It is a pleasant thing to reflect upon, and furnishes a complete answer to those who contend for the gradual degeneration of the human species, that every baby born into the world is a finer one than the last. – Charles Dickens

For those of you who don’t know yet, Meaghan and I are expecting. Baby #3 is on its way and should be here sometime in March.

What does this have to do with the daily attitude email?

Having a baby is confirmation that we believe the future will be better than the present. We believe in not only the potential of man kind to make the future better, but we specifically believe in our potential to add to it by producing the best new little person we can.

We can make a positive contribution by pouring our love and devotion into a new little person who we hope will grow up to make that special contribution to the world that only he or she is capable of.

Parents around the world share this same hope and belief for their children. We all fear that time is passing too quickly while embracing the possibilities the future holds for our little one (or not so little one anymore).

And for those of you who aren’t parents, there is an important part of this equation for you as well…..we are all someone’s child. We all (regardless of our age) represent that hope for a better and brighter future.

The cycle of life continues….it is up to us to make sure it is headed in the right direction.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Samuel Ullman

Last night Erik, Kim and I got to attend the ISU internship fair.

I must be getting old because every time I go to one of the career fairs at ISU I am reminded more and more of the enthusiasm and opportunity of youth.

Watching all those “kids” nervously shaking hands and talking to a “serious adult” about a career for the very first time reminds me of the nervous excitement we all feel the first time we do something new.

My sincere hope for myself and for all of you is that we never lose that enthusiasm. We never let our souls get wrinkled.

For today (as a start), let’s all forget about how many years we have lived and capture the enthusiasm of our youth.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Maggie has been on a Dr. Seuss kick again for bedtime stories and they have left me inspired to share some Dr. Seuss wisdom with everyone.
Every time I read his stories I am reminded of that rare gift that Dr. Seuss had.
The gift of painting the important and difficult challenges of life in such fanciful words and word pictures that you can’t help but learn something along the way.
By disarming (or maybe charming) us with his fantastical stories, Dr. Seuss is able to get at that child in all of us. That wide-eyed, open-minded person that is a sponge for these kinds of life lessons and advice.
Rekindle that in yourself as you read the quotes below. Open yourself up to be inspired to be better at the “little things” of life that Dr. Seuss wrote about.
Make it a great day.

Jake

Top 30 Dr. Seuss Quotes
1. Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You. 2. Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.
3. Why fit in when you were born to stand out?
4. Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.
5. You’ll miss the best things if you keep your eyes shut.
6. Think and wonder, wonder and think.
7. Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So. get on your way. 8. Unless!
9. THINK! You can think any THINK that you wish.
10. If you never did, you should. These things are fun and fun is good.
11. You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. 12. You are you. Now, isn’t that pleasant?
13. Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple. 14. It is better to know how to learn than to know.
15. Everything stinks till it’s finished.
16. The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go. 17. A person’s a person, no matter how small.
18. I meant what I said and I said what I meant.
19. Only you can control your future.
20. Be awesome! Be a book nut!
21. Be who you are and say what you mean. Because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind. 22. Oh, the things you can find if you don’t stay behind!
23. It’s opener, out there, in the wide, open air.
24. Teeth are always in style.
25. Today I shall behave, as if this is the day I will be remembered.
26. Will you succeed? Yes you will indeed! Ninety-eight and three-quarters percent guaranteed. 27. From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.
28. Step with care and great tact. And remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act.
29. Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.
30. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go.

A couple of you liked the top ten list from Norman Vincent Peale that I sent out the other day so I thought I would send another one.

From my experience, almost everyone experiences feelings of inadequacy and self doubt.

Below are Norman Vincent Peale’s ten rules for defeating self doubt and negative self thoughts.

Make it a great day.

Jake

To sum up-what can you do now to build up your self-confidence? Following are ten simple, workable rules for overcoming inadequacy attitudes and learning to practice faith. Thousands have used these rules, reporting successful results. Undertake this program and you, too, will build up confidence in your powers. You, too, will have a new feeling of power.

1. Formulate and stamp indelibly on your mind a mental picture of yourself as succeeding. Hold this picture tenaciously. Never permit it to fade. Your mind will seek to develop this picture. Never think of yourself as failing; never doubt the reality of the mental image. That is most dangerous, for the mind always tries to complete what it pictures. So always picture “success” no matter how badly things seem to be going at the moment.

2. Whenever a negative thought concerning your personal powers comes to mind, deliberately voice a positive thought to cancel it out.

3. Do not build up obstacles in your imagination. Depreciate every so-called obstacle. Minimize them. Difficulties must be studied and efficiently dealt with to be eliminated, but they must be seen for only what they are. They must not be inflated by fear thoughts.

4. Do not be awestruck by other people and try to copy them. Nobody can be you as efficiently as YOU can. Remember also that most people, despite their confident appearance and demeanor, are often as scared as you are and as doubtful of themselves.

5. Ten times a day repeat these dynamic words, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)

6. Get a competent counselor to help you understand why you do what you do. Learn the origin of your inferiority and self-doubt feelings which often begin in childhood. Self-knowledge leads to a cure.

7. Ten times each day practice the following affirmation, repeating .it out loud if possible. “I can do ail things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” (Philippians 4:13) Repeat those words NOW. That magic statement is the most powerful antidote on earth to inferiority thoughts.

8. Make a true estimate of your own ability, then raise it 10 per cent. Do not become egotistical, but develop a wholesome self-respect. Believe in your own God-released powers.

