https://youtu.be/ucX9hVCQT_U

It’s Friday, I’m in love.

This seemed like a good one to send out right before Valentine’s Day.

You really could apply it to any day.

Any day with love is better than a day without.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Frodo: I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.

Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you were also meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought.

I’ve been watching the Lord of the Rings movies during workouts and down time over the last few weeks and this moment stood out.

I couldn’t help but think of Tolkien’s service in WWI and how he must have wished to have never been in that horrible fight.

Lucky for us we don’t have to face such dire and heartbreaking circumstances.

But we do have to face our own challenges we would like to wish away.

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. To do our best to face the challenges presented. To maintain faith, hope and love in spite of success or failure. To do the difficult thing with the honesty and integrity of character we would wish to see from those around us.

Life is not easy. Challenges continue to plague us. We won’t make it to the end of our lives without them.

Let them spur growth. Let courage and positivity reign in your spirit.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Love doesn’t make the world go ’round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile. – Franklin P. Jones

Love and loving relationships are what make everything worth it.

It’s worth the risk of heart break in order love someone.

It’s worth giving up some (or maybe all) of my selfish desires in exchange for a loving relationship for another.

It’s worth being vulnerable in a very real and scary way in order to truly give your heart to someone else.

By loving someone else and focusing on make their ride worthwhile we find meaning and substance in our own life.

Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes it feels like you are on a roller coaster. Sometimes it seems like it will never work out.

But it will and it does. It works out. It makes the ride worthwhile.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Expect problems and eat them for breakfast. – Alfred A. Montapert

A key attitude change illustrated in this quote – problems will occur.

It will not be easy and we should not wish it so.

Problems and challenges require growth and change to meet them. If we want to do and be more we should expect and meet these challenges the best we can.

What is a problem you could eat for breakfast today?

Tackle it right away. Don’t wait. Get started first thing.

Make it a great day.

Jake

The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor. – Vince Lombardi

After watching the Super Bowl last night, I wanted to go looking for a Vince Lombardi quote.

This one stuck out to me because the word “excellence” has been stuck in my head lately.

What if you made a constant effort to add excellence into your life?

What would an excellent drive in to the office look like?

What would an excellent meeting look like?

What would excellence look like when you got home tonight?

Pursue excellence today.

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/moSFlvxnbgk

This seemed appropriate given some cold and wintery weather expected to continue this weekend.

Let it go. Part of starting a new year is letting the old stuff go.

Learn the life lesson and move forward.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It’s courage that counts. – John Wooden

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point. – C. S. Lewis

This quote from John Wooden reminded me of one of my favorite CS Lewis quotes.

Courage counts because it’s what gets you through when things get hard.

And only by pushing through when things get hard do we grow.

Courage counts when your honesty is tested.

Courage counts when you can be patient or give in.

Courage counts when you have to pick an apple over that donut.

Courage counts when you tell someone no in order to honor your previous yes.

In these small moments, a courageous person is built.

Make it a great day.

Jake

One month down already in 2021. Time for honest reflection on how you are doing.

Sit down with your accountability partner and take an honest look at how it’s going.

Be brutally honest.

Face the facts.

Grit your teeth and bare down and get to work if you haven’t made any progress.

Celebrate the wins if you’ve had them.

Resolve to make February an even better month.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Gus: Phil? Like the groundhog Phil? Phil: Yeah, like the groundhog Phil. Gus: Look out for your shadow there, buddy.

The movie is funny, but it’s also a favorite because it goes a little deeper than that.

A guy lives the same day over and over again.

He tries all kinds of different things to figure out things (life).

He tries the hedonistic, do what you want all day long life and ends up empty.

He tries manipulating others to get what he wants and ends up empty.

He gives up and spends the day depressed and without hope.

He finally tries love, service, humility and authenticity. And it works.

Maybe we can take a short cut. We don’t have an unlimited number of days like Phil does in the movie, so let’s not waste any on the stuff that doesn’t work. Let’s skip to the good stuff.

Make it a great day.

Jake

What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well. – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

There is beauty and meaning in difficulty.

Life hasn’t been easy for many over the last year. Some probably feel like they’ve been wandering through the desert.

Some have made the choice to find joy and beauty in the difficulty while others have wallowed in self-pity and despair.

Which end of the spectrum have you been on?

What might you do to find more beauty and joy?

Make it a great day.

Jake