Today I thought I would share an excerpt from a Zig Ziglar book that was sent to me recently.

Also, don’t forget to plan ahead to make time to vote tomorrow.

Make it a great day.

Jake

An excerpt from
Create a Life You Can’t Wait to Live

by Zig Ziglar

You are about to experience the life you can’t wait to live—one filled with passion, peak performance and purpose.

I don’t care what the field of endeavor is—sports, business, science, medicine, education, ministry, public service—I don’t believe that anyone will perform at his or her peak without passion. Life’s too tough to get to the top without passion. You’re going to fail, be taken advantage of, be disappointed by people you trust, disappoint yourself, run out of resources—almost every day you’re going to encounter a good, solid, logical reason why you ought to give up. And without passion, you just might. That’s why passion is the prerequisite for peak performance.

Peak performance is dependent on passion, grit, determination, and a willingness to do something poorly until you can do it well. True peak performance is influenced by the condition of your physical, spiritual, business and family life.

The third part of the equation—purpose—is something I have come to believe is a key to the whole dynamic of motivation.

I’ve met people all through my life who had passion of a sort. But because their passion wasn’t fueled by purpose, it would come and go in bits and pieces. They were trying to generate their passion out of their own energy day after day, something that’s ultimately unsustainable. Scientists have yet to invent the world’s first perpetual-motion machine—everything runs down or runs out of gas eventually, including human beings trying to maximize their peak performance day after day.

I believe this book can help motivate you to connect the dots in life, little by little. The end result will be a picture of beauty, purpose and fulfillment—a life you can’t wait to live.

JD – Days are expensive. When you spend a day you have one less day to spend. So make sure you spend each one wisely. – Jim Rohn

JS – So what are you going to do with all of the Halloween candy sitting around your house?

EB* – If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. – Henry David Thoreau

JM* – Tell the truth. It’s easier to memorize.– Charles Krauthammer

KJ – Today you are you that is truer than true there is no one alive that is youer than you. Dr. Seuss

JW* – We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. – Albert Einstein

Kim’s quote reminded me again of how much I love Dr. Seuss books.

Dr. Seuss (and other great authors) has a unique ability to paint silly, whimsical and extreme pictures of the important areas and values of life.

By showing these important concepts in this light he allows us to see more clearly what the right path is.

Reading good books is such an important exercise in helping us clarify what is important in our lives and what we really stand for.

Beginning of sales pitch:

The Mavidea library is overflowing up front. For those of you who can, pick up a book and take it home with you. Feed your mind.

End of sales pitch.

Make it a great weekend.

Jake

http://youtu.be/AxcM3nCsglA

Couldn’t resist sending out the Monster Mash on the Friday of Halloween week.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween.

Jake

Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.

William James

I saw this quote the other day and thought of Mavidea.

One of my favorite things about Mavidea is how funny everyone is and how much we all laugh together.

Next time you see someone exhibit a good sense of humor, just think of this quote and “common sense, dancing.”

Make it a great day.

Jake

Hard times don’t create heroes. It is during the hard times when the ‘hero’ within us is revealed.

Bob Riley

In the wake of the devastation from Hurricane Sandy there are and will be many tragic stories told. Stories of those who didn’t make it. Stories of neighborhoods that will never be the same. Stories of lives forever changed.

But there will also be stories of heroes. Stories of those who faced extreme circumstances and met them with extreme courage, extreme compassion and an extreme love of their fellow human beings.

Difficult times reveal the heroes among us.

The neighborhood church that housed the homeless.

The local family that fed the hungry.

The families that pulled together and made it through tough times.

Heroism is one of those uniquely human traits. Revealing the good that lurks within all of us. Showing us, even if only for an instant, the greatness that we have inside of us.

My sincere hope is that all effected by this storm can find peace and safety amongst the devastation. I also hope that we can all take this tragic event and look for the heroes amongst us, and maybe even find the hero inside of all of us.

Make it a great day.

Jake

If everything is a priority, nothing is.

I have been in several situations lately where I have heard others struggling with this.

It reminded me of the story a friend of mine told me once about the company he was working for. The company had devised a system of prioritizing all of the projects the company was working on so that people could tell what was most important at any given point. Problem was that people lobbied to get their projects on the important list and pretty soon everything was important.

We are all running a company of one, all day, every day.

How we choose to prioritize our lives is a key determinant in how our lives turn out.

Take a good look at how you have spent your last 24 hours or your last 7 days.

Did everything seem like a priority?

Did you let that goofy email distract you from responding to that client faster?

Did you let something else take up that time that was supposed to be spent exercising?

I know this is a difficult area for most of us. We are afraid of making the wrong decisions and picking the wrong priorities so we treat everything like a priority.

Some things in life are more important than others. We all get to pick which ones. But we all have to live with the consequences that those choices produce.

Make it a great day.

Jake

There are risks and costs to a program of action, but they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction. – John F. Kennedy

This is a great quote about something I have written about before.

One of the constant hard choices we face in life is whether or not to take the risk.

Some risks represent foolishness and impetuousness, while other risks represent wise moves in a life-changing direction.

The two words from the end of the quote that I think we need to watch out for the most are “comfortable inaction”. We must guard against taking the easy way out and taking no action simply because it is most comfortable.

Make it a great (but slightly uncomfortable) day.

Jake

EB – “Trust each other again and again. When the trust level gets high enough, people transcend apparent limits, discovering new and awesome abilities for which they were previously unaware.”

David Armistead – Professor

JM* – It’s true there is no I in team, but there is a u in suck.

JD – New cubes today!

KJ – Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success. Henry Ford

JW – You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club. Jack London

JS – Oh yeah! Today is going to be an awesome day!

Make it a great weekend.

Jake

http://youtu.be/GUAV_1jBJB4

Thought I would share something a little Halloweenish today.

Yet another example of just how creative and unique people can be.

Make it a great Friday.

Jake

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the sweet earth’s flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

-Joyce Kilmer

My wife, Meaghan, posted this the other day on FaceBox. One of my favorite things about her is her appreciation for the beauty of nature.

As the leaves change and another season goes by, don’t miss your opportunity to take in the beauty and appreciate all of the wonderful colors, sights and sounds of the season.

Make it a great day.

Jake