Dear Hannah,

I needed to change my approach to handling myself and others - and its hidden impact on my career and interpersonal interactions.

My period of self-reflection concluded that my ...

1. Discourse skills should generate hope, healing, and change - not despair, vitriol, and strife. I needed to put myself in situations conducive to my virtues, not my vices.

2. Mentoring skills could be refined by mentoring more (and being mentored more) - again, in situations that I defined and vetted.

3. Mediation skills (in my personal conflicts) were a weakness that I needed to convert into a strength (by resolving that weakness).

4. Problem solving skills might always lead me into ambiguous, unstable situations that breed poor adult relationships. I needed to learn how to limit my exposure to those situations.

5. I had to learn how to generate revenue by selling products and services that I created - not via employment wages.

These lessons helped me set the following goals ...

1. I would resolve to write and speak on themes of hope, healing, and change.

2. I would design projects that would facilitate mentoring and small-group discipleship.

3. I would become a mediator to learn and practice the art of self-control.

4. The employment world's safest - and most lucrative - opportunities for me were short-term projects that required strategic solutions. I had to identify sources that helped me discover these opportunities.

5. I would convert my writing, creativity, and problem solving into products and services that I could sell.

My mind, thought process, computer skills, organization, and efficiency were the "secret weapons" that would facilitate, amplify, and accelerate my efforts.

Love,

Daddy