JD – Prime the pump..

BAD – There is no better way to overpower a trickle of doubt than with a flood of naked truth. – Frank Underwood "House of Cards"

MS – Walk softly and carry a big stick. – Teddy Roosevelt

EB – Fly like a butterfly, sting like a bee. – Muhammed Ali

JW – Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself. — William Faulkner

http://youtu.be/DdHAMjA1lMw

Jamie mentioned priming the pump for Q3 today in our meeting so I had to send everyone one of my favorite Zig Ziglar videos.

Make it a great weekend.

Jake

http://youtu.be/lcZBhvSxg_8

This one goes out to Meaghan. Between her and the girls, I have heard this one many times this week.

I have a confession to make though. I may not actually believe this is the best song ever.

But the message is a great reminder of the power of a great song.

I am sure we all have a song that moves us.

A song that brings back happy memories.

A hymn from church that pulls at our heart every time.

A classic song that injects just a little bit of our youth back into us.

A slow song that reminds us of that first dance at our wedding.

Go find the YouTube for one of these songs today and listen to it. Let it take you places.

Make it a great day.

Jake

PS – Bonus points for those that "Reply All" with their "Best Song Ever" for everyone else to hear. Please try to keep them relatively clean (that warning was for Erik as I know the rest of you are way too mature to send out something inappropriate).

​

There is an ancient Egyptian proverb that says, “The marksman hitteth the target partly by pulling, partly by letting go. The boatsman reacheth the landing partly by pulling, partly by letting go.” It’s much the same with our lives. We can get a good start by pulling from the past with all its disappointments, regrets, and heartache, but after we’ve learned from the past, there has to be a release or a letting go of that past.

What a great reminder.

We all have a past full of experiences.

Some we remember with joy.

Some we remember with sadness.

Some we would like to forget.

The past can be such a great learning tool.

But it can also be an anchor.

Ask yourself these two questions today:

Is there something in my past I can learn from?

Is there something in my past I need to let go of?

Make it a great day.

Jake ​

http://youtu.be/t2G8KVzTwfw

I know I am little late on a Father’s Day tribute, but oh well.

This is one of my favorite father-son moments from sports.

Derek Redmond is running the race of his life, on the grand stage of his sport and the unthinkable happens: he pulls a muscle and can’t finish the race.

As he hobbles along, trying to just cross the finish line his dad comes running out from the stands and helps him across the finish line.

Imagine what is going through his mind.

I can’t believe this happened.

I’ve wasted so many hours and years training.

I failed.

And then comes this loving gesture from his dad.

His dad swoops in and puts his arm around him and helps him across the finish line.

Together, they showed that sports are more than just winning and losing. More than an injury at the worst possible time. It was about the love of a father for his son.

I have been very blessed to have a father and father-in-law who have showed me this same love. I work to show my kids this same love every day.

Maybe we all can’t be fathers who run out on the track during the Olympics.

But we can all be that person to run in and put our arm around someone and show that we are there for them in their moment of pain and weakness.

We can be strong for someone we love.

We can inspire others to love and serve one another.

We all will struggle at one point or another. My sincerest hope is that we will all also have someone in our lives to run in, put their arm around us and help us across the finish line.

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 ​

If you want to change the world don’t ever, ever ring the bell.

This is the last one in the series of lessons learned by William McRaven as he gave them in a recent commencement speech.

It is fitting that he gave this one last.

Never give up.

Is there something in your past that you have given up on that you need to get started on again?

Are you closing to giving up on something right now?

Don’t ring the bell.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Here is the text from this section of his speech:

Finally, in SEAL training there is a bell. A brass bell that hangs in the center of the compound for all the students to see.

All you have to do to quit is ring the bell. Ring the bell and you no longer have to wake up at 5 o’clock. Ring the bell and you no longer have to do the freezing cold swims.

Ring the bell and you no longer have to do the runs, the obstacle course, the PT — and you no longer have to endure the hardships of training.

Just ring the bell.

If you want to change the world don’t ever, ever ring the bell.
​

JD – The heart of marriage is memories; and if the two of you happen to have the same ones and can savor your reruns, then your marriage is a gift from the gods. – Bill Cosby
JW – Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain. -Vivian Greene
EB – You’ll never get a Purple Heart hiding in a fox hole….follow me. – Captain Henry P Crowe
MS* – If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads. -Ralph Waldo Emerson
BAD – Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently. – Henry Ford

The Vivian Greene quote is one of my favorites.

It represents a high point of human maturity – finding happiness and purpose even in less than ideal conditions.

It’s a challenge all of us face daily.

