Mowing the yard is not on my list of favorite things to do. But, while mowing the yard the other day, I got a pleasant surprise.

I was mowing along and then happened to look up at our front porch. I saw two little girls and their mom cheering me along as mowed.

If you know our two little ones, you know that they can get excited over virtually anything, so this isn’t an email to explain how praiseworthy my mowing skills are.

The point of today’s email is that we all need a cheerleader sometimes. Sometimes you just need a little pick me up from someone in your life cheering you on towards your goals.

Having my own cheerleading crew certainly lifted my spirits.

Think today about whose spirits you can lift.

Who in your life needs a cheerleader?

Who needs someone jumping up and down in excitement for them?

Find that someone in your life and cheer them on.

Speaking of cheerleaders, I couldn’t resist sending out this clip:

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/Cheerleaders-Cold-Opening/1355399

Jake

“A poor sailor blames the wind.”

I heard this quote the other day and it stuck in my head.

Kind of self-explanatory, so I won’t write much about it.

Today is a more of a reminder.

If you want to be the best you can be, you must not blame the circumstances of your life, you must learn to turn them into positives.

You can’t blame the wind.

Jake

Today is officially tax day for this year in the United States.

I am going to suggest that we all work toward becoming happy taxpayers.

We must learn to gladly pay the prices for living in this great nation of ours.

Think of all the good things paid for with your tax dollars:

· Sidewalks

· Streets

· Firemen

· Policemen

· Armed forces

I think we should learn to take it as a point of pride to help pay for those things that make our nation so great. Being able to participate in such a system (with all its imperfections) is a blessing.

Make it a great day.

Jake

I was watching TV the other day and came to a realization. Everyone you meet is someone’s son or daughter.

I know, you are thinking that I am real brilliant right about now, but I think there is something to this.

Everyone is special to someone. Everyone has something about them that has caused another to love and care for them deeply.

When dealing with others we must search for this. And if we search, we will find it.

Even your worst enemy has something about them that deserves our respect and admiration.

Looking for this good in others will only serve to help our understanding of those we interact with regularly.

Never forget this truth about yourself. You are special to someone. At the very least, you are special to me.

While writing these emails has been a tremendous benefit for me, I send them to you because you matter to me. I work hard to add value to you with every email I send. Because you are worth it.

Make it a great day.

Jake

All we have in life is life. Things – the cars, the houses, the educations, the jobs, the money – come and go, turn to dust between our fingers, change and disappear…the secret of life….is that it must be developed from the inside out. – Joan Chittiser

I read this quote recently and thought I should share with everyone.

The words and the mental images really struck me. Can’t you just picture all of your “stuff” being blown away as dust?

I have this mental image of the videos where time moves really fast through a bunch of pictures on the screen, each one showing all my “stuff” becoming more and more dilapidated and then eventually just disappearing, showing the unimportance of it all.

And her conclusion. Life must be developed from the inside out.

All that matters is what kind of person you can become.

Did you do your best with what you were given?

Were you a good steward of the time and resources given to you?

Those things are built from the inside out. By becoming a better person, husband, wife, brother, sister, parent or friend.

The “stuff” in our lives only matters in how we use it as a tool to become a better person.

How useful are the tools you have accumulated around your house?

Make it a great day.

Jake

Happy Birthday to my little Annie!

Our youngest daughter turns 3 today, so I thought I would share something I have learned from her.

Laugh. Laugh often. Laugh with enough gusto to light up the entire room.

This is what I have learned from Annie. She has the best laugh in the entire world (I might be a little partial) and lights up the whole room when she does.

Laughter is such a powerful and positive force, make an effort to make someone else laugh today.

I have included a pic of Annie and her sister putting on my tennis shoes that will hopefully at least generate a few giggles.

Make it a great day.

Jake

http://youtu.be/S8xoYHv2BY4

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, hope everyone had a great Easter.

Jake

As a follow up to yesterday’s email about how service presents the opportunity for happiness, there is one more point I thought to make.

At Mavidea, we are somewhat unique in that our business is based on service.

At our core, we (as individuals) provide service to our clients (as individuals).

This presents us with a unique opportunity to expand our own happiness merely by doing our jobs and doing them well.

As we provide service to our clients we present ourselves with opportunities to become better people and be happier in our own lives.

Part of why it is so much fun to work at Mavidea is this opportunity. We have a great place to work and have great people to work with, but our clients gives us the opportunity to become even better, even happier.

Don’t miss the opportunity to put a smile on a client or coworkers face today, it is good for your soul. It makes you a better and happier person. Don’t let those moments, those calls, those service tickets pass by without taking advantage of the happiness it provides you to make yourself and them happier.

We have a higher purpose here at Mavidea. Service to others.

Make it a great day.

Jake