https://youtu.be/3DSVMDmzCcA

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.

The reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more. – Jonas Salk

This reminds of the concept from the Bible – those we are faithful with what is given will be given more.

Today you have some work in front of you.

Maybe it’s not the coolest or the most glamorous.

You may not be playing in the NFL or working on Wall Street (or whatever your dream job is), but the work matters.

It matters because you get to decide whether or not you are going to do it well.

You get to decide what kind of person you are.

I can’t tell you how, but I have faith that if you do it well, over time, things will go your way. I don’t exactly how this works, but it does.

Let’s get to work on a job well done today.

Make it a great day.

Jake

“Prosperity knits a man to the world. He feels that he is finding his place in it, while really it is finding its place in him.”

― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

This quote reminds me to “be careful what you wish for.”

It’s easy to fall into the trap of wishing for more comfort or prosperity. For the bigger house or car. The nicer clothes or cooler gear.

The question of what we have to give up in order to get it seems a distant whisper in the face of our desires.

CS Lewis hits it on the head here – “it” gets a hold of us in the process.

When we give in to our desires and ambitions we can become something we never intended.

We can lose ourselves in the process and end up worse off than we were at the beginning.

We must strive and do our best in service to others (with love). Working towards goals and with purpose has been placed in us by our Creator. These must be filtered through a mature and thoughtful philosophy on life, not compared to the latest commercial or what our neighbor is driving.

We can live better lives. Not by striving for prosperity and comfort, but by giving up our own desires in services to others (with love).

Make it a great day.

Jake

If you don’t have anything nice to say….you’re not thinking hard enough. – Kid President

Great idea.

This idea works in many areas of our lives.

If you can’t think of something positive about your day….you’re not thinking hard enough.

If you can’t think of something fun to do….you’re not thinking hard enough.

If you can’t think of something nice about yourself….you’re not thinking hard enough.

If you can’t think of something nice to do…you’re not thinking hard enough.

If you can’t think of a reason to laugh…you’re not thinking hard enough.

Keep searching for the reason behind what you want for your life.

Make it a great day.

Jake

I attended a funeral on Saturday and was once again reminded of this email I sent a few years ago about legacy.

“Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.” —Shannon L. Alder

My grandmother passed away on Saturday and today is the funeral.

She was a very unassuming person to have left such a great legacy.

In one of Andy Stanley’s podcasts he says something like “Your legacy might not be what you do, but who you raise.”

My grandmother was a homemaker and never even got her driver’s license, but she left a tremendous legacy.

Not that we are perfect, but she helped create a family legacy that will endure and continue to grow.

Each new generation has been touched and influenced by her love and caring.

This is your opportunity as well.

To leave this world better than you found it.

You may not even be the one that accomplishes great things (although I certainly hope you do). Your legacy may be a subtler one, like that of my grandmother.

But it will be something. Each and every day is an opportunity to make an impact and grow your legacy, don’t let them slip past you.

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/wBl2QGAIx1s

Watched “Back to the Future” with the girls this week and was reminded of some good Huey Lewis james.

As I get older, “the power of love” has taken on a different meaning.

I think of it now as the power to help us in one of life’s biggest challenges (the biggest?) – letting go of my own selfish desires and pride.

The power of love comes in changing our hearts to think of another before ourselves.

To put someone else’s goals and ambitions ahead of ours.

To put the happiness of someone else as a higher priority than our own.

When we are able to love in this manner and kill our own selfishness we truly blossom.

We are at our best and our happiest when we love in this fashion.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Maybe I’m doing it wrong?

(Everyone else: took you long enough to figure that out.)

Maybe that would be a good question to ask yourself (although I really doubt you are….you’re practically perfect).

Not enough time to work out? Maybe you’re doing it wrong….

Not enough money saved? Maybe you’re doing it wrong…..

Not enough room in the waist of your favorite pants? Maybe you’re doing it wrong….

Phew…now the hard part is over, admitting that maybe, just maybe we don’t have it all figured out.

What’s next? Start figuring out how to do it right!

How might you do that?

Ask someone who seems to be getting it right.

Read a book about doing it right.

Take a class on doing it right.

AND DO WHATEVER THEY SAY.

Try something new. Stick with it. Work the process for a season and see if it’s going to work for you.

Make it a great day.

Jake

PS – Sorry for the corniness in this one….I may have gone a little overboard (that Meaghan must be a saint to put up with me all the time).

"If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old." – Peter F. Drucker

Moving forward into growth requires building new habits and letting old habits go.

What is on your stop doing list?

This is an easy to forget area that can drive major change if we are willing to take a hard look at ourselves and how we spend our time.

If we can have the courage to look at everything on our current to do list as a possibility for something to let go of, we will be surprised at what we might see.

Take a moment today to make a list of your regular to-dos.

Get everything down.

Now be ruthless and get of everything except the essentials.

Narrow the list.

Focus.

If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old.

Make it a great day.

Jake

My (little) brother Bill sent me this to send out to everyone as a DAE. He’s kinda cool and stuff.

I have been reading the book Radical Candor with some of my colleagues at Ameren. There are many things I like about this book but one thing that jumped out at me was a nuanced quote about Steve Jobs. The Former CEO of Intel, Andy Grove, remarked that "F-ing Steve always gets it right" and the author said "Nobody’s always right." but Andy replied "I didn’t say Steve is always right. I said he always gets it right. Like anyone, he is wrong all the time, but he insists and not gently, that people tell him when he’s wrong. So, he always gets it right in the end."

I don’t know what it is like working at Mavidea but I do know my brother. If you think he is wrong, I guarantee he will listen to understand; so speak up.

Make no mistake, Mavidea is what you make it.

Disclaimer: My brother and I don’t talk business. We mostly engage in stereotypical masculine exchanges that are a cover for an unexplainable brotherly bond created by unknowingly being best friends for our entire childhood. And this is coming from the "little brother." J J

Make it a great day.

Jake

Control.

It seems to me that one of the odd paradoxes of life is our ability to control nothing and everything at the same time.

We have no control over all the external things in our lives, yet we have complete control over ourselves and our attitude and this attitude is what attracts and brings about the external environment we desire.

I suppose that life is a balancing act between mastery of our own mind and letting the rest of life happen.

Below is a list of “to let go’s” that I found when searching for a topic for today. Maybe one of them will inspire you to let go of something that is holding you back.

Make it a great week.

Jake

To let go does not mean to stop caring, it means I can’t do it for someone else.

To let go is not to cut myself off, it’s the realization that I can’t control another.

To let go is not to enable, but to allow learning from natural consequences.

To let go is to admit powerlessness, which means the outcome is not in my hands.

To let go is not to try to change or blame another, it’s to make the most of myself.

To let go is not to care for, but to care about.

To let go is not to fix, but to be supportive.

To let go is not to judge, but to allow another to be a human being.

To let go is not to be in the middle arranging all the outcomes, but to allow others to affect their own destinies.

To let go is not to be protective, it’s to permit another to face reality.

To let go is not to criticize, or regulate anyone, but to try to become what I dream I can do.

To let go is to fear less, and to love more.