“Two prisoners looked out from behind their bars, one saw mud and the other saw stars.”

This is one of my favorite lines from Dale Carnegie’s “How to Stop Worrying”.

What a great reminder that no matter our circumstances, we can choose to look at the beauty and goodness of life or we can choose to look at the mud.

Are there times when you are focusing on the mud instead of the stars?

Next time you are looking at the mud, remember the line above and choose instead to look up at the stars.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Blatant sales pitch: I would highly recommend both “How to Stop Worrying” and “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. Both of these are in my top 10 list of books.

I’ve been listening to Brene Brown’s newest book and went in search of a previous email I had sent with some of her ideas.

Here you go:

You can’t selectively numb emotions. – Brene Brown

After hearing about Brene Brown in the training we received a few weeks ago, I went out and found and listened to her TED Talks.

I think this quote came from her talk on vulnerability: https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability

The idea that we can’t selectively numb emotions really struck with me. I couldn’t shake the idea that the reason so many spend their lives in mediocrity might be that they have chosen to numb themselves as a result of some bad experience.

Whether we numb ourselves with a serious dependency like drugs or with something seemingly innocent like cupcakes (hey, what’s he got against cupcakes?), the result is the same: we also can’t feel as much joy and happiness in the good moments.

And maybe when we can’t feel as much joy in the moments of our highest triumphs, we don’t work so hard for them, or maybe they’re just not worth it.

Then we settle.

We settle for less joy because it means less pain.

We settle for less money because it means less risk.

We settle for less relationship because it means less heartbreak.

We settle for less life because we might lose ours.

Hopefully this TED talk can serve as a wake up call for you (if you needed one, or a good reminder if you needed one of those). Are you not allowing yourself to be vulnerable enough to really reach your potential?

Make it a great day.

Jake

​

Dr. Seuss’ The Sneetches is a favorite of ours.

The story is about two different kinds of Sneetches. One with stars on their bellies and sneetches with none upon thars.

They are bamboozled (don’t get to break that one out much) into getting stars added and removed from their stomachs in a race to see which kind of Sneetches are the best.

Like all my favorite Dr. Seuss books, this story illustrates an important life lesson while being silly and whimsical (bamboozled and whimsical in the same email, wow).

At first blush, I thought the lesson was about not looking down on others because they are different than you.

And while I think that lesson can be gathered from this story, there is a potentially more important one.

Don’t let someone else tell you that because you don’t have a “star” that you are anything less.

The really sad part of the story was that each group in turn accepted the other group’s labeling of them as “less than” or some version of that.

When we accept those thoughts and labels that others place on us we actually do become “less than” we are capable of being.

I think Thomas Jefferson said it best:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

Remember today to not accept the limitations any else places on you.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Winning is more fun than losing.

I know this falls in the category of obvious, but I thought it would be a good reminder.

I once heard an interview with the CEO of GE, Jeffrey Immelt.

He said that GE they “play to win” and it reminded me that winning is more fun than losing.

And he reminded me of another important point on this subject. Winning only counts when there is a chance of losing.

We must take some risks in order to really win.

Is there an area of your life where you need to take a chance on winning?

Are you playing it too safe so you don’t risk losing?

We can only really win if we take the chance of losing.

And we won’t always win, but that is what makes the victories we do achieve even sweeter.

Challenge yourself to step outside your comfort zone in order to win at something you are currently struggling with.

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/xUNqsfFUwhY

Here comes the sun. I am always amazed at what a difference a little sunshine can make in everyone’s moods.

As the weather begins to turn and the sun shines brighter, warmer and for a little bit longer each day remember to slow down enough to enjoy it.

Take a moment to step outside and just take it in.

Turn off the radio in the car for a minute and just look at the view.

Get up a few minutes early and find a place to see the sunrise.

Enjoy it.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Below is an excerpt from a book titled “Life Begins When You Do.”

