“If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap. If you want happiness for a day, go fishing. If you want happiness for a months, get married. If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime, serve others.” ~ Chinese proverb

Happiness for a lifetime. Sounds pretty good, huh?

Our search for a lifetime of happiness is often sidetracked by all the shiny objects in our lives.

Newer, cooler stuff.

The newest, coolest gadget.

Money.

Our favorite TV show.

None of this is bad in and of itself. It all just needs a little perspective

This quote puts it all into perspective.

What if we focused on serving others instead?

We can build our own happiness brick by brick. One act of service for others at a time.

Make it a great day.

Jake

“Doing nothing for others is the undoing of one’s self. We must be purposely kind and generous, or we miss the best part of existence. The heart that goes out of itself gets large and full of joy. This is the great secret of the inner life. We do ourselves the most good doing something for others.” ~ Horace Mann

This quote encompasses a lot of the important parts of service.

First, service is core to being a human being. Not doing service for others is the undoing of part of your essence.

Next, we must purposeful about service. We must seek out opportunities to serve others.

Only by extending beyond our own selfish desires and wants can we grow to our full potential.

And in the end, we do ourselves the most good by doing something good for others.

Make it a great day.

Jake

“The purpose of life is not to win. The purpose of life is to grow and to share. When you come to look back on all that you have done in life, you will get more satisfaction from the pleasure you have brought into other people’s lives than you will from the times that you outdid and defeated them.” ~ Harold Kushner

Last week we announced our purpose here at Mavidea: to have fun serving others.

Coincidentally I recently read a blog post by John Maxwell with is favorite quotes on service.

So, I am going to share his quotes and my thoughts on each one over the next week or so.

Really liked this one to start out with.

We are too often tempted to look at the relationships in our lives as win-lose scenarios where we are either the victor or the victim.

Instead we should look at the relationships in our lives as opportunities to serve. In this service we will find the pleasure he speaks of in this quote.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Last up in the list of Jim Rohn principles to live by: don’t ever stop in your pursuit of a legacy.

Maybe another way to put this is “it’s never too late to start building or add to your legacy.”

No matter our age, we can make a change and add to our legacy.

Make it a great day.

Jake

JD – Start from wherever you are and with whatever you’ve got. – Jim Rohn

EB* – The sun is always shining somewhere. Sometimes, you just gotta get above the storm clouds to see it. – Billy Cox

JW – Motivation will always beat mere talent. Norman R. Augustine

JM – Are lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter. Martin Luther King, Jr.

KJ – The key to success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire, not things we fear. Brian Tracy

The quote above from Jim Rohn reminded me of Mavidea.

We had our first Town Hall meeting yesterday (which went swimmingly) and there was a lot of engagement around ideas for getting and being better.

As we undertake the process of going from a good company to becoming a great one, I thought Jim’s quote fit us pretty well.

We aren’t perfect today. We don’t have everything lined up perfectly to make the leap to become a great company.

But we can begin today with what we have.

We can build on the successes we have had so far.

We can learn from the mistakes we have made.

The key is to get started and keep going.

We have started. And we will keep going.

We might as well enjoy the ride.

Make it a great weekend.

Jake

http://youtu.be/iBktYJsJq-E

Next up in the Jim Rohn list of principles to live by in order to leave a legacy: don’t give up when you fail.

I picked this song because of the recurring “nothing’s gonna keep you down” (and I might have been a little bit of a Karate Kid fan when I was a kid).

Failure is part of life. We all fail at some point. The difference between those who are successful and those who are not are the ones who do not give up.

This is part of why having inspiring goals and a positive attitude are so important.

When we fail, they make it much easier to keep going. It would be easy to give up if you didn’t have an inspiring purpose and view on life.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don’t turn up at all. – Sam Ewing

Next up in the list of Jim Rohn’s principles to leave a legacy: hard work is never a waste.

Jim Follows that up with "No one will say, “It is too bad he was such a good, hard worker.” But

if you aren’t, they will surely say, “It’s too bad he was so lazy—he could have been so much more!” Hard work will leave a grand legacy. Give it your all on your trip around the earth. You will do a lot good and leave a terrific legacy."

I have come up with my own new personal mantra for the "hard work" in life when it presents itself: embrace it.

Embrace the hard work of eating healthy and exercising.

Embrace the hard work of budgeting and managing money.

Embrace the hard work of building a great company.

Embrace the hard work of nurturing loving long term relationships.

What hard work in your life do you need to embrace?

Make it a great day.

Jake

The law of harvest is to reap more than you sow. Sow an act, and you reap a habit. Sow a habit and you reap a character. Sow a character and you reap a destiny. – James Allen

Next up in the principles to live by in order to leave a legacy from Jim Rohn: you reap what you sow.

Jim takes it one step further. The law of reaping and sowing actually means you reap more than you sow. Every time.

Maybe it is the overly analytical part of me, but I really like it when you can take a simple truth like this and dissect it more like James Allen did in the quote above.

In Earl Nightingale’s “Strangest Secret” he makes the point that our minds are built for growing thoughts so we must be careful what we plant. Our minds are like fertile soil that will grow a weed as readily as a beautiful flower.

Plant worries of ill health and your mind will build those up until you are actually ill.

Plant thoughts of wealth and happiness and your mind will build that reality around you.

Plant thoughts of want and need and before you know it you will be behind on your bills.

The law of the harvest works in all areas of our lives, but the starting point is usually in our own thoughts.

Make a conscious effort today to be careful of what you are planting.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Looking for something positive to plant today, here are a few of Jake’s suggestions, please feel free to share some of your own.

Norman Vincent Peale’s books – in particular “The Power of Positive Thinking”

Dale Carnegie’s “How to Stop Worrying” and “How to Win Friends and Influence People”

Listen to Jim Rohn’s “Art of Exceptional Living”

These are just a couple that have had a major impact on me, I would love to hear what has made an impact on you.

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. – Anais Nin

Next up in the list of 9 principles to live by in order to leave a legacy: you must risk in order to gain.

Here in the Midwest, most of us view risk as another of those four letter words that should not be mentioned in polite company.

The quote above says it so well. At some point, the risk to remain where we are is outweighed by the risk of growth and expansion.

And this applies to all areas of our life.

We must risk our money for financial gain.

We must risk our heart in order to experience love.

We must risk our comfort in order to shed those extra pounds.

We must risk standing on our own when we stand up for something we believe in.

Are there any risks in your life that you need to take?

Make it a great day.

Jake

Here are some bonus quotes on risk that I found:

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. – T. S. Eliot

If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary. – Jim Rohn

No man is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his well-being, to risk his body, to risk his life, in a great cause. – Theodore Roosevelt

Creative risk taking is essential to success in any goal where the stakes are high. Thoughtless risks are destructive, of course, but perhaps even more wasteful is thoughtless caution which prompts inaction and promotes failure to seize opportunity. – Gary Ryan Blair