Keith McMullin Ensign College Career Week Keynote Address 11 8 2023

Brothers and sisters, it's a privilege for me to be here today. I'll try to speak loudly enough so that you can hear and not misunderstand what I have to share. I see some friends in the audience for which I am grateful. I see people from all parts of the world where I have been. I've been in your hometowns and I've been in your cities, and I know where you come from. I know your circumstances and backgrounds. Both those who come from the United States of America and those who come from distant lands. It is a privilege for me to be with you. Now, by way of your inviting me, I am grateful for this little gift that you have given me, Ensign College. That's a meaningful title for this institution. I hope you come to appreciate just how important it is for you and your future. I was pleased to receive the invitation to speak with you about your careers, and more especially at the beginning of the Ensign College Career Week. I'd like to recite to you what I understand the theme for this week is, in the event that you hadn't seen it on a poster or picked up on it through the student programs that are made available to you. I quote, "Fulfilling Your Life's Mission: How Your Career Can Help Shape Your Life." As I read that, I thought to myself, that's quite a statement. And it certainly is befitting the leadership that you have, where you have a man at the helm who's a visionary, quiet, solid visionary, who will point you in directions that will be of everlasting importance and helpful to you. And so it was not unexpected, but as I pondered it, I thought, these students are being told something they don't have a clue about yet. To change and pursue a career so that your life's mission will be performed is no insignificant undertaking. It is a huge matter that is before you. And this week will introduce you to some of those opportunities. And the challenges that they pose. Most people would come to this institution thinking that they're going to get a degree or a certificate, and when they're through, they'll get a job. They do not come here with the idea of fashioning a career because most of them don't know what a career is. You are exceptions, of course. You all know what a career means. But most who come here otherwise wouldn't know what a career is. We're going to talk about that. And they wouldn't have a vision of what that career is going to do to their life's mission beyond the paycheck that they anticipate receiving once they get gainfully employed outside the walls of this institution. So it's my privilege to talk about, talk with you about something that I believe is mind-bending. I repeat, it is mind-bending. You use your minds, this is going to bend your mind. And it will shape your life for all the remainder of your days if you avail yourself of what a career week such as this with that theme has to offer. Now, in doing so, I'd like to share with you a story, and I'll set the stage this way. In the United States of America, you can often tell where a person hails from or comes from by the English that he or she uses, by the slang or the slant on the method of speech. For example, the Westerners have a distinct way of speaking. You can hear some of that in my talk. Quite different than the New Yorkers or the New Englanders, and quite different from the people from the South, and quite different from the people in the Midwest. Now, no matter where you come from, be it Taiwan or Brazil or China, Chile, or wherever, you find the same thing in Spanish. The Mexican Spanish is different than the Argentine Spanish, and within Argentina, depending upon what part of Argentina you come from, the Spanish can have a little different inflection. Okay, with that as a background, and knowing some of you will have an appreciation for those differences in the United States, but not all of you will, I'm going to tell you a little story. For those of you who don't have an appreciation for it, nudge your neighbor and say, "What did that mean?" and he or she will tell you. As the story goes, and I don't know how much of it is legitimate, but I know the illustration is worth your time. As the story goes, Air France opened an office in Atlanta, Georgia. Now you know where Air France is headquartered? Long ways away, right? And Atlanta, Georgia, if you don't know, is in the South. And some months after the office opened, the person in charge of the US operations for Air France called the office in Atlanta, Georgia. And the person, the lady answering the phone said, "Air France?" And the proper Frenchman was duly offended. He said to her, You cannot answer the phone Air France. It has to be Air France. And he instructed her rather vigorously that she should change her manner. Some weeks later, he called again. The same lady answered the phone. And she said, Air France, can I help you? Now for those of you who don't catch it, nudge your neighbor and say, what does that mean? You'll get it. All right? Now what I am saying to you is this: when it comes to fashioning a career, it is much harder than you think. And it is always that way in the things that you will