The secret to change is to focus all your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new. – Socrates
This is a great idea when you are stuck on getting started on something.
Focus all your attention on the first, smallest step – and take it.
So much creating the good life happens by crowding out all the bad stuff.
Keep focused on the positive and keep moving towards it.
The rest will fall into place.
Make it a great day.
Jake
Back to school today for the Davis kids.
Each year is a reminder of some simple life lessons that will hopefully last a lifetime.
New teachers, new classmates, new books, etc. – life is always changing.
It could be a good year or a not so good year – there are no guarantees of a good/easy time.
Awkwardness and nervousness about all the possibilities – take the risk – it’ll all work out in the end.
New subjects, concepts and ideas – there is always something to learn and growth is possible – but hard.
I’m sure there are a lot more lessons to be had, but it sure feels like I’m still learning these, many years after finishing “school”.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve got a lot left to learn.
Make it a great day.
Jake
Last week of summer vacation at the Davis house.
It reminded me of this line from What About Bob.
Last time to “take a vacation from your problems”.
How many of your “problems” just wouldn’t be a big deal at all if you took a permanent vacation from them?
Most of the stuff that hangs over our heads every day really aren’t something we should worry about.
We spend so much of our “real life” thinking about things that aren’t real or aren’t real problems.
Make it a great day.
Jake
"When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn." – Harriet Beecher Stowe
It’s always darkest before the dawn.
If you are going through a rough patch, keep at it.
If you aren’t going through a rough patch, keep at it.
Keep at it.
Make it a great day.
Jake
Dreams will get you nowhere, a good kick in the pants will take you a long way. Baltasar Gracian
Get going!
Make it a great day.
Jake
The grass is greener where you water it. – Neil Barringham
We cannot avoid the work.
Usually our strongest desires are on the other side of some disciplined effort.
It’s true in relationships and its true with your money.
It’s true with your weight and it’s true with your paycheck.
If you want something to change for the better, start working with what you have and where you are to make the change you want to see.
The only place you can start is where you are.
The distance to a new trajectory isn’t far.
Make it a great day.
Jake
This feels like a summer song with a good message.
Be yourself.
Shine in your own special way.
Lean into all that is unique about you.
Make it a great day.
Jake
https://www.facebook.com/ImpactTheoryShow/videos/2069661469952428/
“You are what you repeat obsessively in your head.”
This line from the interview really stood out to me.
It’s another way of saying that we become what we think about most of the time.
Examine your thoughts today.
What do you think about most of the time?
What do you think about yourself most of the time?
What do you think about your future?
You are going to attract whatever it is that you are thinking about….might as well make it something good.
Make it a great day.
Jake
“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
I love quotes like this.
I have always been drawn to the idea that our work has meaning. This quote reminded me that whatever work you do has meaning if you put meaning into it.
If you give it your all and do your best you immediately create meaning for whatever you are doing.
We each have the opportunity to see this meaning as we go about our day.
What do others see in your work?
Do they see someone just making it through another day?
Do they see someone going through the motions?
Or do they say there goes someone who did his job well?
We choose what they see. We choose our attitude and how we go about our work.
What will you choose today?
Make it a great day.
Jake
“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves
I’ve listened to most of Brene Brown’s books over the course of the last year or so. She spends a lot of her effort explaining the truth that CS Lewis talks about in the quote above.
In particular lately, I’ve been thinking about how this quote applies to our work.
At Mavidea and Maxlider, we are in the service business. We work for our customers.
And they break our hearts all the time.
By not taking the good advice.
By cancelling and switching to another provider.
The same with our coworkers and teammates.
But these relationships are what make our work so worthwhile.
Only when we make ourselves vulnerable and open to the relationships around us do we get to experience the joy of our work.
At the risk of being a little sappy and corny, I’m going to ask you all to do something.
Open your hearts. Step into the scary situations and be yourself.
Lean in to the special place reserved for you in this world.
With our customers, with your teammates, with your loved ones.
Make it a great day.
Jake
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