Imagine if you actually had a pocketful of sunshine.
Something that you could access at any time to brighten your mood.
Maybe it isn’t possible to put sunshine in your pocket, but you could probably find something to carry with you to brighten your day.
Some pictures of loved ones.
A piece of jewelry from a loved one.
A bible verse written on a piece of paper.
Make life a little easier on yourself by carrying around a pocketful of sunshine.
Make it a great day.
Jake
No plan survives first contact.
This is a military saying that means the plan always changes after the first contact with the enemy.
The same is true in our personal lives.
No exercise plan survives the first time you get sick.
No diet plan survives first contact with Doritos.
No financial plan survives first contact with a sale at that fancy shoe store.
Ok, that last one was a stretch for me.
This saying seems a little negative at first, but I think it is secretly positive.
Because no plan survives first contact, we need to be adaptable and flexible and never quit.
If you go into it knowing that things won’t be perfect, you won’t have to be so hard on yourself.
You can have a bad day without giving up.
You can make a mistake or two without having to come up with a whole new plan.
Have you let yourself give up on something important because things went less than perfectly?
Is there something important you need to stick with?
Make it a great day.
Jake
Yesterday’s email and day reminded me of when Meaghan’s aunt passed away a few years ago….
It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live. – Marcus Aurelius
We spent the last few days with family in Florida celebrating the life of Meaghan’s aunt who recently passed away.
As we remembered her, we remembered how she lived, we remembered the good stuff.
I left inspired to create more of that in my life.
More memories.
More relationships.
More adventure.
Might as well.
Anything on your wish list that you should start on today?
Anyone in your life that needs a visit?
Make it a great day.
Jake
My aunt Marlyn passed away over the weekend and it has me thinking about her.
When I was in college about once a month she sent me a card with a $20 bill in it.
It was always the highlight of the day if one of those cards showed up in the mail.
I’m ashamed to admit that I blew all that money and don’t have much to show for it, but the memory has always stuck with me.
She took the time to find a card, put in some money and mail it off to me.
I don’t know if she did this for a hundred people or just me, I just know it made a difference to me.
It always made me feel special and like someone was rooting for me.
And the lesson I learned is to always look out for those little opportunities to show someone they are loved and that you are rooting for them.
Think of somebody in your life that could use a little pick me up….then send them a card with a $20 bill in it (or whatever works).
Be generous.
Be thoughtful.
Do something small, a couple of times, just to get started.
It will make a difference.
They’ll be talking about it when you’re long gone.
Make it a great day.
Jake
“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day and it always reminds me of this quote from him.
Yesterday was Meaghan’s birthday and she reminded me of this quote all weekend.
It was her birthday and she spent the weekend picking up the slack for and taking care of her sick husband, son and puppy.
Meaghan has been such a great mother and wife and exemplifies this quote all the time.
She does all the little things without complaint and as well as Michaelangelo painted or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry.
And each day all of us have a chance to follow her example and the spirit of the imagined street sweeper.
How could you step up your game on the little stuff you do today?
Make it a great day.
Jake
Joy to the world.
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 New International Version (NIV)
This is one of my favorite Bible verses, and the rejoice always has been stuck in my mind lately.
I don’t know about you, but I fall short on the “rejoice always” one more than the other two.
Look for joy today.
Make it a great day.
Jake
The strongest tree in the forest is not the one that is protected from the wind and rain. – Anna Barnes
Strength comes from exposure to hardship.
How best to prepare ourselves for the bigger challenges in life?
Consistently exposing ourselves to the smaller ones.
Challenging ourselves daily builds up grit and resolve.
Pick something small today to challenge yourself.
I could be as simple as skipping a sweet treat after lunch.
I could be as challenging as a 10 or 20 mile run.
Regardless of where you are today, there is a way to push a little.
Find something and do it.
And then try the same exercise tomorrow. And the next day.
Make it a great day.
Jake
Watched an interview with Les Brown today and it reminded me of this email I had sent a few years back….
Today’s video is one I think about a lot. I know it is a little longer than usual, but it is worth watching.
This video is Les Brown’s story of getting into the radio business. Through telling this story, Les make’s one of my favorite points. “You’ve got to be hungry” is something that goes through my head at least a couple of times a week.
Think about your life and what you really want to accomplish. Are you hungry to accomplish your goals? Do you take no for answer? Would you work at a job for no pay just to get to your long term goal?
Want to make more money this year…..You’ve Got to Be Hungry!
Want to become a better father/spouse/friend……You’ve Got to Be Hungry!
Want to learn more…..You’ve Got to Be Hungry!
Want to lose weight…..You’ve Got to Be Hungry! (Sorry about the bad pun on that one, couldn’t resist).
When you are needing a little pick me up, just think of Les’s booming voice in your head.
Want to just watch TV instead of picking up a book? Hear Les….You’ve Got to Be Hungry!
Want to eat a bowl of ice cream before bed? Les booms…..You’ve Got to Be Hungry!
Want to take it easy today instead of giving your best? Focus on his voice….You’ve Got to Be Hungry!
Think about your goals and what you are hungry to accomplish. Get started on them today. If you are hungry, then it can’t wait until tomorrow.
Jake
I sent the email below around 2 years ago and was just thinking the other day about this story….
Below is a great story about how important it is to give others a “good name” in our hearts and in our minds (and theirs).
Read the story and think about someone in your life that deserves this kind of treatment.
Maybe forward the story and tell them what they mean to you.
Make it a great day.
Jake
PS – Meaghan is a one million cow wife (probably the best compliment she’s gotten lately).