tackle. It's easy to say how something should be done. It is invigorating and challenging to make something that needs to change really happen. And that's what you are beginning to do as you enroll in this kind of an activity as a career link. Now I would like to take you to one other little story that I think will prove useful as we go forward. Many years ago, I was sitting in the Salt Lake Tabernacle as a young person, as you are, attending General Conference, and I heard these words from President David O. McKay. He was the 9th president of the church. He served from 1951 to 1970, so you can tell how long ago that was. This is what he was quoted as saying: Words do not convey meanings, they call them forth. We speak from the background or context of our experience. People listen from the context of their experience, and that's where communication problems arise. Words do not convey meanings, they call them forth. And because we have different experiences, different backgrounds, those meanings can differ. I won't burden you with a lot of illustrations, I'll just throw out one word. And you'll suddenly realize, oh, I get it. If I say, what does love mean? There will be as many descriptions almost of what love means as there are people in the audience. It depends on whether or not you've ever experienced it, whether or not you've ever given it, whether or not you've ever been disappointed by it, whether or not you've ever been inspired and sanctified by it. What love means will differ depending upon the context that you have with it, the experiences that you have gleaned during your life. I hope that makes sense. Now, with that in mind, what does the word career mean? For it says, fulfilling your life's mission, how your career can help shape your life. So I ask, What does the word career mean? Now before I go any further, we are going to go through a series of little discussions like this, and we're going to pause and see if any of you have any questions. We're not going to wait until the end, because then you'll conjure up some questions to try and stump me, and I don't want that. So we'll just ask, do you have any questions about that when we pause, and you think about what's going on, and then if you have a question, you raise your hand. We'll get a microphone to you. We'll try to answer if we want to, and we won't answer if we don't want to. Okay. The meaning of the word career. Let's start on the same page. In my judgment, a career is more than a job. Anyone who fashions a career around a job is making, in my judgment, a serious mistake, but many people do. For example, one may say to you, what is your career? And you might hear a person answer, well, I'm a civil engineer, that's my career. Or I'm an accountant. Or I'm a graphic designer. Or I'm in computer technology, I'm a computer technologist. Man, if that's your career. I'd hate to be an engineer for a career. I wouldn't mind doing work as an engineer, but I'd hate that to be my career. But nonetheless, many people would say that to you if you asked, "What is your career?" A career is more than a job. You got it? Okay. Number 2. A career is more, in my judgment, than a profession. You might ask that same question of someone and get this kind of a response: What is your career? Oh, I help people. I help people. Or I inform others. I make sure that they're aware of what's going on. I inform people. Or I serve people, especially those who are in need, those who may be sick or otherwise having a hard time. But I believe a career is more than what you intend. More than what you intend. What you intend is closer, but it's not quite there. So what does the word career mean? In my judgment, I like the definition found in Webster's Dictionary. Now, says this: a career, more like a calling, more like a calling, it sets forth a person's progress or general course of action through life. A career sets forth a person's progress or general course of action through life. It is what you become as a result of what you do. That's what a career ends up being. It is what you become. It is, in the very sense that is set forth in your theme, your life's mission. And you're here at the outset of that mission in a very real way because you are pursuing an education that is to help you in the progress of your life. Now, I have found in my own particular instance that daily routines influence your career. At least they have influenced mine, and I would like to share with you what those patterns of life have been. That have influenced my career, my life's mission. Those influences have shaped the way I view myself in relationship to others around me as well as to my responsibilities in the outside world. That career has shaped the way I can serve God and keep His commandments, as President Bush has already illustrated so ably. And that career has shaped the way I interact and have had the privilege of serving others. So, 3 daily choices that have shaped my life and my career. I share them with you not because they're the only 3 in the world. I share them with you solely for purposes of opening your eyes of understanding so that grasping what your career might be as you make