Life has plenty of storms for us to wait out until things get better.

But it also has plenty of rain for us to dance in.

We choose.

Make it a great day, whether it is raining or the sun is shining.

Jake

http://youtu.be/inPnVL41N_c

Sending this one out today because it reminds me of Meaghan and our wedding.

Tomorrow is our 12th anniversary.

The song reminds me of two important things that I have learned in 12 years of marriage.

Now that we found love….

I emphasized found because finding the love of your life isn’t guaranteed. Truly, the luckiest thing that has ever happened to me was when a beautiful young woman walked into my dorm room in Watterson Towers freshman year at ISU.

We are the lucky ones and I hope to never forget that or take it for granted.

What are we going to do with it….

When you are blessed with something so big, the right thing to do is to do something with it.

And when I think about the best thing we have done with it, I think of the word share.

We have shared that love with each other all these years.

We have shared that love with our friends and family.

We have shared that love with Maggie, Annie and Oliver.

I thank God every day for my bride, Meaghan. I can’t imagine my life without her.

Make it a great day.

Jake ​

So, if you want to change the world, start singing when you’re up to your neck in mud.

This story is my favorite of the short ones shared by William McRaven about his time in Navy SEAL basic training.

It is a story about the power of hope.

Never underestimate the power of a little hope.

Never miss a chance to be the one to give a little hope.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Here is the text of this part of the speech:

The ninth week of training is referred to as "Hell Week." It is six days of no sleep, constant physical and mental harassment and one special day at the Mud Flats — the Mud Flats are the area between San Diego and Tijuana where the water runs off and creates the Tijuana slues — a swampy patch of terrain where the mud will engulf you.

It is on Wednesday of Hell Week that you paddle down to the mud flats and spend the next 15 hours trying to survive the freezing cold mud, the howling wind and the incessant pressure to quit from the instructors.

As the sun began to set that Wednesday evening, my training class, having committed some "egregious infraction of the rules" was ordered into the mud.

The mud consumed each man till there was nothing visible but our heads. The instructors told us we could leave the mud if only five men would quit — just five men — and we could get out of the oppressive cold.

Looking around the mud flat it was apparent that some students were about to give up. It was still over eight hours till the sun came up — eight more hours of bone chilling cold.

The chattering teeth and shivering moans of the trainees were so loud it was hard to hear anything and then, one voice began to echo through the night — one voice raised in song.

The song was terribly out of tune, but sung with great enthusiasm.

One voice became two and two became three and before long everyone in the class was singing.

We knew that if one man could rise above the misery then others could as well.

The instructors threatened us with more time in the mud if we kept up the singing, but the singing persisted.

And somehow, the mud seemed a little warmer, the wind a little tamer and the dawn not so far away.

If I have learned anything in my time traveling the world, it is the power of hope. The power of one person — Washington, Lincoln, King, Mandela and even a young girl from Pakistan, Malala — one person can change the world by giving people hope.

So, if you want to change the world, start singing when you’re up to your neck in mud. ​

If you want to change the world, you must be your very best in the darkest moment.

More words of wisdom from William McRaven’s commencement speech.

He tells the story (below) of how during a particular training exercise there is a moment that requires their very best in order to succeed.

Jim Collins said it by saying that not all time is created equal.

There are moments in our lives that require more from us.

More patience.

More skill.

More endurance.

More love.

More grit.

And these moments can define us. They can be the difference between victory and defeat.

We get to choose whether we give it our all or give in.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Here is this section of the speech:

As Navy SEALs one of our jobs is to conduct underwater attacks against enemy shipping. We practiced this technique extensively during basic training.

The ship attack mission is where a pair of SEAL divers is dropped off outside an enemy harbor and then swims well over two miles underwater using nothing but a depth gauge and a compass to get to their target.

During the entire swim, even well below the surface there is some light that comes through. It is comforting to know that there is open water above you.

But as you approach the ship, which is tied to a pier, the light begins to fade. The steel structure of the ship blocks the moonlight — it blocks the surrounding street lamps — it blocks all ambient light.

To be successful in your mission, you have to swim under the ship and find the keel, the centerline and the deepest part of the ship.

This is your objective. But the keel is also the darkest part of the ship, where you cannot see your hand in front of your face, where the noise from the ship’s machinery is deafening and where it is easy to get disoriented and fail.

Every SEAL knows that under the keel, at the darkest moment of the mission, is the time when you must be calm, composed — when all your tactical skills, your physical power and all your inner strength must be brought to bear.

If you want to change the world, you must be your very best in the darkest moment. ​