Found this DAE from a few years ago and wanted to send it out again on the first day of school for this year.

https://youtu.be/RwlhUcSGqgs

Back to school day at the Davis house, so I thought I would start everyone’s Monday off with a little Kid President.

As usual, he mixes goofy and smart into this video pretty well.

I particularly like the question – what are you teaching the world?

Whether you like it or not, you are teaching others something.

Our choices, attitudes and thoughts show through for others to learn from as we go about our day.

Jim Rohn uses the words “behold” and “beware” a lot in his speeches, and I think it fits here too.

Behold all of the good things being taught around us and by us.

Beware all of the negative being taught and shown around us.

Make today a day of positive teaching.

Make it a great day.

Jake

What would be left of our tragedies if an insect were to present us his? – Emil Cioran

For some reason I like the non-sensical ideas like this.

Ideas that help us put things in a different perspective.

Most of the time we have it pretty good.

Is suffering real? Yep. Inevitable? Probably. Insurmountable? Probably not. Good for us? Seems likely.

A change in perspective helps us understand what we can do, how we should react, and helps us see things differently.

Make it a great day.

Jake

What’s weighing on the most right now?

Need to forgive someone?

Need to ask for forgiveness?

Worrying about something bad that could happen?

Facing a big choice?

Frustrated with yourself and a bad habit?

Worried about your marriage/current relationship?

I’m sure you’ve thought of at least one thing by now….and so has everyone else.

A saying some of you have heard me saying is “there is a whole lot of life going on around here”. It’s true everywhere you go. People have a whole lot of life going on. Most people have something weighing on them.

What should you do about it?

Take action – work to move forward to let go or get to work on what is weighing on you.

Show grace – work to be kind and patient with others.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Spent a couple of days golfing last week/weekend and it reminded me of this email from a few years ago.

Rannulph Junuh: You really love this game, don’t you?

Hardy Greaves: It’s the greatest game there is.

Rannulph Junuh: You really think so?

Hardy Greaves: Ask anybody. It’s fun. It’s hard and you stand out there on that green, green grass, and it’s just you and the ball and there ain’t nobody to beat up on but yourself; just like Mister Newnan keeps hittin’ himself with the golf club every time he gets angry. He’s broken his toe three times on account of it. It’s the only game I know that you can call a penalty on yourself, if you’re honest, which most people are. There just ain’t no other game like it.

This back and forth from “The Legend of Bagger Vance” is one of my favorites.

I’ve tried to play a little more golf this summer and it’s been a great reminder of the value of doing something fun (and difficult).

Golf is a great place to practice and live out some great life lessons….

You can hit a great shot, but end up in a poor spot – life’s not fair.

Your score and your integrity matter.

Green grass, fresh air and trees blowing in the wind are good for the soul.

Life is best when done with good friends.

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/Kr0tTbTbmVA

Good summer time jam as we inch closer to the end of summer and the start of another school year.

It reminds me of high school and all the summer time spent goofing off with friends.

Sitting around or driving around doing nothing but hanging out.

I’ve been reminded a few times lately that this kind of idle free time together with others helps build and cement relationships.

Think about how you are spending your time.

Are you allowing enough free time with the relationships that matter?

Taking the wife out on enough dates?

Golfing with your friends?

Watching a movie with the kiddos?

Calling that old friend just to say hi?

Find some time to spend with someone who matters this weekend.

Easy, relaxed, free time.

Make it a great day.

Jake

“You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.” – Winston Churchill

Distractions. They are a fact of life.

How many times in a day do you catch yourself thinking "what was I doing?"

Like most things in life, learning how to focus your efforts is a discipline, learned over time.

Decide to work on that discipline today.

Pick a period of time and focus on the most important to do on your list.

It might be 5 minutes or it might be 5 hours, but pick a time and stick with it.

And then do it again tomorrow. And the next day. And I think you get the idea after that.

Make it a great day.

Jake ​

Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else. -Margaret Mead

There is only one you. One person endowed with your skills, talents and purpose.

No one else can serve and love in the exact same way you were built to.

The same goes for each and every person you interact with.

The opportunity lies in building the relationships that allow for the authentic flow of this uniqueness.

Your skills, talents and purpose are used to build up those you are in relationship with and their skills, talents and purpose are used to build up yours. It’s kind of like magic.

It’s also a reminder of my own quote I made up (trademark and copyright pending) – Be yourself, unless you’re a jerk. Part of our ability to make the world a better place depends on our willingness to do the work to get and be better. We can’t do our best work unless we are working to be our best.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Love is not only something you feel, it is something you do. – David Wilkerson

Reminder – love is a verb.

It’s the opportunity we have each and every day. To do and be more for those we interact with.

Make it a great day.

Jake

We boil at different degrees. – Clint Eastwood

What a great reminder.

We are all different.

Others don’t get as focused on that one thing as we do.

Others get more focused on that one thing than we do.

They’re not wrong and we’re not right.

What should we do about it?

Show others the same patience, empathy, kindness and grace we would like others to show to us.

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/saaLW0jiiUE

More of a slow tapper.

Probably not the real message of this song but when I hear I think about trying to be the “easy” person in a relationship.

Easy to talk to.

Easy to work with.

Easy to ask for help.

Easy to tell the good and bad news.

I think of being kind and nice. Of being the kind of person someone isn’t afraid to approach with whatever is on their mind.

What can you do to be the easy person for somebody today?

Make it a great day.

Jake

PS – on the other side of this coin – sometimes we don’t want to be the easy person. If someone asks you to cheat or lie or steal, it shouldn’t be easy. It should be impossible. Like a lot of life – we must choose wisely when to be easy and when to be difficult.