those choices in life, can be more productive. I will speak to 3 different topics, 3 different headings of these daily routines. First, prepare to be led. Prepare to be led as a daily routine. Two, I make my own bed. I make my own bed every day. I'll tell you why that's important. And then third, I have learned to take the road less traveled instead of the other alternative. I have learned to take the road less traveled rather than the other alternative. Now, let me speak to the first: prepare to be led. Most of you are Latter-day Saints. For those of you who are not, you have rubbed shoulders with Latter-day Saints to the point that you know what their values are. What's important to them. I learned that very early on as a 19-year-old when my mother said, "You need a patriarchal blessing." I didn't know what it was, but Mother knew, and I trusted Mother, so I went with her and my father to receive my patriarchal blessing. If you are within the sound of my voice and have not received your patriarchal blessing, I would urge you to ponder on that thought of getting it, and then proceed and receive your patriarchal blessing. The reason I mention it is that choice to receive my patriarchal blessing made all the difference in my career. I had never seen the patriarch before he laid hands upon my head, and when he spoke, I knew that it was not the patriarch giving me a blessing, It was the God of Heaven, my Heavenly Father, who was giving that blessing through a man who had been ordained to the office of patriarch in the Melchizedek Priesthood. He knew things and he spoke about matters that I knew not about myself, but I knew that they were there. I felt it deep in my bones, and I realized he had said some things that I don't fully appreciate today. But that that blessing will forever change my life. And so it has been. I have read it. I have made it part of my vocabulary, both consciously and subconsciously. When I encounter problems, I refer to it often, and I have discovered that embedded in its inspired wisdom are those gems of truth necessary for me to make a proper choices and fashion my career. I'll give you one little example and then move on. In my patriarchal blessing, this little phrase appears: "You will be a minuteman in the church." I had no clue when he spoke those words what a minuteman meant, but my life has been one of being a minuteman. The assignments that have come to me over the course of my life I never envisioned would ever happen when it began as a student at an institute of higher learning. But it has been a rich and wonderful experience for me. And that daily choice of reflecting upon a patriarchal blessing is something that I would urge upon each and every one of you. If you received your patriarchal blessing, use it. If you haven't received a blessing, obtain one. I can now speak from the perspective of a patriarch, for I am one, and I know the God of Heaven loves each and every one of you deeply and is vitally concerned for you and your future. He wants to help you fashion your career, for He knows you have a life's mission, and He will help you discover it. And referring to your patriarchal blessing on a daily basis will help you. Second, my daily routine in preparing to be led begins with prayer and scripture study. I do not miss it. I do not do it once in a while. I do it every single day. I promised myself when I left the mission field, God has placed me on a pedestal that I never believed possible. Possible. And now I am not going back to where I was before I served my mission. I'm not going to be that person again, ever. I wasn't that terrible, but I wasn't that good either. And I knew that I had found something that was precious and wonderful. I wasn't going to forsake that. And that began with daily prayer— morning, midday, and evening. I pray over my meals, even though other people may not know it, because I'll close my eyes, bow my head, and won't make a big thing out of it. But I do that. Prayer has become part of me because I learned it on my mission. In my home, we had prayer once in a while. We always prayed over the dinner, dinner or breakfast or lunch. But when we had family prayer, we all knew it was a big deal. Something happened, something was coming down, it was, you know, really important. So Dad would call us together and we'd have family prayer. Big things like going away to college or going in for surgery, you know, that kind of thing. I didn't know what daily prayer was beyond what I just mentioned, but my mission taught it to me, and I decided that's going to be part of my life. It has never missed, and I have of late discovered, since I am older and I'm still engaged every day here at these offices and my wife is home alone and she is also older, No one's there to comfort her. We have daily prayer morning, midday, and evening time. Where I lock the door to my office and I kneel down and I open up my little phone and I put it on— well, I don't have to put it on speaker because I run on batteries these days and it goes right into my ear. Anyway, I put it on my batteries I say, "Are you ready for prayer, sweetheart?" "I'm kneeling, I'm ready." "Do you want to say