9. Put yourself in God’s hands. To do that simply state, “I am in God’s hands.” Then believe you are NOW receiving ail the power you need. “Feel” it flowing into you. Affirm that “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21) in the form of adequate power to meet life’s demands.

10. Remind yourself that God is with you and nothing can defeat you. Believe that you now RECEIVE power from Him.

JD – It is a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best you very often get it. W. Somerset Maugham

JS – Is a Margarona really like a Coronarita? I need to find out….

EB – Wicked air guitar in your FACE!!!

KJ – Sold!

JW – I believe every human being has a finite number of heartbeats, I don’t intend to waste any of mine. Neil Armstrong

JM – The shortest distance between two points is under construction.

If you have an attitude that expects the best life has to offer, you will very often get it.

The other side of this coin is that you must be willing to give your best in order to get it.

One of my favorite conclusions from “Good To Great” by Jim Collins is his conclusion that, in the end, it is no more difficult to do your best than it is to just be mediocre.

The rewards outweigh the costs.

What a great system.

Have a great weekend.

Jake

http://youtu.be/Uo2SNtFofWI

This one will start you off with a toe tapper and a giggle (or two).

My favorite couple of lines:

Only shooting stars break the mold.

You’ll never know if you don’t go, you’ll never shine if you don’t glow.

In true YouTube fashion, this one song led to more wasted (I mean wisely invested) video clip viewing.

Thought I would share this one too since it is mildly inspirational too.

http://youtu.be/mDlk2_PV_l8

Make it a great Friday.

Jake

I have been reading Norman Vincent Peale’s book “The Power of Positive Thinking” and just finished the chapter titled “Relax for Easy Power”.

The chapter explains how learning to relax can allow you to get more out of your hectic, busy, stressful schedule.

It reminds me of another saying “sometimes you have to slow down to speed up”.

At the end of the chapter he shares 10 rules for relaxing in order to get more done and I thought I would share them with you.

1. Don’t get the idea that you are Atlas carrying the world on your shoulders. Don’t take yourself so seriously.

2. Determine to like your work. Then it will become a pleasure, not drudgery. Perhaps you do not need to change your job. Change yourself and your work will seem different.

3. Plan you work – work your plan. Lack of system produces that “I’m swamped” feeling.

4. Don’t try to do everything at once. That is why time is spread out. Heed that wise advise from the Bible, “This one thing I do.”

5. Get a correct mental attitude, remembering that ease or difficulty in your work depends upon how you think about it. Think it’s hard and you make it hard. Think it’s easy and it tends to become easy.

6. Become efficient in your work. “Knowledge is power” (over your job). It is always easier to do a thing right.

7. Practice being relaxed. Easy does it. Don’t press or tug. Take it in your stride.

8. Discipline yourself not to put off to tomorrow what you can do today. Accumulation of undone jobs makes your work harder. Keep your work on schedule.

9. Pray about your work. You will get relaxed efficiency by so doing.

10. Take on the “unseen partner”. It is surprising the load He will take off you. God is as much at home in offices, factories, stories, kitchens, as in churches. He knows more about your job than you do. His help will make your work easy.

Make it a point to try one of these today and see how it works out.

Make it a great day.

Jake

All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible. T.E. Lawrence

Day dreamers. Just staring into the clouds and dreaming…..in the middle of the day.

Who would have thought they were the dangerous men?

There are two elements of this equation.

We must dream with our eyes open. When was the last time you set aside a few minutes to just dream about what your future might look like?

When was the last time you imagined what you will look like after you lose the weight?

When was the last time you imagined that second home somewhere warm?

When was the last time you imagined writing that big check to your favorite charity?

When was the last time you imagined that commission check with two digits before the comma?

But it doesn’t stop at the dreaming. It starts there. Getting that mental picture, making it sharper and then holding on to it.

“For they may act on their dreams with open eyes”. The next part is action. It always boils down to doing things differently.

Use that dream to make the action easier.

It is a lot easier to work out in the morning with a dream of what you are going to look like when you are done.

It is a lot easier to save and invest your money when it is attached to that beautiful home in Florida.

It is a lot easier to work a little harder and save a little more when you imagine the difference you can make.

It is a lot easier to make that extra call or go the extra mile when you can imagine the pay off in the end.

The dreams will pull you through those hard days when you don’t feel like doing anything.

Find some time to dream today….start this process for yourself and see just how far you can go.

Jake

Not all time in life is equal. – Jim Collins

Nat all time in life is equal. Some moments hold greater significance than others. Some moments require greater attention than others.

Today we are all reminded of one of those moments. September 11th was a moment when the course of history changed.

For those that died, those last moments were unequal.

For those that risked their lives to save others, those moments were unequal.

For those that fought battles on foreign soil in order to make sure it doesn’t happen again, those moments were unequal.

For those that hugged their loved ones a little tighter that night, those moments were unequal.

Not all time in life is equal. Some moments require more of us. They require us to dig deep and perform, love, hope, and have more faith than we have ever had before.

In this time we can create something wonderful.

We can create a nation united.

We can create a family filled with love.

We can create a force for good in this world.

We must take advantage of the unequal times in our lives.

Let’s get started today.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Faith is a bluebird
You see from afar
It’s for real
And as sure as the first evening star

You can’t touch it
Or buy it or wrap it up tight
But it’s there just the same
Making things turn out right

This little poem came from “The Rescuers”.

Faith is such an important part of our success in life. We believe not only that our goals are possible, but also that they are possible for us.

Make the last line of the poem your thought for today “making things turn out right”.

It will all work out in the end.

Jake