To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence … When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up. -C.S. Lewis

One of the hardest elements of becoming successful is that it requires a certain amount of maturity.

It requires maturity to place service to others above self interest.

It requires maturity to want to learn more than to want to be entertained.

It requires maturity to balance the long term and the short term (should I eat the ice cream or the vegetables).

It requires maturity to choose to continue the positive disciplines instead of giving in to the poor habits of the past.

And these are just a few that I thought of just now. I am sure the list is longer than this.

My favorite part of this quote was “the desire to be very grown up”.

We have to find the desire to become grown up.

We have to want it. More than we want the childish and immature impulses of the past.

Make the choice today to become more mature. It might not be easy, but it is worth it. It is worth your desire.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Below is an article Meaghan read and shared on her blog that I really liked and wanted to share.

What a challenge. The words we use have so much power, let’s learn to use them wisely.

Make it a great day.

Jake

I love words…what writer doesn’t? My father was an English teacher, so honestly, I don’t know that I had much choice!

The Bible says a lot about our speech and the power of our words. Here are just a few things that God tells us:

• "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." (Ephesians 4:29).

• "Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or coarse joking…" (Ephesians 5:4)

• "For out of the overflow of our heart, the mouth speaks." (Matthew 12:34)

• "Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure…[and] shine like stars in the universe." (Philippians 2:14-15)

• "Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing." (Proverbs 12:18)

And then there’s the 10 Commandments: don’t lie, don’t use the Lord’s name in vain, and honor your mother and your father—which is often done by measuring our words. Wow…three out of ten commandments deal with our words! They must be a pretty big deal!

Proverbs 18:21 tells us, "The tongue has the power of life and death." With that in mind, I’ve come to understand that there are four types of powerful words our family needs to hear from us.

Powerful Affirming Words: These words give a pat on the back when someone has been successful at something. They encourage…or "inspire courage," when we affirm the God-given talents or character traits someone has. Our husbands and children need to hear more affirming words from us than correcting words or critical words.

Powerful Accepting Words: Accepting words communicate that someone else’s ideas, thoughts, or opinions are valuable. Accepting words and phrases draw people out rather than shutting them down. They include phrases like "That’s a good idea." "Tell me more." Or "I think you’re on to something!"

Powerful Appreciating Words: These words express sincere gratitude for something someone’s done or who someone is. If we’re grateful in our heart, but the words never exit our mouth, the other person doesn’t have the opportunity to hear these life-giving words.

Powerful Apologizing Words: We need to say, "I’m sorry, will you please forgive me?" when we blow it. For some of us those seem to be the hardest words to say. Maybe because we consider such words weak. Or maybe because we never saw apologizing words modeled. Regardless of why those words are sometimes hard, we have to redefine apologizing words as POWERFUL. These words soothe the hurts we cause. They begin a healing process in the heart and they bring life to the relationships closest to our hearts.

Since God’s word tells us that words are so important, I’m working on being careful with my words. I’m also working on watching the tone of my words.

Care to join me?

Joining you in the journey,

Jill Savage

If you want to have something different than you have ever had before, you have to become someone different than you have been before. – Les Brown

The results of our lives are a reflection of our inner selves. We can’t get better results on the outside than the person we are on the inside.

If you want something different and better then you need to become someone different and better.

How about that for a challenging statement?

Sometimes we need to have the maturity to face the fact that when we are disappointed in the results achieved in our lives we are the ones that need to change.

If there is an area of your life you are struggling I encourage you to look in the mirror. Face it with courage and make the decision to change for the better.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Today is Rebecca Barber’s (RB) fifth anniversary of her start date at Mavidea. She was one of our very first Mavideans and is the first person to make it to their fifth anniversary.

And while I could write today’s email about all the awesome things about RB, I am going to operate under the assumption that that might be slightly embarrassing for her (but she is awesome).

Instead, I wanted to share some of the other things that come to mind on her anniversary.

First, thankfulness. That someone would invest 5 years of their life into helping Mavidea succeed is something that I am very thankful for. I am thankful for each and every member of our staff and every day that dedicate to our cause.

My next thought was how humbling it is that someone of RB’s caliber has decided to work with us. All of our staff humble me with their quality of work, dedication and general awesomeness.

Then I thought about how far we have come. RB and Mavidea have grown a lot over the last 5 years. Growth is such an amazing process to watch and participate in.

My last thought was about the next 5 years. RB has seen a lot of change and progress over this first 5 years. But the next 5 years are going to be even better.

I am looking forward to writing the daily attitude email for her 10th anniversary.

Thanks for all you do for Mavidea, RB. We wouldn’t be where we are without you.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Slow down and everything you are chasing will come around and catch you. -John DePaola

I have also heard success or happiness described as a butterfly. You can run around all day long trying to catch the butterfly, but only when you slow down and stay still will it come to you and rest on you.

This is another of life’s great mysteries. You must continually move forward in the direction of your dreams but at the same time be calm, peaceful and slow down in order to attract the results you want.

Think about some of your life goals, maybe there are one or two that require you to slow down a little.

Maybe you need to slow down a little and enjoy some slow moments with your small child before they aren’t so small anymore.

Maybe a coworker needs you to just slow down and listen for a little while.

Maybe you need to slow down and spend time with your spouse or a close friend just talking about nothing in particular.

Maybe you need some quite reading and reflection time to get through a tough time or problem.

Maybe you need to lighten your schedule a little so you can make those wise food or money decisions needed to meet your goals.

I am sure we all have something that if we would just slow down it would come right around and catch us.

Make it a great day.

Jake

To teach is to learn twice. – Joseph Joubert

Teaching someone else something is such a positive experience in our lives.

We get to learn twice and they get something new out of the experience.

There are so many teachable moments in our lives when we have the opportunity to teach someone else, we just need to look for them.

This concept can also be used purposefully in your own skill development.

Have a skill that you want to become an expert in? Sign up to teach a class or set up a time to show a friend.

By creating a situation where you have to teach someone you will have created the opportunity for yourself to learn twice.

We all have lots of learning left to do, but maybe some of it should come in the form of teaching.

Make it a great day.

Jake