them?" "I'll say them today." That has shaped my life, and I commend it to you. If you're only praying in the morning, you start at night as well. If you're praying morning and night, you start midday. You make prayer a part of your daily experience, and you will find you will prepare to be led. The other thing I would recommend to you is that you read the scriptures every day. I do it every day, every single day. I don't miss, even if it's just one verse. I promised myself some time ago I would not go back. I told you that already. And so I open the scriptures and I read in them. And because I read in them, I can be receptive to promptings. I can understand them. I can get in contact with Heavenly Father. That otherwise would be much too elusive if I simply ignore that precious privilege that He has given me. The next thing I do in preparing for the day that helps me to be led is I write in my journal. I do it religiously. I don't know if you do. You can choose to do it or you can choose not to do it. I've chosen to do it and it makes a big difference. Let me tell you why. First of all, it clears out the cobwebs of the previous day. Those things that were confusing, you didn't know what they really meant, you start to write and lo and behold, you begin to understand. Oh, that's what I learned. That's what I've got to do next. It just clears out the complex. And furthermore, it starts you on the new day in the right direction consistent with what you've been experiencing in the days past. Writing in your journal helps shape your career perspective. And helps you in your life's mission. Lastly, I exercise. You might think that's funny, but for a man who's somewhat acquainted with ill health over the years, I have found that exercise can repair a lot of things. Oh, I'm not going to be in the Boston Marathon. I've never desired to do that, and I won't do it now. But I'm up every morning, and I'm on that treadmill faithfully, and I lift weights during the week. And I have my stretch bands, I am determined, I am absolutely determined to keep this body useful for as long as I can and as long as the Lord wants to use it. That's why I exercise, and I have done it for many years. I won't win any races, I'm not going to be Mr. America, but I am healthy and blessed, and if I do my part, God will do the rest. Now, we're going to pause. Do you have any questions about what it means to prepare to be led? Daily routines that help you shape your mind around a career and a pattern in life, your life's mission. Anything you'd like to ask before we move on? Please stand. Let's get a microphone to you. And then speak up. Right over here is a hand. Yeah, I just wanted to ask, how do you prevent your career and work responsibilities from overtaking the responsibilities that you have to your Father in heaven? How did I do? Would you repeat that again? Please repeat it again. I run on batteries, so this is our man that's going to help us. How do you prevent your career and your work responsibilities overriding your responsibilities to your Father in Heaven? Got it. Thank you very much. This is how you do it. You decide that your career is your mission, not your job. Your mission comes first. Your job comes along and everything works out all right. If you make the mistake of thinking your career is your job, you're in peril. Because companies you work for have no souls. They don't care about you as a person, they care about you as a product or a product producer. So you've got to get your thinking straight on what a career is. Once you get that straight, then you can start to manage these other things quite handily. Absent that, it is really a struggle. Now, there was a question in the back. Would you please speak up? You would help me because I don't hear it properly. You mentioned that the things that you chose to prepare weren't necessarily the only 3 things that we can do. So how would you recommend, I guess based on what principles would you recommend we choose our own? Oh, that's a terrific question. Well, I would start with the— I would start, as I've already said, with a patriarchal blessing. If you haven't received one, get one. If you have received one, read it, ponder it, think about it. It will guide you in your thoughts. That's what it was given to you for. And secondly, I would pray, and I'd ask, what should my daily routine include? I think you'll find that it parallels somewhat what you've heard, but not necessarily in every instance. But that's how I would advise you to begin, and I believe you will find it beneficial. And that's all the questions we're going to take for this section. Okay, prepare to be led. Now we're going on to 'I make my own bed.' There is nothing quite as disturbing to me as to walk into a bedroom where one of my children or grandchildren has slept and see an unmade bed. It just troubles me no end. You know why? Because I make my own. And I make my own because I'm going to start every day with something that is successful, and I can manage that. I may not be able to manage anything else during the day, but I can make my own bed. And you know something? My wife appreciates it too. And I do a pretty