that its not actually about who you know in life, but instead about who you are in life that matters. Who you are determines the relationships that you have and therefore who you are is the source of who you know.

Jacob S Paulsen