"Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." – Ralph Waldo Emerson

I sent this quote out earlier but searched it out again as I thought about today’s daily attitude email.

I am just beginning the third of Norman Vincent Peale’s books in the collection I am reading.

The title says a lot "Enthusiasm Make the Difference."

I am learned many lessons from my children but this has to be one of the biggest ones – enthusiasm makes the difference.

Our two girls have been gifted with abounding enthusiasm. (Must have got it from their mom.)

Observing them and their enthusiasm has shown me just how great life can be when filled with enthusiasm.

If we could all find a way to infuse enthusiasm into our day our lives would be so much better.

Take a minute to think about your level of enthusiasm today.

How do you start the day?

How do you approach the next phone call, task or meeting?

How about breakfast, lunch and dinner times?

How about your exercise program?

How about that book that you are reading?

Look for you enthusiasm for these things and focus on it.

Make it a great day.

Jake

It is feeling a lot more wintery lately and I have been thinking about Jim Rohn’s talk about the seasons.

Below is the email I sent about his explanation on winter.

The thought that pops into my head all the time is “get stronger, get wiser, get better.”

Make it a great (winter) day.

Jake

http://youtu.be/TIsPdoM_xtk

A little bit of a toe tapper this morning.

I saw this commercial the other day and wanted to share. What a powerful concept, every kid with a book in their hands.

I am not an expert on education or learning but it seems to me that reading more is a no brainer.

It expands your vocabulary, opens your mind and instructs you.

And it doesn’t even have to cost you that much if you go to the library.

But for today, let’s forget about you and your goals.

Let’s all make an effort to reach out to and read more to children. If you have kids, read them an extra book this week. If you don’t have kids, volunteer for a program to read to kids.

Make it a great day.

Jake

As costly as it was in the lives of our men and women in uniform, in military assets, and in esteem and pride, Pearl Harbor was a watershed moment for America. – Joe Baca

The anniversary of Pearl Harbor was on Saturday and each year that when it passes I reflect again on that generation and what they have done for us.

I found this paragraph in a blog while reading about “The Greatest Generation”:

“The Bible instructs us to give honor to whom honor is due (Rom. 13:7). Surely this passing generation of ordinary people who did extraordinary things deserves our gratitude and recognition. They won history’s worst war and saved the world. They built the America you and I know and benefit from every day. They may very well be, as Tom Brokaw calls them, “the greatest generation any society has ever produced.”

I am not a historian and so I won’t argue whether or not they were, in fact, “the greatest generation”.

I will agree they were great though.

And the reason I think so is because they gave so much.

They gave their friends, brothers, and sisters in a great war so that the world would remain free.

They gave their youth in service to their country.

They gave their all in rebuilding after the war.

If you ask me, all of that adds up to greatness.

Make it a great day.

Jake

JD – I can’t wait to see Mathy in yellow tights.

EB – Trust is knowing that when a team member does push you, they’re doing because they care about the team. – Patrick Lencioni

JW – If everything is important, then nothing is. – Patrick Lencioni

KJ – Being happy doesn’t mean that everything is perfect. It means you’ve decided to look beyond the imperfections.

JS – Hello, old friend, it’s good to see you.

JM -The hero is valorous because he stands up to every threat to his values. – Andrew Bernstein

I loved JM’s quote this morning. Made me want to read whatever book that came out of.

One of the reasons that books and movies are so effective at showing us what valor can look like is that it is easier to understand valor when it is pictured as a hero on his white horse fighting the dragon that is destroying the village.

In real life it usually isn’t that easy.

Valor isn’t obvious when we see a young mom at the store. We don’t get the background that her husband is gone, sick, struggling in some way and it took all she had this morning to get to the store and buy food for the kids.

Valor isn’t obvious when we see the old man sitting alone at the table next to us at lunch. We don’t see his struggle to go on every day after his wife passed away a year ago.

Valor isn’t obvious when we look at the waitress serving our lunch. We don’t see her struggle with physical pain but still go to work on her feet all day to make a living.

Words like valor don’t get thrown around a lot, but valor is all around us.

It would be great to make words like valor, character, faith, hope, courage and other inspiring words part of our regular vocabulary. Imagine how inspired you would be at the end of a day, a week, a year in which you focused on finding these traits (and others like them) in others and living them out yourself.

Make it a great day.

Jake

http://youtu.be/sWEfszb9h8Q

This was conveniently on the home page of YouTube as I began my search this morning.

Another great example of just how creative human beings can be.

I am always amazed at what happens when you put a bunch of talented and creative people together.

Make it a great day.

Jake

PS For those of you who want to listen to the “real” version of this song (I know at least one of you that does), here you go:

http://youtu.be/yXQViqx6GMY

I received this list below the other day and wanted to share with the group.

Listening to Zig Ziglar talk about legacy in his most recent book really brought some of these points home.

You really can learn, grow and share a lot over a long life well lived.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Written by Regina Brett, 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio

“To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me.

It is the most requested column I’ve ever written”.

“My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more”:

1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.

8. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.

12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ‘In five years, will this matter?’

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.

35. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time.

42. You already have all you need.

43. The best is yet to come…

44. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift."

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo 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.

I love quotes like this.

I have always been drawn to the idea that our work has meaning. This quote reminded me that whatever work you do has meaning if you put meaning into it.

If you give it your all and do your best you immediately create meaning for whatever you are doing.

We each have the opportunity to see this meaning as we go about our day.

What do others see in your work?

Do they see someone just making it through another day?

Do they see someone going through the motions?

Or do they say there goes someone who did his job well?

We choose what they see. We choose our attitude and how we go about our work.

What will you choose today?

Make it a great day.

Jake

It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see. – Henry David Thoreau

Perception is reality.

This reminds me of the principle of “seek and ye shall find”.

This morning this quote made me think of how we see others and how we can choose to see the positive in them.

Instead of seeing a seeing an idiot driver in front of us maybe we could see a single mom with a lot on her mind who needs a smile from a stranger.

Instead of seeing a waiter who made a mistake maybe we could see someone who has just had their heart broken and needs someone to give them a little slack today.

All around us, every day, we look at people and choose what to see.

Let’s choose something positive or a positive action in response to their situation.

Make it a great day.

Jake

I like to compare the holiday season with the way a child listens to a favorite story. The pleasure is in the familiar way the story begins, the anticipation of familiar turns it takes, the familiar moments of suspense, and the familiar climax and ending.

Fred Rogers

What a great way to describe the holiday season.

Let’s enjoy the anticipation around the familiar turns of the Christmas season.

Decorating the house.

Shopping for presents.

Christmas plays and programs.

Our favorite Christmas movies.

Christmas church.

Wrapping and opening presents.

Quiet time with loved ones after all the hullabaloo.

Whatever your familiar moments, enjoy them.

Make it a great Christmas season.

Jake