good job, if I do say so myself. We have a lot of pillows on the top of our bed. My wife's a decorator of sorts. And I can put those pillows in all kinds of different shapes. But when I'm finished with that bed, you'd be proud of it. I'm proud of it. And why is making my own bed important? Well, I've alluded to it already. You start every day successfully. You leave your bed unmade, you've started as a failure. It's just that simple. There's no two ways about it. You may say, well, it's not a significant failure. Yeah, it's not a significant failure, but it talks about you, how you're willing to start your day. Are you willing to start it in the pit, or are you willing to start it on top? Just make that decision, and you'll find that not only does the day go better, but there are a lot of beds to be made throughout every day. And your career is to help fix those beds, to help shape people's lives, to help lift them up, show them a better way. So don't go around with unsuccess to begin with and then spread it all through everyone that you interact with during the course of the day. Make your own bed. Put it in order. Begin your day with an absolute firm direction as to what you're going to be that day. You can conquer the world if you start it right. And everyone else will rally to your call, and there'll be plenty of unmade beds to take up your time and attention through the course of whatever you have chosen to do for that specific period of time in your life. Remember this: you are in charge of your world. No one else is. There is a lot of stuff going on in this world that's absolutely deplorable. There are things that are happening that make all of us just weep. Our hearts are breaking over Gaza and Israel. We are troubled by the Ukraine and Russia. We have our own homes in our own little villages far away that are under siege or struggle. We have parents who are not able to make ends meet. We may be even struggling severely with problems of our own. There is enough woe to go around. But having said all of that, I'm in charge of my world, and you are in charge of yours. So take charge of it. Determine, my world is going to be fashioned after my will, and my will is my mission. I know what it is, I know what God expects of me, and I'm going to live up to it. All right, we'll pause. Questions? Where? On this top. Make your own bed. Right here in front, please. Let's get you a microphone so everyone can hear.

So I feel that I'm really inspired by you telling about success and how to start the day. And I noticed that when you're telling your story, you were already working in really be like demanding positions that you had to do like really hard work, you know, and how do you feel capable? Like, I know that making your own bed is one of the ways, but how do you feel prepared and capable to do such hard work?

Thank you for that question. It's a very good question and it should occupy our mind. Every one of you is going to face imponderables. In your life. You're going to face opportunities and demands that you say, those are beyond me. You'll face them within the church because you'll be called to positions where you'll feel almost overwhelmed. You'll be confronted with them in the business world or in the fields that you've chosen, particularly your chosen field, and you'll wonder, how can I ever master that? Well, I'll tell you what I've done. That's all I can share. I've gone back to prepare to be led. I've gone back to my knees. And I have found that as I've gone there, understanding starts to come, perspective starts to come. And why is that? Because that problem is not unsolvable, it's just not known to me yet. And God knows Well, I need to know. So when I lack the faith or the insight or the courage to go forward, I go to my knees. And the heavens open. And the wisdom comes. It doesn't always come right away. Sometimes you have to move forward. You all know the analogy, I'm sure. You know, the light on the front of the train at night only shines so far. You go to the edge of the light that shines further down the road for you, and you will be led to the solutions that you need to have that are facing you. Is that helpful? Yes, it is. Good to know it. Okay. Microphone, please. Okay, about making your bed in the morning routine, how do you keep those habits? Permanently? Because sometimes you feel motivated and sometimes you don't. So how do you keep motivated? Okay, I'll tell you how to do it both married and unmarried. Okay? Let's start with the unmarried because that's where most of you are. In an unmarried situation, this is what you do. You say, I made a mistake this morning. I'm going to fix it tomorrow morning. And before you get into bed at night, Make it, then get into it. You'll find that it feels a whole lot better than if you just crawl under your covers. So fix it before you go to bed at night. Start a new day tomorrow. That'll help, and you'll overcome, and you'll have those relapses, you'll have those mistakes. You're not going to be perfect. There's only one perfect person on the face of this earth, and we know who he is. But he will help us become perfect. And that's what our chore is. So