https://youtu.be/KtBbyglq37E

This song always makes me think of Meaghan.

Every day I try to “say a little prayer for her” and think she does the same for me.

This isn’t a brag about how awesome we are.

It’s just a reminder for all of us.

A reminder to “say a little prayer” for those you care about in your life.

Keep your loved ones on your mind.

Pray for and think positive thoughts about them.

By focusing our minds and thoughts on the important people in our lives we build positive momentum for that relationship.

Pick someone and “say a little prayer” for them today.

Make it a great day.

Jake

“Why did this happen to me?”

It’s a question we all ask when we’ve been through something difficult or tragic. When we feel defeated, betrayed, broken.

But what if we just shift the emphasis a little? Try to see beyond the pain?

“Why did this happen to me?”

With one shift of focus, we go from victim to student. From out of control, to regaining it.

It’s not about whether the tragedy can be justified, or measured as worth it. It’s about rising above the tragedy. Turning it into something good. Extracting every possible bit of good from something horrible. In this way we can transform ourselves from victims to champions, and in doing so, conquer adversity.

Other times, misfortune will happen to us as a result of our own shortcomings. Our own negligence. But by seeing that, and embracing it with total honesty, we can rise above it. With every failure, a lesson, allowing us to be more than we were, if only we will see it.

The road to success is often paved with failures. So too is the road to wisdom equally brutal.

Whether it be through humility or tragedy, life’s greatest lessons are always learned on your knees.

Michael Cluney

Today marks Meaghan and I’s 15th anniversary.

Each anniversary I am tempted to write the daily attitude email as some kind of sappy love letter to Meaghan, but I’m guessing that none of you want to read that.

In yesterday’s email I wrote about the legacy my grandmother left behind.

A big part of that was being married to my grandfather for 63 years. With our anniversary falling so close I can’t help but think about how much of a positive influence their marriage has been on mine and many others.

Each of has an opportunity to be a light for others.

To show them that love can win.

To show them that the good guys don’t finish last.

My grandparents did that through their 63 years of marriage.

And each day I am thankful for Meaghan and the light she shows me in our marriage.

Being married to Meaghan these 15 years has been a true blessing.

My sincerest hope is that our marriage is a blessing to her as well as others around us.

What blessings do you have in your life that might be a light to others?

Make it a great day.

Jake

“Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.” —Shannon L. Alder

My grandmother passed away on Saturday and today is the funeral.

She was a very unassuming person to have left such a great legacy.

In one of Andy Stanley’s podcasts he says something like “Your legacy might not be what you do, but who you raise.”

My grandmother was a homemaker and never even got her driver’s license, but she left a tremendous legacy.

Not that we are perfect, but she helped create a family legacy that will endure and continue to grow.

Each new generation has been touched and influenced by her love and caring.

This is your opportunity as well.

To leave this world better than you found it.

You may not even be the one that accomplishes great things (although I certainly hope you do). Your legacy may be a subtler one, like that of my grandmother.

But it will be something. Each and every day is an opportunity to make an impact and grow your legacy, don’t let them slip past you.

Make it a great day.

Jake

http://youtu.be/M67E9mpwBpM

Everything’s coming up Millhouse.

Meaghan and I have frequently used this line around the house over the years.

I especially love it when we use it in reference to some little, seemingly inconsequential thing that has gone well.

Just found $5 in your coat from last winter….Everything’s coming up Millhouse!

Just got the front row parking spot…..Everything’s coming up Millhouse!

Pulled up right when they are lowering the price at the gas station….Everything’s coming up Millhouse!

For some reason, this line brightens my day each and every time I hear it.

Make it a point today to look for something that has gone right. Then turn to the person closest to you and say….”Everything’s coming up Millhouse!”

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/bacBKKgc4Uo

This song plays during another of the classic scenes in “The Sandlot”.

Squints jumps into the deep end of the pool and pretends to drown in order to kiss the lifeguard that he has been obsessing over.

On the list of lessons you can learn from “The Sandlot”, this scene teaches us all to think we are worthy of the girl/guy of our dreams.

At some point we all have to believe that we are worthy of love. Worthy of the love and attention of that special someone that is out there just for us.

If you’ve already found that someone, tell them how lucky you are.

If you haven’t, recommit yourself today to doing the work to find him/her.

Make it a great day.

Jake

If you want to read the whole list of 11, the article is here:

http://www.scarymommy.com/club-mid/11-epic-life-lessons-for-my-kids-from-the-sandlot/?utm_source=FB&u=pubexchange

The kids were watching “The Sandlot” yesterday when I got home. It reminded me of this email I sent out last year.

Don’t overthink it and keep trying.

Another lesson from the article with the top 11 lessons learned from “The Sandlot”.

At first the main character has a really hard time learning how to play baseball. There are several hilarious scenes while he overthinks the mechanics of throwing and catching a baseball.

But he keeps trying.

And eventually quits overthinking it.

And it gets a lot easier.

As adults, we tend to let overthinking and worrying keep us from doing something challenging and new.

We think ourselves right out of it. Or even worse, we think ourselves right out of enjoying something new.

The challenge is to try something new and keep trying without all of the overthinking.

Make it a great day.

Jake

http://www.scarymommy.com/11-epic-life-lessons-for-my-kids-from-the-sandlot/?utm_source=FB&u=pubexchange

https://youtu.be/Yr7Wkz7W7Vs

In this video by Tony Robbins, he asks “what kinds of questions are you asking yourself?”

Are you asking yourself questions like:

Why am I so fat?

Why don’t I have any friends?

When am I going to get it together?

Instead, you must learn to ask yourself positive questions. Questions that allow you to take responsibility for your actions and lead to action in a positive direction.

What can I do today to lose weight?

What can I do today to create a new relationship?

What book can I read to learn to get more organized?

We must learn to ask ourselves the right questions if we are to find the answers we are searching for.

Make it a great day.

Jake

“Be fanatically positive and militantly optimistic. If something is not to your liking, change your liking.” ―Rick Steves

This is a great quote to sum up why attitude is so important.

I’d like to add one thing at the beginning:

Get clear about your values, your priorities and your purpose, then be fanatically….

We must build our house on a firm foundation, but after that if something is not to your liking, change your liking.

Think about how many times you have gotten stuck on something you didn’t like.

Something you didn’t like about your situation.

Something you didn’t like about your self.

Something you didn’t like about your job.

Either change the something or change your attitude about it.

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

Originally sent on 5/15/13