What a great way of looking at things.

Make it a great day.

Jake

An excerpt from

Life Begins When You Do

by Mary Anne Radmacher

Nearly everyone postpones one grand thing or a collection of mighty hopes and dreams.

Between the quote marks of our lives are phrases like these: "When things slow down…when I finish my degree…when I get certified…as I acquire a deeper knowledge base…when I have kids…when the kids are grown…when I get well…when I marry…when I divorce…when I retire…when I get that promotion, that raise, that job, that house, that whatever the fill-in-the blank is for your specific postponing of life…"

Your Life Begins When You Do.

You may think you are postponing the longing of your soul until life aligns itself with your vision, until elements conspire to be more favorable…but as it happens, life just lolls along at the same remarkable consistent and disinterested cadence. Life is impartial. YOUR personal, subjective life (dreams, satisfactions, contentment, achievements, vision, fullness, passion, aspirations) begins when you begin.

From my teens into adulthood, I said, "I want to be an artist." One day I changed the sentence to, "I am an artist." My view changed. Life began. I looked behind me and saw that I had been accidentally living as an artist. I had been laying down a path that was only now visible to eyes that had begun to see. Beginning my life as an artist made my heart’s longing and the small, tentative labors of my hands – visible and tangible. I began by opening the door and simply believing that I could live my dream. I began living that dream by seeing that I could.

Your purpose, that thing that among the many to-dos of your days, is what you must do. Embrace the truth of your purpose each minute of your precious life…for how very true it is that life begins when you do.

If you would dream it

BEGIN it.

If you have an idea

OPEN it.

If there is longing

ACKNOWLEDGE it.

If there is mission

COMMIT it.

If there is daring

DO it.

If there is love

SPEAK it.

If there is resource

USE it.

If there is abundance

SHARE it.

The beautiful spring came; and when Nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also. – Harriet Ann Jacobs

Today is the first official day of spring.

Let’s take advantage of the spring. Let our souls revive.

Make it a point to do something this week to revive your soul.

Spend some time in solitude.

Create a piece of art.

Spend some time outside.

Go for a long run.

Read your favorite book.

Whatever it is for you, do it.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Generosity is at its core a lifestyle, a lifestyle in which we share all that we have, are and ever will become as a demonstration of God’s love and a response to God’s grace. – Chris Willard

Great quote and a great reminder.

We can choose each day to live generously.

To lay down our lives through generous service and love to the those around us.

To become all that we were created to be by giving all that we were created to be.

Live generously today.

Make it a great day.

Jake

May your home always be too small to hold all your friends.

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I went in search of Irish quotes and proverbs.

This one in particular struck at the heart of what I believe to be one of the most endearing of the Irish idiosyncrasies, hospitality.

The Irish are well known for their hospitality and welcoming nature.

I have come to think this is part of what leads to their general cheeriness. Life is best lived through service and hospitality towards others.

When we put others first our best shines through.

Make it a great day filled with happy hospitality.

Jake

Here are some of the other great Irish sayings I found:

It’s easier to halve the potato when there’s love.

May your thoughts be as glad as the shamrocks. May your heart be as light as a song. May each day bring you bright, happy hours that stay with you all the year long.

Lose an hour in the morning and you’ll be looking for it all day.

If you buy what you don’t need you might have to sell what you do.

Better good manners than good looks.

You’ll never plough a field by turning it over in your mind.

Pity him who makes an opinion a certainty.

https://youtu.be/0fQESUBMwGg

Heard that on the radio and it reminded me that spring break is right around the corner.

Jim Rohn says something like “make rest a necessity, not an objective”.

I think he means that rest and vacation are good things and part of keeping ourselves at our best.

But they are not the objective of life.

Life is not to be spent resting.

It’s to be spent growing and striving towards a life full of meaning and purpose.

Enjoy some rest this weekend.

Then get back at it on Monday.

Make it a great day.

Jake