that's what I would recommend in addressing that. And that's all the questions we have for this section. We're going on to the final one. The final one is, take the road less traveled instead. By the way, I should, before I say, leave this make your own bed topic, I should recognize one William H. McRaven, a former SEAL. Who has published a book titled Make Your Bed. If you want to read something interesting, take a read. You'll find that that SEAL says this is one of the most important things a SEAL has to learn before he or she goes into combat— to make their own bed. And he explains why it is so vital. Well, you heard another little version. It's not McRaven's, but it's the experience I have had through my life. Okay, now next. Oh, I was going to tell you the married one. I gave you the unmarried one. Here's the married one. Sweetheart, I'm kind of short on time. Could you make the bed this morning? And by golly, she's always willing. But that doesn't happen very often. Now, the last thing. Take the road less traveled instead. I'm going to read to you a poem. The poem is written by one Robert Frost. I think you will find it interesting, but you will not comprehend all of it immediately. You can look it up on the internet and ponder the words. It's in English, so it'll be helpful to those of you who have English as a second language and help broaden your understanding of its nuances. This is the poem. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both, and being one traveler, long I stood and looked down one as far as I could to where it bent in the undergrowth. You see that in your mind's eye. Then took the other as just as fair, and having perhaps the better claim because it was grassy and wondered where, though as for that the passing there had warned them really about the same. And both that morning equally lay in leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence. Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. Take the road less traveled by the world, and it makes all the difference. In your career, decide the Lord's way instead of the worldly way. The Lord will tell you. There's not a man or woman under the sound of my voice that will not be told by the Spirit of inspiration what the Lord's road is. You will be receiving, you will be given that guidance. Take it. Do not take the road that goes the world's way. Take the one less traveled, for it makes all the difference. Choose truth instead of doubt. This world is on a steady diet of doubt. It questions everything. It questions the news, it questions the news sources. It questions people's integrity, irrespective of how benign the person may be in whatever he or she is doing. Contention is everywhere, and doubt is the seedbed. Doubting everything that comes along, and more especially, doubting those things that are of divine origin. I have heard it said, for example, and I refer now to very precious truths that we all hold dear, "I believe in Christ, but I'm not sure about his church." Here is a news flash: you cannot believe in Christ and come unto him without coming to him through his church. That's why he set it up. They are one and the same. So don't get thrown into that field of doubt that says, I'm not sure that everything's so perfect over here with the Church, but I, I'm really confident things are perfect with the Savior. You don't know the Savior very well yet. You come to know the Savior and you will come to know the precious features of His Church. The same thing is true on prophecy. I'm not sure that I believe all prophecy. Well, I'm here to tell you all prophecy of God will be fulfilled. You better believe it. Better be on the wagon, learning more about it and living your life accordingly. Choose truth instead of doubt. Doubt never satisfies the search for truth. It is not designed to do that way. When Joseph stumbled upon that verse in James, If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, but let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. And you go to the footnote and it says doubting. Nothing doubting. You don't doubt, you're just seeking truth. It's okay to ask questions, but want to know the truth. And you will find the Spirit of God is pushed aside. The world's way is no longer burdening you, and you have chosen that road less traveled by. Lastly, choose integrity in your pursuits instead of dishonesty and manipulation. Choose integrity. Be true to yourself, and you shall not be false to any other man or woman. Be true to yourself. You are a child of God, a boy or a girl, a man or a woman. He knows you. You are His beloved children, and He will watch over and guide you. And He will also always do it by cultivating with you the spirit of integrity and devotion. And so I share with you those three things: be lit— prepare to be led, Make your own bed. Take the road less traveled instead. I share with you my testimony that the gospel is true. God is in his heavens. Jesus is the Redeemer. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. And you are on the Lord's errand. That is your mission in whatever circumstance you find yourself. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.