Johnny Lingo’s Eight-Cow Wife
by Patricia McGerr
When I visited the South Pacific islands, I took a notebook along. I had a three‐week leave between assignments in Japan, so I borrowed a boat and sailed to Kiniwata. The notebook was supposed to help me become a junior‐grade Maugham or Michener. But when I got back, among all my notes the only sentence that still interested me was the one that said, “Johnny Lingo gave eight cows to Sarita’s father.”
Johnny Lingo wasn’t exactly his name. But I wrote it down that way because I learned about the eight cows from Shenkin, the fat manager of the guest house at Kiniwata. He was from Chicago and had a habit of Americanizing the names of the islanders. He wasn’t the only one who talked about Johnny, though. His name came up with many people in many connections. If I wanted to spend a few days on the island of Nurabandi, a day’s sail away, Johnny Lingo could put me up, they told me, since he had built a five‐room house–unheard‐of luxury! If I wanted to fish, he could show me where the biting was best. If I wanted fresh vegetables, his garden was the greenest. If I sought pearls, his busi‐ness savvy would bring me the best buys. Oh, the people of Kiniwata all spoke highly of Johnny Lingo. Yet when they spoke, they smiled, and the smiles were slightly mocking.
“Get Johnny Lingo to help you find what you want, and then let him do the bargaining,” advised Shenkin, as I sat on the veranda of his guest house wondering whether to visit Nurabandi. “He’ll earn his commission four times over. Johnny knows values and how to make a deal.”
“Johnny Lingo!” The chubby boy on the veranda steps hooted the name, then hugged his knees and rocked with shrill laughter.
“What goes on?” I asked. “Everybody around here tells me to get in touch with Johnny Lingo and then breaks up. Let me in on the joke.”
“They like to laugh,” Shenkin said. He shrugged his heavy shoulders.
“And Johnny’s the brightest, the quickest, the strongest young man in all this group of islands. So they like best to laugh at him.”
“But if he’s all you say, what is there to laugh about?”
“Only one thing. Five months ago, at fall festival time, Johnny came to Kiniwata and found himself a wife. He paid her father eight cows!”
He spoke the last words with great solemnity. I knew enough about island customs to be thoroughly impressed. Two or three cows would buy a fair‐to‐middling wife; four or five a highly satisfactory one.
“Eight cows!” I said. “She must be a beauty who takes your breath away.”
“The kindest could only call Sarita plain,” was Shenkin’s answer. “She was skinny. She walked with her shoulders hunched and her head ducked. She was scared of her own shadow.”
“Then how do you explain the eight cows?”
“We don’t,” he said. “And that’s why the villagers grin when they talk about Johnny. They get special satisfaction from the fact that Johnny, the sharpest trader in the islands, was bested by Sarita’s father, dull old Sam Karoo.”
“Eight cows,” I said unbelievingly. “I’d like to meet this Johnny Lingo.”
So the next afternoon I sailed a boat to Nurabandi and met Johnny at his home, where I asked about his eight‐cow purchase of Sarita. I assumed he had done it for his own vanity and reputation–at least until Sarita walked into the room. She was the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. The lift of her shoulders, the tilt of her chin, the sparkle of her eyes all spelled a pride to which no one could deny her the right.
I turned back to Johnny Lingo after she had left. “You admire her?” he asked. “She . . . she’s glorious,” I said. “But she’s not Sarita from Kiniwata.” “There’s only one Sarita.
Perhaps she does not look the way they say she looked in Kiniwata.” “She doesn’t.” The impact of the girl’s appearance made me forget tact. “I heard she was homely. They all make fun of you because you let yourself be cheated by Sam Karoo.”
“You think eight cows were too many?” A smile slid over his lips. “No. But how can she be so different?” “Do you ever think,” he asked, “what it must mean to a woman to know that her husband settled on the lowest price for which she can be bought? And then later, when the women talk, they boast of what their husbands paid for them. One says four cows; another maybe six. How does she feel, the woman who was sold for one or two? This could not happen to my Sarita.”
“Then you did this just to make her happy?” I asked.
“I wanted Sarita to be happy, yes. But I wanted more than that. You say she is different. This is true. Many things can change a woman. Things that happen inside; things that happen outside. But the thing that matters most is what she thinks about herself. In Kiniwata, Sarita believed she was worth nothing. Now she knows she is worth more than any other woman in the islands.”
“Then you wanted . . . ” “I wanted to marry Sarita. I loved her and no other woman.” “But . . . ” “But,” he finished softly, “I wanted an eight‐cow wife.”
LOOKING AHEAD . . .
Someone said, “We are not what we think we are. We are not even what others think we are. We are what we think others think we are.” In other words, our estimation of our value as human beings is greatly influenced by the way people respond to us and the respect or disdain they reveal day by day. Those interactions shape our self‐concepts and are translated into the nuances of our personalities.
Johnny Lingo was, indeed, a brilliant man. He was astute enough to know that his negotiations with Sarita’s father would seal forever the self‐concept of the woman he loved. That’s why Sarita revealed such confidence and beauty. Let me say to the husbands and wives reading this book: You have the power to elevate or debase each other’s self‐esteem. Rather than tear down, don’t miss a single opportunity to build up.
Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. – Thomas A. Edison
This sentiment runs throughout history. Stories of people who gave up when success was just around the corner. Times when everything seemed the darkest but the light was right around the corner.
It’s always darkest right before the dawn.
I’m guessing most of us having something like this in our lives right now.
We are starting an exercise regimen, but it just seems like too much time to keep going.
We have been saving and sticking to a budget but then a big expense comes up.
We have been working hard and making progress but then our biggest client leaves.
There are these points in life when we have to decide to bear down and make it through it. Success lies on the other side of these moments.
Take courage in this thought this morning. Success lies on the other side of whatever difficulty you are now facing.
Make it a great day.
Jake
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