It’s easier to resist at the beginning than at the end. – Leonardo da Vinci

Don’t forget about this as you get started on your new goals for the year.

It will get easier as it becomes a habit.

Resistance to a new habit or new direction is easiest at the beginning, before momentum takes over.

Push through. Get the snowball heading down the hill.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Dear Lord, I’m so grateful I’m still loved. – Vivien Leigh

I thought this would be a great way to start the year off.

Reminder – you are loved. Still. It hasn’t stopped.

For most of us, we’re loved more than we remember and act like.

We get frustrated easily. We lose our tempers over small, inconsequential happenings in our lives. We give up quickly. We don’t take chances and play it safe as if money, status, and stuff really matter most.

You are loved.

Act like it.

Smile, a lot. Laugh and dance. Forget about all the stuff, money and status and focus on the important stuff.

Make it a great day.

Jake

When the New Year comes around, you hear a lot about New Year’s resolutions.

Most of what is written is about how to set the goals better, how to increase your chances, etc.

They all start out with some statistic about how some really high percentage of resolutions are dropped by the end of January (86% of statistics are made up on the spot).

It almost seems like their goal is to either have you do it their way or just skip it.

Not me. Not this year.

Set some New Year’s resolutions.

Set a lot of them if you feel like it.

Don’t focus on the statistics that say 90% won’t make it, focus on the 10% that will.

Think positive.

You got this.

No reason you can’t be in the 10%.

And if you don’t make it, I’m sure you will be better off anyway.

And after you’ve set a few, read these 31 Tips to Awesome New Year’s Resolutions that I whipped up.

Make it a great day.

Jake

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein

As you look at your biggest challenge right now, how might this quote apply?

Are you having a hard time with one or two goals in particular because you are using the same kind of thinking?

I once read that simply changing something as simple as your route to work in the morning can change the way you think enough to work through a problem you are facing.

Just making some new pathways in your brain cause it to look at your old problem from a new angle.

What change could you make to shake things up?

Getting up early?

Staying up late?

No caffeine?

An extra latte in the afternoon?

A different route to work?

A new workout routine?

I am sure you can come up with some better ideas on your own, the key is to just do something different. Begin the process of thinking differently.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible. Francis of Assisi

Get started.

Whatever your goal.

Whatever is nagging at you.

Whatever your reason for wanting something different.

Just get started. Do what’s necessary to get the train headed down the tracks.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom. – Francis Bacon

Our mind needs rest in the same way our bodies do.

Find some silent time this week.

Even if it is just 60 seconds in the car before heading in to the office or 5 minutes before bed.

Let all the noise and distractions fall away.

Just enjoy the quiet.

Make it a great day.

Jake

I am not alone at all, I thought. I was never alone at all. And that, of course, is the message of Christmas. We are never alone. Not when the night is darkest, the wind coldest, the world seemingly most indifferent. For this is still the time God chooses. – Taylor Caldwell

This is a great reminder before Christmas comes and goes.

You are not alone.

You are loved.

You are special.

Not in a way that makes you better than everyone else.

Not in a way that makes you just like everyone else.

You are loved and special in your own way. The way only you can be.

In the Christian faith, this is the reason got sent his son on that first Christmas. For you.

If that explanation of it doesn’t work for you, I can assure you that you aren’t alone, you are loved and you are special to someone.

Merry Christmas.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion’s starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don’t see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it’s not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it’s always there – fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge – they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaky feeling you’ll find that love actually is all around.

The above is the very beginning of the movie “Love, Actually” (a Christmas favorite at our house).

It’s a great reminder that love is all around us.

Sometimes we forget.

Sometimes we let ourselves fall into the trap of thinking only of ourselves. We forget that we are happiest and at our best when we are loving others.

At Christmas we are reminded of these simple truths.

Keep the Christmas mojo going on past Christmas this year. Keep the feelings of love and selflessness at the forefront – where they belonged all along.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Below is a post from Mike Rowe about a conversation he recently had while being interviewed.

The holidays can be a time of sorrow and desperation for some.

Feelings of loneliness and despair can dominate.

Mike reminds us that none of us are “non-essential”. Each of us was made for a purpose.

Christmas is a great reminder of just how much our Maker cares about each one of us. He sent His son to live and die for us, proving that we are far from “non-essential” in His eyes.

Merry Christmas

Jake

Don’t Jump

Last Thursday on Hannity, I had a conversation I didn’t think I was going to have.

This is not unusual. Most of the time on programs like these, the producer tells me the topic beforehand, I organize my thoughts, and then, the host takes things in a completely different direction at the last moment. Last Thursday, for instance, I thought we were going to discuss the student loan fiasco, which I wrote about earlier in the week. I was prepared to double down on my comments regarding the forgiveness of debt, gently explain my resistance to doing so, and conclude with my foundation’s commitment to award another million dollars in work-ethic scholarships in the coming year. Then, I figured I’d walk upstairs, pour a bourbon, and scroll through the inevitable outrage in the comments section. Instead, I wound up discussing George Bailey. Specifically, a scene from my favorite Christmas movie of all time, (that really isn’t a Christmas movie,) “It’s a Wonderful Life."

Actually, it was Candice Owens, in the prior segment, who made me think of George Bailey. Candace had just made reference to two unflattering terms used by some to describe millions of Americans – “irredeemable” and “deplorable.” Having just re-watched Frank Capra’s classic film for the thousandth time, I couldn’t help but think of George Bailey, the tortured dreamer who finds himself standing on the bridge in Bedford Falls, staring into the swirling water below, contemplating suicide. I wondered – did George Bailey feel "irredeemable" in that moment? Did he feel "deplorable?" I bet he did. I bet everyone who ever contemplated their own demise, has felt a measure of both.

Then, as my segment was about to begin, Hannity threw to a few soundbites of ordinary citizens who had lost their livelihoods during the lockdown. Specifically, restaurant owners who could do nothing but watch as everything they worked for slowly slipped away. As they spoke, with tears in their eyes, I thought about the woman who owned the Pineapple Grill in Sherman Oaks – a nice little outdoor café that was recently shut down the same day a giant outdoor catering operation was allowed to open in her parking lot, in order to feed the cast a crew of a TV show that was still in production.

I recall the despair in that woman’s voice. The desperation. And again, I thought of George Bailey, perched there on the edge of that bridge, coming to the terrible conclusion that he was worth more dead than alive. I also thought about the suicide hotlines all over the country, many of which are receiving more calls than ever before. And it occurred to me that there is a better word to describe the way people feel who decide to jump from this life into the next. A word that’s become as ubiquitous as “irredeemable” and “deplorable,” but far more insulting, and far more deadly.

That word, is “non-essential.”

It didn’t strike me just how cruel the term was in March, back when we began referring to doctors and nurses and first responders as “essential workers.” Because really, who could argue with that characterization? What else can you call a worker who risks their lives to keep us safe? But then, as the lockdowns wore on, the list of essential workers began to grow. Plumbers turned out to be essential, and for good reason. So too, did grocery store clerks. And gas station attendants. And Amazon delivery drivers. And construction workers. And farmers. And electricians. And, believe it or not, actors. And broadcasters. And podcasters. And people who host TV shows.

I kid you not. Here in California, I’m on the same list of essential workers as cops and doctors and firemen. Thus, I’ve worked constantly since March, and kept my people employed. In fact, just last week, I was allowed to fly to LA to film a commercial. To get there, I boarded a sold-out flight, where I sat cheek to jowl with two perfect strangers, one of whom struggled to control a nasty cough behind her cloth mask.

How is any of this sensible? How is is remotely fair? Why is filming a commercial “essential,” but running a restaurant not? Why are crowded planes safe, but crowded churches not? And how can anyone expect a rational citizen to obey elected officials who refuse to follow their own rules?

I have no answers to these questions, but as I waited last Thursday to answer whatever trenchant query Hannity might eventually throw my way, it occurred to me that the majority of people who punch their own ticket do so not merely because they feel "irredeemable," or "deplorable." I think most people hang on right till they come to believe that they have become "non-essential."

That’s how I think George Bailey felt, standing there on that bridge. He was a man with nothing to offer. A man who believed he was worth more dead than alive. A man who would have surely killed himself, but for an angel named Clarence who dropped into the rushing river and gave George Bailey something to do. Something essential.

The holidays are a rough time of year for a lot of people. In particular, this holiday. In particular, this year. To those millions of Americans who have lost your livelihoods, now teetering on the edge your own metaphorical bridge, wondering if perhaps you’re worth more dead than alive, I say this:

You still matter. You are still essential to someone, even if only to yourself. Why? Because you are still a part of a great tapestry – a single tile in a mighty mosaic that connects us all. And, because you are still loved. Which is a long way of saying, don’t jump.

Anyway, that’s what I talked to Hannity about, last Thursday.

https://youtu.be/gtM8BRF7Bd0

Probably not on your list of traditional Christmas songs, but apparently Pandora thinks it should be on mine.

This song always reminds me of the importance of dance and song when it comes to really getting something into the hearts of people.

It’s such a great version of the story of Christianity.

I danced in the morning

When the world was begun,

And I danced in the moon

And the stars and the sun,

And I came down from heaven

And I danced on the earth,

At Bethlehem

I had my birth.

Dance, then, wherever you may be,

I am the Lord of the Dance, said he,

And I’ll lead you all, wherever you may be,

And I’ll lead you all in the Dance, said he

And the end:

They cut me down

And I leapt up high;

I am the life

That’ll never, never die;

I’ll live in you

If you’ll live in me –

I am the Lord

Of the Dance, said he.

As I get older I am more and more grateful for that very first Christmas gift – that God would send His Son to save me (I know me pretty well and I can’t believe He thought it was worth it).

I hope you can find a few minutes over Christmas to ponder this wonderful gift that was given for you.

Merry Christmas.

Jake